LACS-SHA Executive Meeting

Richmond, 2007

Attending: B. Ganson, A. McMichael, T. Corse, M/ LaRosa, M. Eakin, J. Landers, W. Conell, R. Adderley, R. Brown, S. Johnson

1. Ganson opened the meeting, with an agenda of membership, plans for New Orleans, and celebrating the LACS ten year anniversary.

2. Eakin noted that of the 23 submissions for the book prize, only five came from people already members.

3. Ganson discussed the need to name the article prize.

4. Landers mentioned that Adderley wants to connect with the Stone Center in New Orleans as part of our meeting plans.

5. McMichael noted that the Historic New Orleans Collection hosts a party at SHA each year and might be willing to help us.

6. Ganson initiated a discussion of funding, suggested a silent auction at the luncheon to raise money. McMichael suggested the possibility of auctioning copies of the winning book from the book prize. LaRosa suggested raising our fees, perhaps to $25 for regular membership and $10 for graduate students. McMichael noted that a $10 fee for graduate students would be profitable, as we only have to pay the SHA $7 for them. Landers suggested a regular fee of $30. A general discussion on fees followed, which largely favored $30. LaRosa suggested asking the European section what they charge.

7. Landers initiated a discussion on membership, suggesting a focus on personal recruitment from people we know. McMichael discussed the earlier mass mailing, suggesting it could be done again, and that we should use a paper mailing to get people a form.

8. LaRosa noted the need to maintain the website. Adderely suggested getting H-Net and Latin American and Caribbean oriented websites to link to it. Corse discussed costs of hosting and domain name registration. Adderely suggested that a clean design was more important than lots of information. This led to discussion of the newsletter. McMichael suggested the newsletter should come from the president. Ganson said that was possible, and that we should put the newsletter online. Corse raised the issue of a logo, and a discussion of logos followed.

9. Adderley raised the possibility of a welcome table at New Orleans. McMichael noted we had done that before.

10. McMichael asked if we should invest in a glossy brochure. This led to a discussion of possible costs.

11. Adderley reported on the program. We were told originally we could have five panels. We received seven panel submissions, and 19 papers. She will present six regular and two Phi Alpha Theta panels to the SHA. SHA seems to want two Cuba panels with participants from Cuba.

12. Adderley suggested hiring Los Vecinos for a party for the ten year anniversary. A discussion of costs and timing followed.

13. Ganson stated she had spoken to Maria Elena D�az from UC-Santa Cruz about giving the luncheon talk in 2008.

14. Brown said that John Inscoe of the SHA had said that we could get more space in the program if we asked for it.

15. Ganson suggested having poster sessions, possibly for people with new books. A discussion followed about possibly doing this in New Orleans for 2008.

16. Ganson proposed meeting at the AHA/CLAH meeting to plan the ten year anniversary commemoration.

17. Eakin said that the book prize committee received 15 submissions from the UNC press and that most of those authors had joined. A discussion of promoting ourselves to presses followed.

18. Ganson raised the issue of a program committee chair for 2008. McMichael indicated his willingness to do it.

19. Ganson raised the issue of naming the article prize. A discussion of naming possibilities and endowing the prize followed.

20. Brown suggested the possibility of a distinguished career prize, possibly limited to people from the southeast or associated with the SHA. Discussion followed.

21. McMichael raised the possibility of an off-site luncheon, which would allow for a more attractive site and better food. Ganson said she would discuss it with the SHA.

22. LaRosa reported on membership. New membership is tied to papers and panels. He indicated we needed to do an earlier membership drive.

23. McMichael said that Matt Childs will be our vice-presidential candidate for next year.

LACS-SHA Business Meeting

Richmond, 2007

1. Sherry Johnson opened the meeting. She thanked Mike Polushin for bringing her into the organization. She also said that she had a commitment from her department chair to fund graduate students and encouraged other departments to do the same.

