UNESCO's History

The opening of UNESCO's first General Conference
at the Sorbonne, Paris (20 November to 10 December 1946).
© UNESCO/Eclair Mondial

There are a number of resources on the web that might be useful to those interested in the history of UNESCO.

"The Organization's History" on the UNESCO website. This site has a brief statement of early history, plus some interesting archival photos.

The history of UNESCO's headquarters.

UNESCO's Directors General

On the occasion of its 60th anniversary, UNESCO hosted, in its Paris headquarters, an international symposium on the Organization’s history. Click here for a copy of the program for the meeting.

UNESCO at 60: 60 weeks 60 themes

60 Women Contributing to the 60 years of UNESCO.

Sixty Years of Science at UNESCO 1945-2005

The Association of Former Employees of UNESCO has produced a number of publications on UNESCO history, and in fact has a history club.

"UNESCO Celebrates 60 Years of History" by Caroline Haddad of the UNESCO Bangkok office.

A timeline of UNESCO's communications history.

Read The MacBride Report, "Many Voices, One World" of 1980.

You might also find "A New World Order in Communication" by William F. Fore interesting about one of the controversies that resulted in the departure of the United States, the United Kingdom, and Singapore from UNESCO.

Related is "The United States and the Founding of the United Nations, August 1941 - October 1945" published by the U.S. State Department.

The United Nations History Project.

Links to related projects on history of UN agencies.