The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC) has a long and distinguished history, having first been founded by J.R. Partington (1886-1965), Frank Sherwood Taylor (1897-1956) and Douglas McKie (1896-1967) in 1935. Read more on SHAC’s history here.
Today the Society is managed by a Council of 13 to 18 members. The Council normally meets twice a year. It has five officers: Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, Membership Secretary, and Editor of Ambix and Ambix Secretary. Further roles are carried out by members of Council or by observers at Council. The Annual General Meeting of the Society is held in the Autumn of each year. The Society is registered as a charity (nr. 1190304) in England and Wales and is governed by its Constitution. Members who wish to view the Society’s Rules, which cover managerial matters, or require information on the earlier charity beyond that which is available on the Charity Commission website should contact: society [at] ambix.org
The Society’s archives have been deposited with the History of Science Museum, Oxford University, where they are available for scholars to consult. The online catalogue can be consulted here.
The Charity provides an annual report and annual accounts to the Charity Commission for England and Wales and these are available on the Charity Commission web site Charity Commission Records.
The minutes of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) are available here.
Become a Member
Membership of SHAC costs £40 per annum, reduced to £25 per annum for students and £30 for retired members of 10 years’ continuous standing, and is excellent value in view of the benefits of membership.
If you wish to renew your membership, please go to this page.
If you wish to join the Society, please go to this page.
Benefits of Membership
The Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC), founded in 1935, has a long-standing tradition in the fields of alchemy and chemistry, organising colloquia, publications and promoting the interdisciplinary study of the field from its early beginnings to the present. It brings together members interested in the history of chemistry and alchemy from across the world.
Meetings: SHAC arranges regular events and meetings. It maintains close contacts with other institutions such as Science History Institute in Philadelphia, USA.
Ambix: Members also receive the Society’s journal Ambix which is published by Taylor and Francis and appears four times a year. Ambix is one of the leading scholarly journals in the field of the history of alchemy and chemistry, publishing articles and book reviews which provide an incomparable overview of work in the subject. Members also have online access to the electronic archive containing all issues since 1935.
Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry: In 2013 the Society launched the first of a new series of monograph-length supplements, Sources of Alchemy and Chemistry, supplied to members with Ambix. This series will provide critical editions and English translations of some of the foundational texts in the history of alchemy and early chemistry: sources that have previously been inaccessible to the majority of scholars owing to a lack of modern editions.
Funding: Members of the Society are eligible to apply for grants under the Award Scheme.
News & Newsletter: News postings on our website and our newsletter, Chemical Intelligence, offers a forum for advertising forthcoming events, both within the United Kingdom and internationally.
Young Scholars: The Society welcomes student members and has set up the Graduate Network to bring together and support students in the field. Since 2010 the Society’s student representatives have organised annual postgraduate workshops.
Discounts: Members of SHAC receive substantial discounts on three journals published by Taylor and Francis, Annals of Science, History and Technology, and History and Philosophy of Logic. For details contact info[at]ambix.org . Discounts of 30% are available to members on books published by the T&F group (Routledge and CRC Press). The discount code can be accessed via the member area.
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