Background
The Society for Spanish and Portuguese Studies was formally established at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut,
on April 19, 1969, during the Symposium on the Spanish Republican Emigration of 1939. This symposium was organized by Clara
E. Lida (Wesleyan University), Carlos Blanco Aguinaga (University of California, San Diego), Edward Malefakis (Northwestern
University), Nicolas Sanchez-Albornoz (New York University), and Iris M. Zavala (State University of New York, Stony Brook).
At a meeting composed of historians and public attendees, the group voted to establish a Society with the mission of promoting
historical scholarship and research in Iberian history and related fields. The members of the organizing committee became
the Society's first Executive Council for 1969-1970 and voted to add two more members, Thomas Glick (University of Texas,
Austin), and Juan Marichal (Harvard University). Thomas Glick was editor of the Newsletter (later re-named the Bulletin), the Society's publication, and Clara E. Lida was the first General Secretary.