Labour history is a thriving field of research. Over the last decades, national and international comparative research in labour history has been complemented by attention to connections and circulations between different regions, and a truly global approach to the field covering increasingly larger time frames has been developed.
18 years ago, an initiative of a group of European labour historians resulted in the foundation of LabNet as an organisation of individuals which had as its primary aim the exchange of information (http://www.socialhistoryportal.org/labnet/proceedings). To that goal, the LabNet list, an e-mail list, was created, hosted by the International Institute of Social History (IISH). The LabNet list has been catering for a community of around 500 people, by providing a steady stream of information on upcoming conferences, call for papers, research projects, news on archival collections, digitization projects, job ads, etc., supplemented by occasional direct requests for research information.
As you will have noticed, the frequency of the postings to the list has been decreasing substantively over the last year, to become completely silent over the last couple of months. The people maintaining the LabNet list and the technical infrastructure behind it now have come to the conclusion that the developments in the world of online communication has rendered the medium of listserv-lists obsolete. Web-based information channels have taken over the role of the e-mail lists in the field of labour history, as in most other fields.
As (former) moderators of this list, we expressly invite all subscribers to the LabNet list to subscribe to the Social and Labour History News Service of the socialhistoryportal.org (http://www.socialhistoryportal.org/news). Once a month socialhistoryportal.org sends out a table of contents of messages published in its News Service - not the entire text, just the clickable titles as they appear on the homepage. You can click HERE to subscribe!
At the same time, Social and Labour HistoryNews Service is a platform for which any information on social and labour history is very welcome. Please send news relating to social and labour history you would like publicized on the Social and Labour History News Service website to info@socialhistoryportal.org. We welcome information about upcoming conferences, calls for papers, announcements of publications, book reviews, conference reports, news on collections, exhibitions, new websites, etc.
For now, we would like to thank all subscribers to the LabNet list for their input over the last 18 years.
On behalf of the LabNet moderating team,
Aad Blok and David Mayer