[1913: A hundred years ago, the Society of the History of Pharmacy was born].

The "Société d'histoire de la pharmacie" was chronologically the first society for the history of pharmacy in the world. It was initiated by a triumvirate : Eugene-Humbert Guitard (1884-1976), a young graduate of the "Ecole des chartes", Charles Buchet (1848-1933), director of an important pharmaceutical cooperative named "Pharmacie central de France", and Paul Dorveaux (1851-1938), the librarian of the Superior School of Pharmacy of Paris. Those three men were perfectly complementary: the pharmacist Buchet was the "financial", the doctor Dorveaux was the "strategist" and Guitard was in charge of the practical realization. To carry out this project, they appealed to men of good will. Finally, on February 1, 1913, seventy founding members gave birth to the "Societe d'histoire de la pharmacie". These founders came from diverse backgrounds. Some of them, such Dorveaux, belonged to the "Société française d'histoire de la medecine", founded ten years ago. Others were members of the Supervisory Committee of the "Pharmacie centrale de France". A third group consisted of university teachers, as Leon Guignard, the former director of the Superior School of Pharmacy of Paris. There was also some archivists and writers, for example Camille Bloch, Ferdinand Brunot and, of course, Eugene-Humbert Guitard. The largest contingent was made up of French historians and collectors, like Antoine Balland and Charles-Henri Fialon. There was also four foreign founders: the Danish John William Schibbye Johnsson (1868-1929), the American Edward Kremers (1865-1941), and the Germans Hermann Emil Schelenz (1848-1922) and Karl Sudhoff (1853-1938). All of them were correspondents and friends of Paul Dorveaux. As Guitard wrote in 1938, Dorveaux office was, at that time, the "world center" of the studies ofhistory of pharmacy. Morever, according Guitard, the new group could have be called "Societe internationale d'histoire de la pharmacie". The term "international" seemed unfortunately too connoted at this time (synonymous ofworkerism!). So it was abandonned. The World War I has partially ended this aspiration to international cooperation. France and Germany was far apart from each other. And World War II further complicated this situation. France has organized its first international Congress of History of Pharmacy at Paris in 1973: it was already the 21st Congress organized by the International Society for the History of Pharmacy! Fortunately, two others followed: in 1995 and 2013.