2000 Minutes, Executive Committee: South-Central Renaissance Conference (SCRC)

SOUTH-CENTRAL RENAISSANCE CONFERENCE
MINUTES OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING
April 6-7, 2000

The Executive Committee met Thursday, April 6, 2000, in Lafayette, Louisiana. President John Ford called the meeting to order at 8:15 p.m.

Present: Vice President Donald Dickson, Past President Liana D. Cheney, Secretary-Treasurer Raymond Frontain, Explorations Editor Tita Baumlin, Discoveries Editor Phoebe Spinrad; Members-at-large Ellen Longsworth, Donald Stump, Margaret Flansburg (arrived late), and Katherine Powers; Webmaster George Klawitter, and Archisvist David Hart.

Absent: Members-at-large Nabil Matar and Katherine McIver.

1. Don Dickson moved and Liana Cheney seconded acceptance of the minutes from the meetings of 8-9 April 1999, which previously had been circulated. The motion was approved by a voice vote.

2. The Treasurer announced that the Certificate of Deposit had been reinvested, and that a healthy balance of $7,617.38 is on hand in the checking account, a portion of which money will be needed to finance next year's Golden Jubilee celebration. The surplus is due in part to Phoebe Spinrad's continuing to bring Discoveries in significantly under budget, and to Tita Baumlin's increased sale of Explorations to libraries, both in North America and abroad (up from $954 in 1998-99 to $1,609 in 1999-2000). He speculated that a sharp drop in membership from 197 in calendar year 1998 to 148 in 1999 may be due to the Conference's having been held so far outside our region last year, a number of people from the East coast who presented on our program failing to pay membership dues when registering (and people from Savannah College of Art and Design failing to understand the need to collect this money from on-site registrants), while a number of our regulars who would normally renew their dues while registering for the conference not doing so because they would not travel so far out of the region.

Discussion followed as to how the Conference may maintain a balance between its regional core and an expanding outside constituency. Innovations discussed to ensure that our active membership reaches and remains steady at 200-225 include:

a) making greater use of electronic media,
b) appointing the Program Chair two years in advance to ensure stronger planning,
c) putting the webpage in a private domain to ensure easier accessibility, and
d) instituting a second mailing each year which will announce the conference prize while reinforcing notice of the conference dates.

3. Phoebe Spinrad reported that Discoveries has received a three-year renewal of funding from Ohio State University and that its mailing list has grown to over 800 individuals and institutions. She noted, however, that increasingly subscribers are concentrated less in our traditional region.

4. Tita Baumlin reported that institutional subscriptions to Explorations continues to grow, and is up from 52 (vol. 20) to 86 (vol. 25). Among the new subscribers are the Warburg Institute in London and the Kunsthistorisches Institute in Florence. A problem emerges, however, in that stock is low for certain issues, making it increasingly difficult to supply full sets to institutions wishing to purchase them. Southwest Missouri State University has increased its support of the journal from $2500 to $3000 a year, thus guaranteeing its expansion from one to two issues per annum.

5. George Klawitter reported that the increase in the number of presenters submitting their abstracts electronically has facilitated his mounting them on the webpage, making for a more user-friendly organization of the conference portion of the page. Discussion agreed that the webpage continues to prove our most important way of advertising the Conference's activities.

6. Liana Cheney proposed on behalf of the Nominating Committee Don Dickson for President, Katherine Powers for Vice President, George Klawitter as 2001 Program Chair, and Donald Stump for 2002 Program Chair. Christine Goetz and Kate Frost are proposed to fill the Members-at-Large seats being vacated by Margaret Flansberg and Katherine McIver, and Marguerite Tassi to fill the remaining year of Katherine Powers' term as she ascends to the vice presidency. Dorothy Brown and James Sims are nominated to receive Emerita/Emeritus honors.

7. Discussion of new business included:

a) the need to prioritize spending in order to underwrite the expanded cost of Explorations and the new expenses of the Hunter Lecture and the annual essay prize; and,
b) sponsoring a history of the organization, creating a scrapbook of photos, etc., and investigating a memorable table favor (lapel pin, mouse pad, paperweight) for the Golden Jubilee meeting.

Don Dickson reported that Paul Parrish has agreed to take responsibility for a presentation at one of the meals.

After agreeing to meet again on the following day at 5:30 p.m., the meeting was adjourned at I I P.M.

The Executive Committee met again on Friday, April 7. President John Ford called the meeting to order at 5:40 p.m. All of the above were present except David Hart; Nabil Matar and Katherine McIver were again absent.

1. Donald Stump reported on behalf of his subcommittee investigating the possibility of an annual essay prize or titled lecture to further promote the conference's visibility. After discussion, Phoebe Spinrad moved and Liana Cheney seconded instituting an annual $ 1000 prize for the best essay in any discipline of Renaissance studies, to be called The South-Central Renaissance Conference Scholarly Essay Prize. The judging committee will be chaired by the Vice President and include the President and Past President. Members of the advisory board of Explorations will be asked to referee papers that fall outside the committee members' particular areas of specialization. The prize-winning essay will be read at the annual conference, at which time the check will also be awarded; and, upon approval of the journal editor, the essay will be published in Explorations. It is understood from the start that should the prize prove too great a burden for the organization to carry, it can be lessened to perhaps $750 in later years, but that as part of ourjubilee celebration the inaugural prize should be a full $1,000 dollars. The motion passed unanimously.

2. Donald Stump also recommended on behalf of his subcommittee the advisability of inaugurating a titled, invited lecture to be delivered at a plenary session during the annual conference. The lecturer, to be chosen by the Program Chair, should be a younger scholarjust gaining visibility whose presentation would both give SCRC access to his/her work as well as give SCRC some exposure to him/her and, we hope, establish an ongoing relationship. After discussion it was concluded that the lecture will be named to honor William B. Hunter in recognition of his long-time work on behalf of SCRC, and that an initial honorarium of $500 will be budgeted, from which the lecturer will need to pay his/her own expenses. A motion made by Phoebe Spinrad and seconded by Liana Cheney was approved unanimously.

3. The president appointed Don Dickson, Paul Parrish, and Raymond Frontain to the committee planning next year's Golden Jubilee celebration. An allocation of $3000 was agreed upon, the money to be used by the committee to make next year's conference as memorable as possible. In a similar vein, Phoebe Spinrad reported on plans for an anniversary pull-out for the spring issue of Discoveries. Also, at tomorrow's business meeting members should be encouraged to invite as many members and former members to return to College Station for the jubilee. It was decided that the Conference will use the occasion of the Golden Jubilee to take out a full page ad in Renaissance Q announcing the expansion of Explorations to two issues per annum, the institution of the William B. Hunter Lecture, and the inaugural $ 1000 essay prize. 4. If SCRC is to take on these several new financial commitments, it is clear that we need to cut other expenses where possible. Donald Stump moved and Liana Cheney seconded that the president's annual $400 subvention to represent SCRC at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America be suspended; the motion was approved with one abstention.

5. Donald Stump encouraged the Conference to consider strengthening the annual meeting by meeting concurrently with other regional groups which may likewise be having difficulty sustaining their membership. Phoebe Spinrad moved and Katherine Powers seconded that the meeting be closed. The Committee adjourned at 6:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted, Raymond-Jean Frotain, Executive Secretary-Treasurer