The Society was formed at a general meeting held at the Institute of Historical Research on Wednesday 12 July 1967. The meeting was chaired by Ernst Gombrich; those present included Sir Kenneth (later Lord) Clark. Debate opened with the question of whether membership could include institutions as well as individuals, and the minutes record that ‘the ensuing discussion was inconclusive’. Those assembled then moved on to the Irish question, and in the end were unable to decide whether Irish colleagues should be admitted; the draft constitution therefore proclaims that the nascent society should be called the ‘Renaissance Society of Great Britain (and Ireland?)’. On the subject of the amenities that the Society should provide, there was support for Professor Gombrich’s suggestion that the main purpose of the Society should be the exchange of information and for Edmund Fryde’s view that the Society should not produce a learned journal. The meeting then elected officers – Peter Murray (Chairman), Sydney Anglo (Secretary) and George Bull (Treasurer) – and ordinary committee members (Ernst Gombrich, Denys Hay and Humphreys Whitfield) whose numbers could be supplemented by co-option.
Two days later (14 July) the six members of the Committee met at the Warburg Institute, with which the Society was to have an enduring relationship. They invited J.B. Trapp, F.W. Sternfeld and Teresa Hankey to join the committee. It was agreed at a meeting of 27 December that the Society should be called the Society for Renaissance Studies, and that it should have a newsletter which would in the first instance be edited by Sydney Anglo. In the years to follow the committee planned programmes and debated the constitution, the subscription rates, and the contentious issue of whether anniversaries of Renaissance figures should be marked by conferences.
Chairs
2010-2013 Judith Bryce
2007-2010 John Law
2004-2007 Brian Vickers
2001-2004 David Chambers
1998-2001 Gordon Campbell
1995-1998 Francis Ames-Lewis
1992-1995 Susan Foister
1989-1992 Robert Knecht
1986-1989 Sydney Anglo
1983-1986 Peter Burke
1980-1983 Dominic Baker-Smith
1976-1980 Margaret Mann Phillips
1973-1976 John Hale
1970-1973 Nicolai Rubinstein
1967-1970 Peter Murray
Vice-Chairs
2010-2013 Peter Mack
2007-2010 Judith Bryce
Treasurers
2011-2014 Jane Stevens Crawshaw
2005- 2011 Matthew Dimmock
1989-2005 Richard Simpson
1967-1988 George Bull
Secretaries
2008- Gabriele Neher
2005-2008 Claire Jowitt
2003-2004 Michelle O’Malley
1999-2003 David Rundle
1998-1999 Emma-Rose Flett
1994-1998 Stephen Milner
1990-1994 Sarah Hutton
1986-1990 Letizia Panizza
1983-1986 Ruth Chavasse
1980-1983 Peter Denley
1978-1980 David Wootton
1977-1978 David Freedberg
1974-1977 Laura Lepschy
1970-1974 David Chambers
1967-1970 Sydney Anglo
Membership Secretaries
2011 - Chloe Houston
2010 - 2011 Liz Oakley-Brown (acting)
2008 - 2010 Chloe Houston
2005- 2008 Kevin Killeen
2004-2005 Steve Wharton
2000-2004 Kenneth Carleton
1985-1988 Patrick Sweeney
1983-1985 Peter Denley
Annual Lecturers
For the first three years the AGM included a short address to the Society (e.g. in 1970 Margaret Mann Phillips spoke on recent Erasmus conferences). Annual lectures began in 1971, and they were printed from 1973.
2011 Alison Brown
2010 Lorne Campbell
2009 Sydney Anglo
2008 Deborah Howard
2007 Lauro Martines
2006 Ian Maclean
2005 Brian Vickers
2004 Katherine Duncan-Jones
2003 Peter Mack
2002 John Flood
2001 Susan Foister
2000 Alison Brown
1999 David Chambers
1998 Reinhard Strohm
1997 Lisa Jardine
1996 Vivian Nutton
1995 Nicholas Mann
1994 Margaret McGowan
1993 Quentin Skinner
1992 Elizabeth McGrath
1991 Michael Mallett
1990 Stanley Wells
1989 Patrick Collinson
1988 Brian Vickers
1987 Peter Burke
1986 Martin Kemp
1985 Joseph Rykwert
1984 John Stevens
1983 Keith Thomas
1982 Perkin Walker
1981 Nicolai Rubinstein
1980 Michael Screech
1979 J.B. Trapp
1978 John Hale
1977 Frances Yates
1976 John Sparrow
1975 Ernst Gombrich
1974 Anthony Levi
1973 Denys Hay
1972 John White
1971 Frances Yates