Between the years 1956 and 1958 the School of Oriental and African
Studies, University of London, held a series of study conferences to survey
and evaluate the course and character of historical writing on the peoples
of Asia. To bring this large subject down to manageable parts the method
of analysis by region was adopted; and South Asia, South East Asia, the
Near, Middle and Far East were in turn examined. In historical depth
the survey of each region extended from the period of the early empires
and literatures, through the age of Western dominance and the freedom
movements down to the present day. Writings in both Western and Asian
literatures were analysed.

The conferences brought together the leading authorities in these studies
from Asia and the West and had the effect of making them more keenly
aware not only of the underlying assumptions, predilections and prejudices
of past writers but also of their own standpoints as historians. These in-
vestigations, which are continuing, have an enhanced value because they
are taking place at a time when historians are seeking to rewrite Asian
history and the peoples of Asia and the West are adjusting their relation-
ships.

In preparing for each conference the same methods were used. Seminar
groups, including a judicious balance of mature scholars and younger
historians in training from Asian and Western countries, were established
to analyse in detail the papers which had been prepared according to an
agreed, comprehensive plan by the prospective members of the forthcom-
ing conference. The business of the conferences therefore consisted not in
reading papers but in attempting to solve the problems thrown up by the
seminars.

Believing that these conferences have made a contribution to 'the well-
being of mankind' I wish to affirm my deep appreciation of the Rockefeller
Foundation, which met the major part of the financial costs, and also of
the farsightedness and support of its officers, who contributed substantially
to the effectiveness of the work done.

In the view that the papers which were submitted to the conference
possess an intrinsic and comparative value the School of Oriental and
African Studies has generously provided funds for their publication and,
suitably edited and introduced, they will appear under the following
editors:

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