New England Archivists - Minutes

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NEA Executive Board Meeting Minutes

October 26, 2001, Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, Yale University

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order by President Bill Ross at 1:00 p.m. Present were Liz Andrews, Paul Carnahan, Beth Carroll-Horrocks, Glynn Edwards, Aimee Felker, Cally Gurley, Diane Kaplan, Joan Krizack, Donna Longo DiMichele, Daniel McCormack, Peter Parker, Bill Ross, Susan von Salis, Diana Smith, Karen Spicher, Rick Stattler, Jane Ward, Leah Weisse, and Rutherford Witthus.

Secretary's Report (Appendix A):

Secretary Diana Smith reported that the Board voted on nine issues via email between the July and October board meetings:

To remove Ellen Doon from the Membership Committee and appoint her as Newsletter editor.
To appoint Ron Patkus to the Fall 2002 Local Arrangements Committee.
To appoint Gregory Sanford Fall 2003 Program Committee Chair.
To approve the addition of Polly Darnell to the Spring 2002 Program Committee.
To approve the slate of candidates proposed by the Nominating Committee.
To approve Stephen Culp Art & Design as the new vendor for the desktop publication of the NEA Newsletter.
To approve the July Board meeting minutes.
To approve Beth Carroll-Horrocks as Membership Committee Chair.
To replace Selene Colburn with Marjorie Strong on the Fall 2002 Program Committee.

Smith thanked Aimee Felker, Elizabeth Slomba, and Bill Ross for handling the minutes of the last meeting in her absence.

Immediate Past President's Report (Appendix B):

Immediate Past President and Chair of the Nominating Committee Aimee Felker posed several questions to the Board concerning NEA ballots. The Board decided to change the date by which a member is considered a paid up member and eligible to vote to January 25. This was done in order to accommodate the earlier than usual date of the spring meeting and to anticipate possible delays with the mail due to bioterrorism. The Board decided against allowing email votes for this election. Task Force for Organizational Efficiency Chair Susan von Salis asked to include a non-binding referendum question on the ballot postcard concerning voting for officers by email and receiving candidate information by email.
: Felker announced that the Distinguished Service Award Committee had met and that the award will be presented at the spring meeting.

Outreach Committee Report (Appendix C):

Outreach Committee Chair Susan von Salis discussed the committee's work on New England Archives Week, timed to culminate with the NEA meeting. She showed proclamations obtained from several New England governors proclaiming New England Archives Week. She stated that the committee had printed a bookmark rather than a poster in order to save money as requested by the Board. von Salis noted that next year the committee would like to start earlier, to have the bookmarks available by the Society of American Archivists annual meeting and to give organizations more advance notice in order to plan events for the week. The idea of an informal editorial board was proposed to catch typographical errors; the Board agreed to formalize this at a later Board meeting. von Salis also reported that the committee held an Archives on the Road event and is planning more events in the next few months.

MOTION: On a motion by Vice-President Joan Krizack, seconded by Treasurer Liz Andrews, the Board approved Jessica Steytler be appointed co-chair of the Outreach Committee.

MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Felker, the Board approved the addition of Heidi Marshall to the Outreach Committee.

Web Committee Report (Appendix D):

Co-Webmaster Glynn Edwards stated that the committee continues to update the website and is working on obtaining an image from Rhode Island for the front page. Edwards was asked if there is any way to get the new URL (www.newenglandarchivists.org) to appear on the website itself, and she stated that she would check to see if that is possible. Ross thanked the Web Committee for its fine job in creating and maintaining the site.

Print Coordinator's Report (Appendix E):

There was no activity this quarter. Ross praised the work done in the printing and mailing for the fall meeting, which was handled by Yale.

