The International Society for the History of Pharmacy has published and posted on its website the 2020 ISHP newsletter (#21). The Newsletter contains plentiful information of interest for historians of pharmacy. Twenty-five different national and international pharmacy organizations provided informative reports about their activities in the last year. The Newsletter also contains an obituary of longtime AIHP member George Griffenhagen, information about the 2021 ISHP Research Grant, and minutes from the 2019 General Assembly.
George Griffenhagen, who passed away, on November 21, 2019, was remembered (pp. 12–13) as “one of the leading figures in the field of pharmacy history during the second half of the twentieth century.” Griffenhagen first joined AIHP in 1949, and, over the years, he won numerous awards for his research and writing, including the Edward Kremers Award (1969) and the Robert P. Fischelis Award (2019).
In addition to writing Griffenhagen’s obituary, AIHP Executive Director Dennis Birke submitted a three-page report (pp. 65-67) summarizing recent Institute activities, which include: the 44th International Congress for the History of Pharmacy hosted by AIHP in Washington, DC, in September 2019, the AIHP awards program, the AIHP annual meeting, and recent issues of Pharmacy in History.
The Newsletter also announces (p. 11) that ISHP is accepting applications until August 31, 2020, for a research grant of 2,500 euros to support “pharmaceutical history research proposals of international relevance.” Please consult the announcement for specific application procedures.
The reports from numerous national and international pharmacy history organizations are replete with accounts of research projects, meetings, and other history of pharmacy activities from around the globe. Countries or regions covered in the Newsletter are: Austria, Belarus, the Benelux countries, Canada, Czechia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iran, Italy, Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The American Institute of the History of Pharmacy is documenting and preserving pharmacy stories and experiences during the COVID-19 global pandemic for the benefit of future historians and scholars. We seek to record the effects of this public health emergency on all types of pharmacy experiences. We invite you to share your pharmacy stories, photos, videos, artifacts, and other documentation of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.