SOUTH-CENTRAL RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
APRIL 2-3, 1998
Waco, Texas
Board members present: James Baumlin, Lester Brothers, Liana De Girolami
Cheney, Megan Conway, Donald Dickson, Raymond-Jean Frontain, Nabil Matar,
John Mercer, Elizabeth Skerpan, Phoebe Spinrad, Donald Stump
Others present: Christopher Baker, Albert Fields, John Ford, David Hart,
George Klawitter
1. James Baumlin, SCRC president, called the meeting to order at 9:50
p.m. following a dinner on the Baylor University campus in Waco,
Texas.
2. John Mercer, secretary-treasurer, presented the minutes of the 1997
executive committee meeting, and they were approved. Mercer reported that
SCRC had 203 dues-paid and emeritus members in 1997, up from 168 in 1996
and 125 in 1994 and 1995, and that the mailing list had 759
names.
3. Mercer presented the treasurer's report for fiscal year 1997-98,
which showed a balance of $2845.25 in a checking account and $8578.05 in
a certificate of deposit. Despite record membership, the checking account
showed a loss of about $350 from the previous year and was projected to
lose another $400 in the next year.
4. The board agreed to propose to the membership that, effective 1999,
dues be raised from $10 to $20, and from $5 to $10 for students.
5. The board agreed to propose to the membership that the funds
currently in a certificate of deposit be transferred to more diversified
investments, about 30% to 50% in mutual funds. Additional money earned
would be used to improve conferences.
6. Elizabeth Skerpan, chair of the nominating committee, nominated Liana
De Girolami Cheney for president, John Ford for vice president (one-year
terms), Raymond-Jean Frontain (three- year term), and Margaret Flansburg,
Katherine McIver, Katherine Powers (two-year terms), and Ellen Longsworth
(one-year term) for the executive committee. The board expressed
appreciation to John Mercer, outgoing secretary-treasurer.
7. Baumlin circulated two handouts, "Some Guidelines for Hosting
Meetings of the South-Central Renaissance Conference" and "SCRC E-Mail
Discussion Group, Fall 1997: A Summary and Recommendations."
8. Baumlin announced that April 8-10, 1999, SCRC will meet jointly with
the Southeastern Renaissance Conference in Savannah, Georgia. Local
arrangements chair will be Jim Janson of the Savannah College of Art and
Design, SERC program chair will be John Wall, and SCRC program chair will
be Donald Dickson. In 2000 SCRC will meet in Lafayette, Louisiana, hosted
by the University of Southwestern Louisiana. In 2001 SCRC will meet in
College Station, Texas, hosted by Texas A&M University.
9. In the absence of Tita French Baumlin, editor of EIRC, James Baumlin
reported on the journal. He noted the editor's success in building a
backlog of articles and progress in increasing the number of art history
articles published and the inclusion of EIRC in indexes such as Art
Index.
10. Phoebe Spinrad, editor of Discoveries, reported that the publication
now has $2700 in annual funding from Ohio State University, has been
enlarged to 16 pages, is a registered serial with the Library of
Congress, provides free library subscriptions, and has a print run of
800, soon to be increased to 850.
11. George Klawitter, SCRC Webmaster, reported on the SCRC Web site. The
board discussed the desirability of changing the Web site frequently to
provide variety, including abstracts of papers from the conference,
publishing the program in advance, incorporating links to SCRC on other
Web sites, including SCRC's site on search engines, and making the site
more accessible with a shorter address. The board left unresolved the
issue of publishing the proceedings of the conference on the
Internet.
12. The board voted to name the following Members Emeritus: Gloria
Fiero, David Hart, Joseph Holtgen, Marjorie Lewis, James Potts, Joseph
Riley, and Louis Charles Stagg.
13. The board discussed the possibility of adding respondents to
sessions of papers and decided for next year to try adding respondents to
special sessions only.
14. At 11:05 p.m. the meeting was adjourned. Because business was not
completed, the board agreed to meeting again on April 3 at 5 p.m.
APRIL 3, 1998
Board members present: same as above
Others present: Christopher Baker, Georgiann Potts, James Potts, Robert
Schnucker
15. The board reconvened at 5:10 p.m. on the Baylor University
campus.
16. David Hart, SCRC historian, having reviewed the SCRC archives,
presented a document titled "A Preliminary Survey and Report on the
Conference Records." He asked for guidance on what materials to keep and
what to do with them. It was suggested that he begin by writing a
description of the archival materials and, for Discoveries, an article
calling for items needed for the archives.
17. Georgiann Potts suggested that SCRC develop an integrated marking
plan, a three-year campaign leading up to our fiftieth anniversary in
2001. She emphasized the importance of putting oral histories of
conferences in written form. She suggested setting a numerical goal for
new members by 2001 and getting better publicity through news releases
from the members' institutions and through local media in host
cities.
18. The board discussed Professor Schnucker's presentation, given the
previous day, concerning how the organization can grow in size. The
consensus of the board was that tremendous growth is not desirable
because SCRC would lose its distinctive character as a friendly,
collegial society.
19. The board agreed that SCRC should design and adopt an official logo.
It was suggested that SCRC incorporate humor through spoof nights. Other
suggestions included adding Saturday afternoon sessions, offering prizes
for conference papers, and reducing the number of sessions running
concurrently. Liana Cheney, the next president, was asked to form a
committee to implement new ideas.
20. The board discussed whether the book review editor of Discoveries is
or could be made a member of the SCRC board. The issue was referred to
John Mercer and Raymond-Jean Frontain.
21. The meeting was adjourned at 6:10 p.m.
Recorded by
John M. Mercer
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, 1997-98
Submitted by
Raymond-Jean Frontain
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, 1998-99
by Professor Robert Schnucker
of the Sixteenth Century Society
April 2, 1998, 5 p.m.
Baylor University
A scholarly society must ask whether it wants to grow in size and, if so, how large.
It should determine the strengths it wants to maintain.
A society that wants to grow should consider doing the following:
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Incorporate as a not-for-profit corporation.
-
Meet in hotels rather than on campuses. Hire professionals rather than
using a local arrangements committee to organize the meeting.
-
Expect the conference to be more expensive; charge a higher registration
fee.
-
Offer prizes. For example, award $500 for the best paper presented at
the conference by a graduate student or a new PhD.
-
Join the American Council of Learned Societies.
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Identify the fields we want to attract, such as history, church history,
science, and economics. Offer sessions in these fields. To find people in
these fields, get lists of professors in relevant departments. Target
newly hired people in departments. Send call for papers to departments in
these fields. Include community colleges.
-
Put someone with time and energy in charge of growth. "Someone must
actually do it."
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Take advantage of free advertising in periodicals.
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Use the Internet. On a Web site, publish contents of publications,
programs of meetings, and abstracts of papers after meetings. Keep
changing the Web site. Consider offering online publication as a
service.
-
Invest money in stock market. Consider Fidelity Investments for not-
forprofits.
-
Improve both quality and quantity of papers at conferences.
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To appeal to graduate students, bring in stellar scholars in a few
fields.
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Expand the number of issues of the journal.
- Keep loyalty of members by increasing the number of mailings. Send mailings throughout the year.
Respectfully submitted,
John M. Mercer
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, 1997-98