The Resilient Humanitarianism team celebrates the conclusion of the recent ‘League of Red Cross Societies: Historical Perspectives, 1919-91’ symposium, held on the 14-16 June 2023 at the IFRC in Geneva, Switzerland. It was the first conference dedicated to the history of the League of Red Cross Societies and brought together a range of scholars, researchers, and academics from the UK, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, and the US.
The conference opened with a welcome by IFRC Secretary General, Jagan Chapagian, followed by an overview of the Resilient Humanitarianism project by Lead Chief Investigator, Professor Melanie Oppenheimer. A total of 19 different papers covering a range of themes from nursing, decolonisation, venereal disease, natural disasters, blood transfusion, international relations, public health, and refugee support were presented and resulted in many stimulating questions, comments, and discussions.
The conference also saw IFRC archivist, Grant Mitchell, interviewed on his experiences of establishing the IFRC archives in 1996. His co-workers, IFRC archivists Sarah-Joy and Melanie Blondin, presented on the new IFRC library and archive management system that is currently under development. Finally, Dr Romain Fathi held an open forum discussion with Emeritus Professor David Forsyth on his impressions of the papers and League history.
We wish to thank the IFRC archives team for hosting us and thank all the attendees, both in the room and those who joined us remotely, and look forward to continuing working together and sharing our knowledge and expertise.
