> The Group for the History of Business owners and managers

In May 1986, a team of historians from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (composed of professors, assistants, researchers in modern history and journalism) started a major research project on business owners and managers during the 19th and 20th centuries. To this date, there was no in-depth study on Belgian business owners, covering simultaneously the technical and economical aspects, but also their political and socio-cultural roles.

A first study was launched, aiming at bringing together the biographies of Belgian managers from 1830 to the end of the 20th century. It led to the publication, in 1996, of the “Dictionnaire des Patrons en Belgique – Les hommes, les entreprises, les réseaux” (Dictionary of the managers in Belgium – Mens, firms, networks). This dictionary is composed of 700 biographical notices. It has been realised with the collaboration of the best experts coming from Belgian universities and research centres, such as UCL, KUL, ULG, UFSIA and KADOC. This vast study encouraged new researches on Belgian economic history that allowed to emphasize the role of familial networks and the evolution of managers social political and cultural origins.

This new impetus enabled the realisation of several PhD’s and research projects concerning i.e. industry-university relations, bank managers, sectors of advertisement, retail and brewery, press and journalistic professionals and their relations with the managers. Today, the organisation of conferences, and the publication of specialised literature ensure a significant influence to the Université Libre de Bruxelles in the field of managers history.

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