Meeting History

In December of 1954, under the auspices of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a meeting of some seventy people was held in Berkeley to form a society for the exploration and development of the ideas that von Bertalanffy, Boulding, Rapoport, and Gerard had come together to discuss earlier that year in Palo Alto at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (a newly established Ford Foundation enterprise).
 
History of Annual Meetings
 
The Society began as the Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory, which was then changed to the Society for General Systems Research in the fall of 1955.
 
The name was changed again in 1986 to the International Society for General Systems Research, and then finally, in 1988, to the International Society for the Systems Sciences.
 
1 Formation as the Society for the Advancement of General Systems Theory 
| 1954 | -3 (Dec 27) organizational meeting, in AAAS | USA | Berkeley, CA |
| 1955 | -2 (Dec 27) founding meetings and papers, with AAAS | USA | Atlanta, GA | Entropy
| 1956 | -1 (Dec 29-30), founding meeting as chapter in AAAS | USA | New York | Systems under stress
 
2 Annual Meetings of the Society for General Systems Research 
| 1957 | 1 (December 26-31), with AAAS (3rd AAAS meeting) | USA | Indianapolis, IN | Organization for Humans, Cells and Artifacts
| 1958 | 2 (December 29), with AAAS (4th) | USA | Washington, DC | Population Dynamics
| 1959 | 3 (December 29-30), with AAAS (5th) | USA | Chicago, IL | The Synthesis of Organization
| 1960 | 4 (December 29-30), with AAAS (6th) | USA | New York | The Boundaries of Systems
| 1961 | 5 (December 29), with AAAS (7th) | USA | Denver, CO | The Teaching of Systems Thinking
| 1962 | 6 (December 26-31), with AAAS (8th) | USA | Philadelphia, PA |
| 1963 | 7 (December 27), with AAAS (9th) | USA | Cleveland, OH | General Systems and the Two Cultures
| 1964 | 8 (December 26-31), with AAAS (10th) | Canada | Montreal, Quebec | Positive feedback
| 1965 | 9 (December 27-31), with AAAS (11th) | USA | Berkeley, CA | various themes
| 1966 | 10 (December 26-30), with AAAS (12th) | USA | Washington | (various themes, particularly: Symbolism)
| 1967 | 11 (December 26-30), with AAAS (13th) | USA | New York | (various themes)
| 1968 | 12 (December 26-30), with AAAS (14th) | USA | Dallas, TX | Man in Systems
| 1969 | 13 (December 27-30), with AAAS (15th) | USA | Boston, MA | (various themes)
| 1970 | 14 (December 26-30), with AAAS (16th) | USA | Chicago, IL | World Cities of the Future
| 1971 | 15 (December 27-30), with AAAS | USA | Philadelphia, PA | The World System
| 1972 | 16 (Sep 30) Mid-Atlantic | USA | Washington, DC |
| 1973 | 17 (Apr 14) Mid-Atlantic | USA | The American University, Washington, DC |
| 1974 | 18 (February 25-March 2) with AAAS | USA | San Francisco, CA |
| 1975 | 19 (February 18-21) with AAAS | USA | Boston, MA |
| 1976 | 20 | USA | Boston, MA |
| 1977 | 21 (Feb 20-26) | USA | Denver, CO |
| 1978 | 22 Feb 13-15 with AAAS | USA | Washington, DC |
| 1979 | 23 23rd meeting held 3-8 Jan in Houston, TX with AAAS (and also the 25th Silver anniversary of the society's 1954 founding, in August) First International meeting | England | London |
| 1980 | 24 (Jan 7-10) | USA | San Francisco, CA |
| 1981 | 25 (Jan 6-10), not with AAAS now on | Canada | Toronto, ON |
| 1982 | 26 (Jan 5-9) | USA | Washington, DC |
| 1983 | 27 | USA | Detroit,MI |
| 1984 | 28 | USA | New York, NY |
| 1985 | 29 | USA | Los Angeles, CA |
 
3 Annual Meetings of the International Society for General Systems Research =
| 1986 | 30 | USA | Philadelphia, PA |
| 1987 | 31 | Hungary | Budapest |
 
4 Annual Meetings of the International Society for the Systems Sciences =
| 1988 | 32 | USA | St Louis, MO |
| 1989 | 33 | Scotland | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| 1990 | 34 | USA | Portland, OR |
| 1991 | 35 | Sweden | Ostersund |
| 1992 | 36 | USA | Denver, CO |
| 1993 | 37 | Australia | Hawkesbury, NSW |
| 1994 | 38 | USA | Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) |
| 1995 | 39 | Netherlands | Amsterdam |
| 1996 | 40 | USA and Hungary | Louisville, KY (July) and Budapest (Sept) |
| 1997 | 41 | Korea | Seoul |
| 1998 | 42 | USA | Atlanta, GA |
| 1999 | 43 | USA | Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) |
| 2000 | 44 | Canada | Toronto, ON |  2000 Video YouTube Playlist
| 2001 | 45 | USA | Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) |
| 2002 | 46 | China | Shanghai (PuDong) |
| 2003 | 47 | Greece | Crete (Hersonissos) |
| 2004 | 48 | USA | Asilomar (Pacific Grove, CA) |
| 2005 | 49 | Mexico | Cancun |
| 2006 | 50 | USA | Sonoma (Rohnert Park, CA) |
| 2007 | 51 | Japan |Tokyo  |
| 2008 | 52 | USA |Madison  |
| 2009 | 53 | Australia | Brisbane  |
| 2010 | 54 | Canada | Waterloo, Ontario |
| 2011 | 55 | UK | Hull |
| 2012 | 56 | USA |San Jose |
| 2013 | 57 | Vietnam | Hai Phong |
| 2014 | 58 | USA | Washington DC |
| 2015 | 59 | Germany | Berlin |
| 2016 | 60 | USA | Boulder |
| 2017 | 61 | Austria |Vienna |
| 2018 | 62 | USA | Corvallis |
| 2019 | 63 | USA | Corvallis |
| 2020 | 64 | (cancelled) |  |
| 2021 | 65 | (online) |  |
| 2022 | 66 | (online) |  |
| 2023 | 67 | South Africa | Kruger National Park |
| 2024 | 68 | USA | Washington D.C. |
 
This data was accumulated by Jennifer Wilby, maintained by ISSS Office, and augmented with a contribution by Alexander Laszlo. A significant addition was made in March 2024 by Rob Young with research into earlier AAAS locations and joint meetings, and the themes of those meeting.