Treasurer's Report (Appendix F):

Treasurer Liz Andrews stated that NEA made a large profit from the Dartmouth meeting, perhaps a record, over $5,000. She asked that any bills coming in for this year be sent to her by December 1st. She presented a document that she and Clerk Jean Berry created: "Federal & State Government Forms & Documents" which should make clear to Board members and future Treasurers and Clerks all the forms that need to be filed. Andrews asked for volunteers to review IRS form 990 to make sure that NEA reports income properly.
: Andrews then reported on the state of the NEA investments. NEA's financial advisor has informed Andrews that the NEA account is too small to work with and has asked that the account be closed. The money involved ($12,000) is not a full year's budget. The Board discussed two options: open a money market account or a certificate of deposit or a combination of the two.; MOTION: On a motion by Representative-at-Large Paul Carnahan, seconded by Krizack, the Board approved moving the money currently invested with Financial Strategy Associates into a money market account with Fidelity.; The Board reviewed the proposed budget for next year. von Salis asked that next year the budget requests be circulated to the Board so that budget discussions are based on better information.; MOTION: On a motion by Felker, seconded by Krizack, the Board moved to pass the budget with the amendments as discussed with a loss of no more than $2000.00; Representative-at-Large Cally Gurley commended Andrews for the work that she had done.

Task Force on Organizational Efficiency (Appendix G):

Susan von Salis, Chair of the Task Force, reported that the committee is working on a draft of the final report, which will be submitted to the Board in November with discussion at the January meeting. The committee believes that major changes should not be made without soliciting feedback from the membership.

Development Report (Appendix H):

Development Coordinator Jane Ward reported that she had obtained six vendors for the Yale/New Haven meeting, and thanked Diane Kaplan, chair of the Local Arrangements Committee, for all her help with her vendor questions. The exhibitors have ads in the newsletter, and in addition, a new vendor, Systematics has placed a half-page ad. Ward reports that the newsletter is a very helpful tool in "selling" NEA to vendors. Ward was commended for her work getting vendors for this meeting.

Education Committee Report (Appendix I):

Karen Spicher, Education Committee Chair, reported that the Friday workshops were full or nearly so: "Arrangement and Description" with 24 registrants, and "Planning for EAD in an XML World" full at 20 registrants. Barbara Austen has agreed to teach "Caring for Historical Records" at the spring 2002 meeting, and the committee is planning to schedule one additional advanced workshop for spring 2002.
: MOTION: On a motion by Representative-at-Large Rick Stattler, seconded by Krizack, the Board approved the appointment of Melissa Watterworth to the Education Committee.

Public Relations Report (Appendix J):

Daniel McCormack, Public Relations Coordinator, reported that he publicized the NEA gathering at SAA, the fall NEA meeting, and Archives Week. von Salis thanked McCormack for his work with small local newspapers in support of the Outreach Committee's Archives on the Road events.

Vice President's Report (Appendix K):

Vice President Joan Krizack reported that the NEA gathering at SAA was co-sponsored by Simmons GSLIS and recommended that this joint event be institutionalized, as it was a success. She also staffed the NEA booth at SAA and thinks that this activity can be dropped due to the low volume of visitors. She believes that copies of the newsletter and the membership brochure can be left on the information table just as effectively.
: Krizack is working on ideas for the spring 2003 30th anniversary meeting and will discuss them at the January meeting.
: MOTION: On a motion by Felker, seconded by Stattler, the Board approved the members of the Spring 2003 Local Arrangements Committee: Claire Goodwin, Rachel Wise, Anne Vosikas, Vivien Goldman, Douglas Stark, and Nora Murphy.; Ross commended Krizack for her work on the NEA gathering at SAA.

Spring 2002 Program Committee Report (Appendix L):

Committee Chair Donna Longo DiMichele's report included a description of the proposed program. She stated that they have only two possible candidates for honoraria, and discussed the idea of the door prizes to encourage members to stay for the closing reception. Possible prizes at this point include: a one night stay or dinner at Vanderbilt Hall in Newport, passes for Shelburne Museum, Rhode Island specialties food basket, one night at the Newport Marriott.

Spring 2002 Local Arrangements Committee Report (Appendix M):

Local Arrangements Co-Chair Jane Ward reported on arrangements for the meeting in Newport, with a Friday night reception at the Newport Historical Society. Ward reviewed an approximate budget for the meeting, noting that the Marriott had waived facilities fees but that the food fees are high. Felker recommended contacting the Newport Convention Center to see if NEA can get some sponsorship.

