International Institute of Social History (IISH)

Work and labour relations deeply influence how we live. The International Institute of Social History (IISH) examines how these relations develop globally over time. To conduct this historical research and support other researchers, we collect archives and data from all over the world. Established in 1935, the IISH is one of the world's leading research institutes on social history.

Since 1979 the IISH has been an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). The collections, some of which concern politically sensitive materials, are the property of or have been issued on standing loan to the independent IISH Foundation.

An international evaluation committee of the KNAW concluded in 2011 that the research department performed 'world-class research' and that the research programme was 'paradigm-shifting'.