Fri Jul 2 09:52:27 EDT 2004
Call for Participation
First International Conference of the International Railway History
Association (IRHA) / Association internationale d‘histoire des chemins de
fer (AIHC) / Asociación Internacional de Historia Ferroviaria (AIHF) in
Semmering (Austria), September 17–19, 2004
The International Railway History Association (IRHA) is very pleased to
invite all who are interested in Traffic, Business and Social History to
its first International conference. International financial transactions
that have taken place across national borders continue to attract our
attention and are of the greatest importance in Europe and throughout the
world. The conference will focus on the major investors who, in the 19th
and beginning of the 20th centuries, first established railway shares as an
act of national unity. A considerable number of these investors also wanted
to create extensive world-wide network and thus invested a lot of capital
in foreign countries. We would like to discuss the role of financiers,
businessmen and engineers of the railways in the time when certain
well-known individuals of European capitalism appear on the scene.
* When, where and why were railway investments from investors from other
countries of great importance?
* How difficult was it for foreign investors to realise their interests in
light of national laws and government policy as well as the economic and
cultural barriers that existed at that time.
* What were the economic and political consequences of railway investments
across the borders?
* As a tribute to our conference host in the town of Semmering, Austria, we
look also at the history of its 150 year old railway line
(http://www.noe.co.at/partner/trsued/whsemmeringbahn/home.htm)
Please find below the schedule of the conference including the following
events and papers:
Friday, 17 September 2004
15.00–16.00: Opening of the Conference
* Welcome by Gerhard H. Gürtlich (Federal Ministry for Traffic, Innovation
and Technology, Vienna, Austria)
* Welcome by Helmut Hainitz (Austrian Federal Railway, Vienna)
* Welcome by Paul Veron (UIC, Paris, France)
* Opening of the conference by Michèle Merger (President of IRHA, Paris,
France)
16.00–19.00: Session 1 – Individual Across-Border Investors
* Melanie Aspey (The Rothschild Archive, London, United Kingdom): Making
Tracks: Promoting The Rothschild Archive as a Source for Railway History
* Christophe Bouneau (Université Michel de Montaigne – Bordeaux 3 and
Maison des Sciences de l’Homme d’Aquitaine, France): The Pereire Family
Strategy in the Field of International Finance in the 1850–1860’s
* Ihor Zhaloba (University Library, Czernowitz, Ukraine): Leon Sapieha – a
Prince and a Railroad Entepreneur
* Michèle Merger (Institut d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, CNRS,
Paris, France): Raffaele de Ferrari, Duke of Galliera, an Investor of
European Stature
* Ralf Roth (Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany): The
Rise and Fall of the Railway King Henry Bethel Strousberg: Difficulties of
International Railway Investments in Germany in the 1860s
19.45: Evening Lecture
* Rocio Robles Tardio (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain): Economic
Investment and Railway Publicity. The Influence of Railway Photographs
Circulation on French and Spanish Modern Painting in the 19th Century
Second Half
Saturday, 18. September 2004
9.00–13.00: Session 2 – Across Border Investments in Europe
* Francisco de los Cobos Arteaga & Tomás Martínez Vara (Universidad de
Castilla-La Mancha and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain): Spanish
Society of Secondary Railways: the Failure of a Major International Project
to Create an Additional Railway Network in Spain
* Gustav Sjöblom (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom): International
Constraints, Railway Finance and the Menace of Motorization in Germany,
1925–35, Including a Brief Comparison with Sweden and Great Britain
* Daniela Felisini (Università di Roma "Torre Vergata", Italy): Railway
Investments in Italy in the 19th Century
* Magda Pinheiro (Instituto superior de Ciéncias do Trabalho e da Empresa,
Portugal): The French Investors in Portuguese Railways from 1855 to 1884:
Three Cases
* Frans Buelens (University of Antwerp, Belgium): British and French
Investments in the Belgian Railroad Sector During the 19th Century
* Augustus J. Veenendaal (Institute of Netherlands History at The Hague,
The Netherlands): The Dutch as Railway Investors at Home and Abroad
Saturday, 18. September 2004
15.00–19.00: Session 3 – From Europe into the World: Oversea Investments
* Diane K. Drummond (University of Leeds, United Kingdom): Reasons for
Sustained British Investment in Overseas’ Railways, 1830–1914: The Imperial
Dream, Engineers’ Assurances or an ‘Investment Hungry’ Public?
* Ian J. Kerr (University of Manitoba, Canada): John Chapman and the
Promotion of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, 1842–1850
* Robert Lee (University of Western Sydney, Australia): French Finance and
Railway Construction in Northern China, 1895–1905
* Ian Thompson (Unidad de Transporte, Chile): The Transandine Railway: a
Hundred Year Long Financial Disaster that still Attracts Investors
* Maria Teresa Ribeiro de Oliveira (University of Brasília, Brazil): The
Establishment of Railways in the 19th Century Brazil and the British
Imperialism
* Bulent Bilmez (Yeditepe University, Istanbul, Turkey): Railway Projects
as 'Modernisation Projects': Review of Ottoman Railways to 1918
19.45: Evening lecture
* Andrea Giuntini (Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia,
Italy): Invitation to Our Next Conference in Italy
* Gerhard H. Gürtlich (Federal Ministry for Traffic, Innovation and
Technology, Vienna, Austria): Semmering Railway. The History and Financial
Aspects Then and Today
Sunday, 19. September 2004
9.00–12.00: Excursion
* Walter Potucek (Austrian Federal Railway, Vienna): Guided Tour Along the
UNESCO World Heritage Semmeringbahn
13.00: End of the Conference
The conference is supported by the Federal Ministry for Traffic, Innovation
and Technology (Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie),
the Austrian Association for Traffic and Science (Österreichische
Verkehrswissenschaftliche Gesellschaft) and Bombardier:
The conference will take place at the Panhans Hotel in Semmering (Austria)
from September 17 to 19, 2004.
End of registration date is 20 August 2004
For registration, please use the following address:
https://secure.austropa-interconvention.at/ei/getdemo.ei?id=99&s=_19I0W95NN
or visit our website: http://www.ffe.es/ai
In any case you have organisational questions, contact:
Austropa Interconvention
Österr. Verkehrsbüro AG
Friedrichstrasse 7, A-1010 Wien
Tel. +43 1 588 00 521, Fax +43 1 588 00 520
E-Mail: austropa at interconvention.at
For any question concerning the content of the conference do not hesitate
to contact:
PD Dr. Ralf Roth
Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität
Historisches Seminar
Grüneburgplatz 1
60629 Frankfurt am Main
Tel.: +49 (0)69 798-32627 and +49 (0)69 83 83 38 85
Fax: +49 (0)69 798-32622 and +49 (0)69 83 83 38 85
E-Mail: RalfRoth1 at compuserve.com
or
Günter Dinhobl
IFF - Fakultät für Interdisziplinäre Forschung und Fortbildung
(Klagenfurt - Graz - Wien)
Schottenfeldgasse 29/5
A-1070 Wien
E-Mail: guenter.dinhobl at univie.ac.at
For more information visit our website: International Railway History
Association (IRHA) / Association internationale d‘histoire des chemins de
fer (AIHC) / Asociación Internacional de Historia Ferroviaria (AIHF)