Fall 2001 Meeting Program Committee Report (Appendix N):

Program Committee Co-chair Rutherford Witthus reported that there were no last minute changes to the program, and that the Local Arrangements Committee and Program Committee had worked well together. A final report will be presented in November.

Fall 2001 Local Arrangements Committee Report (Appendix O):

Local Arrangements Chair Diane Kaplan reported that as of Friday morning, there were 177 people registered for the meeting. She stated that the cost of the meeting mailer is likely to be higher than originally estimated. She will not have final numbers until at least six weeks after the meeting.

Fall 2002 Program Committee Report (Appendix P):

The Board reviewed the request of Barbara Austen, Program Committee Co-chair, to offer an honorarium to the keynote speaker at this joint meeting with MARAC, despite MARAC's policy of not offering honoraria.

MOTION: The Board approved up to $300.00 for an honorarium for the keynote speaker at the Fall 2002 meeting.

Fall 2002 Local Arrangements Committee Report:

Members of both NEA and MARAC met at SAA. President Ross has signed the agreement for the joint meeting establishing an account to cover meeting costs, with MARAC contributing $1000 and NEA $500. Income from the meeting will be distributed according to the number of attendees from each organization.

2003 Meetings Report (Appendix Q):

The Board reviewed Program Committee Chair Kathryn Hammond Baker's report. The theme for the program is "Convergence." The program will begin with a session and keynote before the Friday night reception at the Massachusetts Historical Society. Krizack also mentioned that she is working on ideas for celebrating NEA's 30th anniversary. Cally Gurley is the Fall 2003 Local Arrangements Chair.

Newsletter Report (Appendix R):

The Newsletter Committee reported that the October issue cost $2,102.08, that there are two new editors: Ellen Doon and Chris Burns, and that starting with the January 2002 issue, the Newsletter will be working with a new graphic designer, Steve Culp of Stephen Culp Art & Design.

Membership Committee Report (Appendix S):

Membership Committee Co-chair Leah Weisse reported that the Archives/RM Internship Open House was held September 12th. . The committee has a supply of new NEA brochures, which may be obtained from Debbie Richards. Weisse also reported that Beth Carroll-Horrocks will be the next chair of the committee.
: MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Stattler, the Board voted to appoint Kelcy Shepherd and Gabriel Daniels to the Membership Committee.

Membership Secretary Report (Appendix T):

The Board reviewed Membership Secretary Deborah Richards' report, which states that there are currently 634 members, with 27 new members since July.

Haas Committee Report (Appendix U):

The Board reviewed Haas Committee representative Lois Hamill's report, which states that the committee is attempting to identify new contacts for publicizing the Haas Award. The Board determined that she has one more year in her term.

Hale Award Committee Report:

Hale Award Committee Chair Cally Gurley reported that there was one donation to the Hale Award fund.

President's Report (Appendix V):

President Bill Ross thanked Vice President Krizack for her work at the SAA meeting organizing the NEA gathering, which was this year co-sponsored by Simmons GSLIS. He reported on his work coordinating plans with MARAC for the joint meeting next fall in Poughkeepsie. Ross also stated that he would like to cut off e-votes one month prior to the next meeting.

Old Business (Appendix W):

The Board decided to table discussion of Rick Stattler's proposal for a "Champion of the Archives Award" and discuss it via email before the next meeting.
: The Board reviewed the job descriptions of the President, Vice President, Immediate Past President, and Secretary. The job descriptions of the Treasurer and Representative-at-Large were tabled until the next meeting.
: MOTION: On a motion by Carnahan, seconded by Krizack, the Board moved to accept changes to the Vice President, President, and Immediate Past President job description.
: MOTION: On a motion by Krizack, seconded by Felker, the Board moved to accept changes made to the Secretary's job description.

New Business: NEA Archives, electronic records

This discussion was tabled until the next meeting.

The next Board meeting will be January 11th, 2001 at NEDCC in North Andover, Massachusetts, with January 14th designated as a snow day.

There being no further business, Ross adjourned the meeting at 5:00 p.m.