Just over fifty years ago, in 1968, the Esperantic Studies Foundation was incorporated as a charitable organization. Since that time, it has remained active in grant-giving, support for programmatic activities, and the actual administration of programs – not just in North America, but all over the world. Its three founders, young at the time, are still with us as board members or consultants.
Over the years, ESF’s administration has gone through many changes. In this process, documents have been lost or scattered, researchers and program organizers are in many cases no longer living, and there is a distinct risk that valuable information on the history of the Foundation will disappear.
There is a pressing need both to preserve the written history and to gather the memories of participants in ESF’s activities. The Board has accordingly decided to finance a modest project to achieve these goals, perhaps leading in due course to a published history of the Foundation’s first half-century.
The Foundation is interested in hearing from individuals in the United States and Canada who might be interested in participating in, or leading, an ESF History Project. If you are interested, please write to our Executive Director, Chuck Mays, at chuck.mays@esperantic.org, before April 30, 2019.