The Columbia History of Science Group has met (almost) annually in the San Juan Islands since 1983 and held its final meeting at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories in 2023. The CHSG was founded and supported by the several graduate programs in the history of science on the northwest coast, the majority of which have folded or shrunk, and many of the most active scholars in the region have retired. CHSG was a meeting where many graduate students presented their first papers and some even found external members for their PhD committees. The drop in attendance at our annual meetings year on year is evidence that we are no longer filling a need in the community so we have decided to discontinue.

Nostalgia and good memories convinced us to sustain the CHSG over the past several years. We held online meetings during the pandemic and one last in-person meeting on Friday Harbor Island in March 2023. We come to this decision after serious reflection about the future of CHSG. We also consulted those in attendance at the 2023 annual meeting and all past organizers of the CHSG. Collectively, what we originally thought was a pessimistic view has actually become the most realistic one. 

The CHSG will transfer the balance in its accounts to the Paul Farber Memorial Fund at Oregon State University which supports an annual lecture in the history of natural history. Paul was a founding member of the CHSG who regularly attended its annual meetings until his retirement in 2008. 

You can learn more about the CHSG by reading Keith Bentgsson’s article on the Columbia History of Science Group's origins, "Flail on, Columbia: An Irreverent Look at HSS's Soggiest Subsection, the Columbia History of Science Group" (Isis. Vol. 90, Supplement, Catching up with the Vision: Essays on the Occasion of the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the History of Science Society, 1999, pp. S240-S245). Link to article. 

Here's to a great 40-year run!