This paper takes into consideration theory building in the field of curriculum history research after it was initiated by Arno A. Bellack (1969). Highlighting a cluster of research articles within the 50 years history of Journal of Curriculum Studies (JCS), the article has a threefold aim: 1) to trace the core research ambitions and rivals within the field 2) to present the dominant and conflicting conceptions of curriculum, history and change during the last 50 years and 3) to assess the current research drift towards evidence-based policies, international knowledges and future-oriented practices by revitalizing comparative-historical perspectives, promoted by the journal to the present day. The paper present a virtual issue that includes a selection of key-articles in JCS which represents a shared memory about the way curriculum is being shaped across time and space. The collection of articles shows how curriculum researchers from the early 1970s and onwards, generate cutting edge knowledge, including, conceptualizations and methodologies to cope with future, transnational challenges of teaching and learning in schools. Our literature review implies an overview of articles and their references, addressing curriculum history during JCS across 50 years. We have collected the articles by a snow-ball method, tracing ideas of curriculum history by a backward mapping strategy (Asdal et al., 2008). 13 of the articles are purposively selected and subjects for an in-depth inquiry, looking closer into the core aims, issues, methodologies, interpretations and conclusions relevant for answering the research questions (e.g. Kliebard, 1979; Goodson, 1983; Gundem, 1993; Hopmann, 2008; Horlacher, 2017; Popkewitz, 1997; Reid, 1986). The selection of references and articles illustrates how key concepts in today’s educational research were extensively explored and debated by curriculum theorists since the late 1970s, with a turn during the late 1990s towards an epistemological and scientific vein, characterized by internationalization as a key to understand curriculum history today.

Asdal, K., Berge, K. L., Gammelgard, K., Gundersen, T. R., Jordheim, H., Rem, T., & Tønnesson, J. (2008). Tekst og historie : å lese tekster historisk. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Bellack, A. A. (1969). History of curriculum thought and practice. Review of Educational Research, June 39(3), 283-292. Goodson, I. (1983). Subjects for Study: Aspects of a Social History of Curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 15(4), 391-408. Gundem, B. B. (1993). Rise, Development and Changing Conceptions of Curriculum Administration and Curriculum Guidelines in Norway: the National-local Dilemma. J. Curriculum Studies, 25(3), 251-266. Hopmann, S. T. (2008). No child, no school, no state left behind: schooling in the age of accountability. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 40(4), 417-456. Horlacher, R. (2017). The same but different: the German Lehrplan and curriculum. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 1-16 Popkewitz, T. S. (1997). The Production of Reason and Power. Curriculum History and Intellecual Traditions. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 29(2), 131-164. Kliebard, H. M. (1979). The Drive for Curriculum Change in the United States, 1890‐1958 II —From Local Reform to a National Preoccupation. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 11(4), 273-286. Reid, W. (1986). Curriculum Theory and Curriculum Change: What can we Learn from History? Journal of Curriculum Studies, 18(2), 159-166.