A Brief History of ISSPR Time
July 18 - 23, 1982. The inaugural International Conference on Personal Relationships (ICPR)
was held at Madison, WI. The first ICPR was founded and organised by Robin Gilmour and
Steve Duck; local hosts, Elaine Hatfield and John Delamater
May/June 1984. A note sent to second ICPR conferees suggested founding of a Society with
initial planning sessions held at the 1984 ICPR. The preliminary working group of Steve Duck,
Robin Gilmour, Dan Perlman, Jim Flanders and Mary Anne Fitzpatrick to collated inputs from
conferees.
July 22-27, 1984. The second ICPR at Madison, organised by Robin Gilmour and Steve Duck.
July 23, 1984. At 7.30 pm the first meeting to discuss the foundation of a society for the study of
personal relationships occured. Conferees agreed to found the International Society for the
Study of Personal Relationships (ISSPR). Co-chairs: Steve Duck and Robin Gilmour.
Membership chair and Treasurer: Mary Anne Fitzpatrick. ISSPR news editor: Bob Milardo.
Features editor: Cathy Surra. European correspondent: Jenny de Jong-Gierveld.
July 25, 1984. The first Charter members join together and form ISSPR. Ninty-four sign up
during the conference; 13 return forms soon after the conference. Biennial dues were $10.00
(US).
Early 1985. The first edition of ISSPR News, the society newsletter edited by Bob Milardo,
appears. It included an interview with Leonard Berkowitz and Harold Kelley conducted by
Cathy Surra on "the need for a field of personal relationships", which is brilliant, as well as an
article on "Electronic Mail" and BITNET by Mike Johnson, in which the term email is not yet
invoked.
Steve Duck announced the establishment of ISSPR and stated its aims: "to promote research into
relationships, to improve communication between researchers in the field, and to establish the
field in the public, corporate and scholarly worlds.... The scope of the Society is both
multidisciplinary and international."
Spring 1986. An Advisory Council, a precursor to a board of directors, is formed to help guide
the future of the Society and its governance.
July 6 - 11, 1986. The third ICPR at Herzlia, Israel, organised by Robin Gilmour and Steve Duck
with local hosts, Dani Bar-Tal and Stefan Hobfoll. At the third ICPR it was agreed that we
should move towards developing the Society on a more formal basis, with an elected President,
bye-laws, etc. Accordingly nominations were canvassed and Michael Argyle, Steve Duck and
Hal Kelley stood for elections, which were held at the end of 1986/beginning of 1987. Hal Kelley
was eventually elected and accepted the position in April, 1987.
Milardo/Gilmour ISSPR Brief History
Fall, 1986. Donna Sollie takes over as Membership Secretary and Treasurer.
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Fall, 1987. Members doubles to 240 including members in psychology (45%), family studies
(11%), communications (11%), sociology (5%), and nine additional disciplines.
The Iowa Network on Personal Relationships forms.
July, 1987. An ad-hoc committee to prepare bye-laws was set up and chaired by Ted Huston.
Spring 1988. Treasurer Donna Sollie present the first balance statement for the Society in
Volume 4, no. 2 of the ISSPR News. For 1987 the Society had income and savings of $2,992
and expenses of $624.
April 1988. Hal Kelley appoints Harry Reis chair of a newly formed awards committee, whose
first charge is to find ways to "recognize the best workers in our field."
July 3 - 8, 1988. The fourth ICPR was held at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
Canada, and organised by RobinGilmour and Steve Duck with local host Dan Perlman.
Fall 1988. ISSPR News, the society's newsletter, becomes ISSPR Bulletin under the editorship
of Susan Sprecher.
Spring 1989. ISSPR Bulletin (Vol. 5, No. 2) includes another article, penned by Sue Sprecher,
on the virtues of BITNET and electronic mail, and the URL's of 91 members were published, or
nearly 50% of the membership.
July 15-20, 1990. The fifth International Conference on Personal Relationships is held at
Oxford, St. Catherine's College and organised by Robin Gilmour and local host Michael Argyle..
At the business meeting of the Society, President Hal Kelley presiding, Robin Gilmour and
Steve Duck are honored for their enormous efforts in organizing and funding the first
conferences. The membership votes to begin a feasibility study of initiating a new journal. As
another item of business biennial membership dues are raised from $10.00 to $20.00. At the
fifth ICPR sponsorship (including financial and program responsibility and planning) of the
conferences was formally transferred to the Society for the future.
Spring 1991. President Ellen Berscheid announces plans for a merger of ISSPR and the
International Network on Personal Relationships (INPR) (ISSPR, Bulletin, 7(2), 1991, p.16).
