The idea of holding a conference early in 1963 on high‐energy photon interactions was a natural one for at least two reasons: first, the Cambridge Electron Accelerator, producing electron and photon beams of energies up to about 6 BeV, came into operation in 1962, so that the time was ripe for detailed consideration of what could be accomplished with such facilities; second, it had been apparent for some time that the traditional “Rochester Conferences” on high‐energy physics could not fully satisfy the needs of all the workers in the field for exchange of information and ideas on all of its aspects. Thus, the IUPAP Commission on High‐Energy Physics had decided that it would be appropriate to hold the Rochester‐type conferences only every second year, and to sponsor regional conferences on specialized topics in the “off‐years”.