The International Society for the History of Pharmacy (ISHP) recently published the 2021 edition of its annual newsletter. AIHP members are encouraged to review the newsletter to learn of developments around the world in the fields of pharmacy and pharmaceutical history.
ISHP, founded in 1926, is an international organization that promotes research, teaching, and publications in the field of pharmaceutical history. It is compromised of 29 national societies, including AIHP.
The newsletter includes reports from most of ISHP’s member societies that summarize their activities during 2020 and the significant pharmacy history developments in their respective countries. (AIHP’s annual report, prepared by Executive Director Dennis Birke, begins at page 73.)
The newsletter also includes a letter from ISHP President Axel Helmstädter that reviews major international developments during 2020. In connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, President Helmstädter noted “the responsibility to preserve materials, publications, communications as objects of study for our colleagues in the future.” Citing the AIHP COVID-19 Pandemic Pharmacy Historical Documentation Project, he observed that “our American colleagues have started a remarkable project to collect material documenting how the pandemic affected our lives, especially pharmacy and medicine.”
In his discussion of “very successful examples” of using online
conferencing during the pandemic “to bring people with common interests
together very easily” President Helmstädter cited “the Pharmaceutical History
Festival organized by the American Society last fall, which turned out to be a tremendous
success really fulfilling what the title had promised.”
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.