The International Institute of Social History (IISH) aims to be an inspiring and inclusive space that attracts people because they are interested in socio-economic history, with themes such as inequality, labour, social movements, climate, migration, and slavery. The institute is a hub for a wide range of interested people from around the world.
We remain an engaged but unconstrained knowledge institute in the fields of global labour history, labour relations, and social movements. As such, we build on a long tradition of making information available, conducting fundamental research, and producing knowledge in the area of global labour history over the past five centuries.
The IISH sees itself as one of the nodes in a global network in which collaboration with other institutions, researchers, and social groups is central. We put this collaboration into practice by contributing to the development of socio-economic history, with a focus on labour conflicts and intergenerational patterns of social mobility. In our collaboration with other cultural heritage institutions, we focus on sustainable and inclusive accessibility of collections and (linked) data. At a global level, we continue to systematically collect data through intensive collaboration with historians specialising in labour relations around the world.
We work with existing and new archive creators to preserve their material and make it accessible in a sustainable way. In doing so, we will be focussing more on developing participatory methods and sharing knowledge and expertise. We also aim to support groups and organisations in preserving their material more sustainably themselves. We pay particular attention to groups that are underrepresented, both present and past.
The results of our research and the information in our collections are shared as widely as possible, based on the principles of FAIR and CARE. Where we can, we engage with current societal debates relating to labour, social and economic inequality, and democracy. We put this societal engagement into practice by producing widely accessible publications and organising debates, lectures, and other public activities.