Although these negotiations did not proceed as planned (ISSPR Bulletin, 8(1), 1991, p. 34-35),
two vibrant organizations remained.
Fall 1991. As a result of a survey of members, a publications committee (Dan Perlman, Chair) is
formed to explore the possibility of developing a new journal (see report from the committee,
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Milardo/Gilmour ISSPR Brief History
ISSPR Bulletin, 8(1), 1991, p. 35-38).
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Spring 1992. Membership chair, Catherine Surra, reports continuing growth in the organization
with a total of 386 members. The first interest groups, now an ISSPR tradition, are formed for
Attachment Theory, Cognition, Relationship Maintenance, Gender, Longitudinal Design, and
Teaching.
July 23-28, 1992. The sixth International Conference on Personal Relationships is held at the
University of Maine. This is the first conference sponsored by the Society.
Fall 1992. Ted Huston becomes the third president of the Society and Anita Vangelisti becomes
the third editor of the Bulletin.
Spring 1993. The Society announces the start of a new journal Personal Relationships to be
published by Cambridge University Press.
Fall 1993. The Bulletin (Vol 10(1)) includes the results of a student survey by Mark Attridge,
and the first photo reproductions of ISSPR members, sailing in Bar Harbor (during the Orono
conference).
March 1994. The first issue of Personal Relationships is published with Pat Noller as editor.
The issue included 5 feature articles and a message from the editor detailing the purpose of the
new journal to "provide an outlet for excellent research in the field of personal relationships, and
to provide an outlet which is both multidisciplinary and international" (p. 1).
Spring 1994. New interest groups form on Analyzing Diary data, Relationships and Coping, and
Contextual Perspectives.
July 4-8, 1994. The 7th International Conference on Personal Relationships is held at the
University of Groningen, The Netherlands, with 245 participants from 17 countries, and who can
forget the Academiegebouw, although perhaps not pronounce it, as well as the stunningly
beautiful Aa Kerk, where the awards banquet was held. At the business meeting members vote
to hold dues to $40US per year ($34.00 for students), thanks to the earnings generated from past
conferences.
Fall 1995. The Bulletin gets a new look and a new editor, Nancy Collins. Anne Peplau becomes
the fourth president and initiates a regular feature of the Bulletin--the President's Column. The
Society's organizational structure shows increasing reach and sophistication with four officers,
seven at-large board members, editor of the journal and bulletin, and seven committee chairs.
Mark Baldwin and Susan Boon develop the Society's first web site.
Spring 1996. Beverly Fehr (Chair, Program Committee) receives the first grant in support of
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Milardo/Gilmour ISSPR Brief History
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work by the Society, a $22,000 (CAN) grant from the Social Science and Humanities Research
Council of Canada. This grant underwrote the cost of the Banff conference. The first minutes of
a business meeting of the society is published for the meeting held July 8, 1994 in Groningen.
The treasurer reported a balance of $19,761 US as of June 1994 (see Bulletin, 12(2), 1996, 27).
August 4-8, 1996. The eight International Conference on Personal Relationships in held in
Banff, Alberta, Canada, and was attended by over 300 participants from 18 foreign countries.
Dan Perlman becomes the fifth president of the Society. Highlights from the minutes of the
business meeting include: membership now exceeds 600; Harry Reis and Mary Anne Fitzpatrick
are named editors for the Society's "Advances in Relationships" series; the journal now has 82
institutional subscriptions (see Bulletin, 13(1), 1995, 25). Membership stands at 615 with 24%
nonUS members.
July 1997. President Dan Perlman and Barbara Sarason (President of the International Network
on Personal Relationships or INPR) begin conferring on ways the two organizations might
increase cooperation.
Spring 1998. Dan Perlman appoints Rosemary Bleiszner to chair an Outreach Committee
charged with establishing cooperative links with INPR.
January 1998. Jeff Simpson becomes the second editor of Personal Relationships.
Spring 1998. "European Perspectives on Family Violence" edited by Renate Klein, the first
volume in the new ISSPR book series, is published by Routledge.
June 20-24, 1998. The ninth International Conference on Personal Relationships is held in
Saratoga Springs, NY at Skidmore College. Pat Noller becomes the sixth president of the
Society, and Kelley Brennan becomes the forth editor of the Bulletin. ISSPR incorporates and
adopts a new set of by-laws. Membership stands at 515 with approximately 25% non US
members.
Submitted April, 1999 to the ISSPR History Committee, Susan Sprecher Chair.
"And we alone lived to tell this tale."
Robert M. Milardo, Ph.D.
Professor of Family Relationship
University of Maine
Robin Gilmour
Psychology Department
Lancaster University
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