2. Michael LaRosa gave the Treasurer�s report: We have $3942. The easiest way to raise money is to raise fees. He suggested $25 for regular membership and $7 for graduate students, which would put us in line with the European section. He said we would be put membership on a calendar year basis starting the following year or the next. We have 62 members, and about 80% of them are faculty. Prizes and incentives have brought membership up from the low 30s.

3. William Connell discussed the 2007 program. He thanked the committee members and encouraged people to attend Phi Alpha Theta sessions.

4. Rosanne Adderley gave the Program Committee report. New Orleans has helped us bring in many papers. We had seven complete panel submissions, and 18 or 19 individual papers. We will have to reject 40% of these, but not because of quality. She said she was concerned about the implications of turning so many down. The European section was given eight panels, and we were given five, possibly six.

5. Richmond Brown reported as LACS representative to the SHA Executive Council. We have full voting rights, and the Executive Council is very enthused about what we are doing. SHA seeks to become more international, and we are part of that. Brown said that these are good times for LACS, in that we have doubled our membership and have strong panels. He reminded people that the meeting will be October 9-12 in 2008, on a Thursday-Sunday program. He also noted this was his last year on the Executive Council.

6. Virginia Gould spoke. She said she had been to most of the panels and they were very good. She thanked the Executive Committee for taking leadership of LACS over in 2005, particularly Andrew McMichael.

7. S. Johnson said that A. McMichael would be our Program Committee chair or the 2009 meeting.

8. Marshall Eakin gave the Book Prize Committee report. He said this was a very successful year, and the committee had received 23 submissions in a very wide range of areas and periods. At least six of these could have won, and it was a difficult decision. The committee is giving two prizes, including an honorable mention. The Murdo Macleod Book Prize goes to Bianca Premo, Children of the Father King:  Youth, Authority, and Legal Minority in Colonial Lima (University of North Carolina Press, 2005). Honorable Mention goes to Jorge Ca�izares-Esguerra, Puritan Conquistadors:  Iberianizing the Atlantic, 1550-1700 (Stanford University Press, 2006).

9. S. Johnson opened the floor to nominations for a new representative to the SHA Executive Council. On behalf of the Executive Committee (LACS), Richmond Brown nominated Johnson. There were no other nominations, and the nominations closed. Johnson was elected unanimously by a show of hands.

10. S. Johnson passed the meeting to Barbara Ganson as the new president.

11. B. Ganson opened nominations for Vice President. Ganson nominated Matt Childs, and S. Johnson seconded the nomination. The nominations closed, and Childs was elected by a unanimous show of hands.

12. S. Johnson introduced the speaker, David Cook. Cook spoke on his archival research experiences.

13. B. Ganson spoke after D. Cook�s talk. She suggested creating an on-line newsletter with stories like Cook�s. She discussed the possibility of having a welcome table at New Orleans. She also discussed the possibility of poster sessions on new work by members, and the plans for a reception at New Orleans. She announced that our speaker in 2008 would be Maria Elena D�az from UC-Santa Cruz. She encouraged people to send her items for the newsletter.

14. M. Childs suggested that the book prize be given every year instead of every two years. S. Johnson said that if people were willing to serve on the prize committee, the cost of the prize would be offset by new memberships. R. Brown noted that originally there had been a concern about getting enough applicants. B. Ganson noted that the article prize competition received 40 applicants last year, and perhaps that should also go on a yearly cycle. John Britton said that SECOLAS has its article prize on a yearly cycle now, and submissions are going up. Ganson said that such a change would bring attention to LACS and give more opportunities to scholars. Brown said that this would increase the importance of raising money for endowments of prizes. R. Adderley suggested a study group to examine the proposal.

15. M. LaRosa suggested greater use of the website and membership form in raising endowment money. R. Brown suggested the possibility of a membership committee, as the European section has. B. Ganson said that we should work on committee structures.

16. B. Ganson moved to adjourn the meeting.