One of the first things Fiona and I wanted do as new Co-Presidents was to develop a channel of communication between members that was less fleeting than an email announcement, but not as formal as a journal article.
Through conversations with past Presidents we learned that when History of Meteorology was first launched, there was an intention that it would carry not just fully-fledged research articles, but also shorter pieces from members documenting things like new archival finds, conference reports, and short responses to recently published articles.
With a swish new website, we thought that now would be a good time resurrect this plan for a ‘Notes and Letters’ format, but taking advantage of the fast turnaround and accessibility of a blog embedded with meteohistory.org, and sitting alongside our journal.
So, to that end, we would like to introduce and welcome you to ICHM’s Notes and Letters! We invite contributions of up to around 1500 words on anything to do with the history of meteorology and neighbouring sciences, its archives and sources, conferences and gatherings, debates and disagreements.
We see this as a platform to maintain communication between members and interested audiences in between major gatherings and journal issue publications, and as a way to share insights into the scholarship process in which we are all engaged.
So, if you’ve just been to a new archive and would like to share something of the experience, to give a glimpse of new findings before a journal or book publication, to share a new idea or anecdote, or to contribute some commentary to a recent article or debate in the field, then please get in touch!
We are also keen to explore publishing Notes and Letters articles in languages other than English. If you would like to discuss this, please drop us a line.
We have a couple of contributions lined up to get the ball rolling over the next few weeks. But if you have an idea for a note or a letter, feel free to get in touch at m.mahony@uea.ac.uk.
Martin and Fiona, Co-Presidents