Business Meeting, October 1999

ORAL HISTORY ASSOCIATION
33rd Annual Business Meeting
October 10th, 1999
Anchorage, Alaska
Minutes

The 33rd annual business meeting of the Oral History Association was called to order by President Howard Green at 7:55 a.m.  About 35 members were in attendance.

President's Report (Green)

Agreement was reached with Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pa., to house the Oral History Association and its executive secretary.  Madelyn Campbell was hired to fill the position. She began work in May.

Bruce Stave is ending his term as editor of the Oral History Review, and Council has approved the selection of Andrew Dunar, a history professor at the University of Alabama-Huntsville, as his replacement. Anyone interested in helping with the Review should let Dunar know.

Other Council actions in the past year include:
--revising Bylaw #1, which called for a concurring vote of the membership to raise dues. Largely because of OHA's relationship with UCPress, it was not administratively reasonable to leave that provision in the bylaws. OHA, like most professional organizations, now leaves dues decisions to its elected executive council. Council subsequently raised dues by $10 annually, effective next year.

--drawing down virtually all of a significant surplus because the 1997 annual meeting lost money and because arrangements with UCPress increased costs that were to be recouped by circulation increases.

--changing Bylaw #7, which had given the OHA executive secretary a vote on Council. The new executive secretary is an outside administraor, and it seemed more administratively appropriate for the executive secretary not to be a voting member of the executive Council.

The Publications Committee was essentially leaderless for most of the past year. Kim Rogers will be new chair of that committee.

The Annual Meeting Task Force will make its interim report at the mid-winter Council meeting.

Michael Gordon chaired the Member Benefits and Dues Task Force, which made a variety of proposals that are under Council advisement. Copies of the report are available from the office upon request.

Dale Treleven moved that the minutes of the 1998 annual meeting be approved.  The motion was seconded and the minutes were approved.

Treleven questioned a lack of details in the budget about the status of the OHA Endowment Fund. Green said the information would be made available and that the operating budget figures do not include the endowment assets.

State and Regional (No report)

Green said the State and Regional Committee had reconstituted itself at a lengthy Saturday meeting as a forum for representatives of state and regional oral history groups.

Publications (Kim Lacy Rogers)

In the coming year, the committee will establish procedures for pamphlet development. Several are to be revised and new topics will be explored, including oral history and the Internet and oral history and commerce.

Martha Ross suggested funding oral history as a topic that might be explored for a pamphlet.

Durham, N.C., 2000 (Mary Murphy, co-chair)

Murphy urged people to attend the 2000 OHA meeting in Durham, N.C., Oct. 11-15. She called Durham "a great mecca of oral history activity."

Education Committee

A strong pamphlet on oral history in the classroom is prepared and ready for Council approval.

Diversity Committee (Alva Moore Stevenson)

This year the Diversity Committee:

--decided to add two three-year positions to the committee. Alphine Jefferson and Jeff Friedman aggreed to serve;

--members would like to see more diverse representation on Council and will work with the Nominating Committee on strategies to achieve that goal;

--would like to see more articles in the Newsletter and will try to have committee members submit more materials;

--is working on sponsoring three sessions at the 2000 OHA meeting in Durham.

International Committee (James Morrison)

Chairman Morrison noted that many international participants have a lot in common with Alaska-- they all complain about the Lower 48 States.

This year's conference included 36 papers from international participants, including presenters from China, Japan, Greece, India, South Africa and Brazil.

Morrison suggested the OHA Website note the OHA international involvement in appropriate languages.

Morrison also praised the hospitality of the people of Alaska.

Old Business

Jeff Charnley, H-Oralhist editor, said membership has grown from 200 at its inauguration to more than 1,000 today.  Charnley is looking for an editor to replace Cheryl Oakes and would like to add a fourth editor. He said Website improvements are upcoming.  H-Oralhist also would be willing to host pages for state and local oral history associations.

Tom Charlton said OHA should go on record thanking Jeff for his leadership. Howard Green said H-Oralhist has become an important medium of communication for oral historians, thanks to Jeff. Charlton also said Michigan State University, which hosts H-Oralhist, should be thanked for its support.

Nominating Committee (Ruth Hill, co-chair)

The Nominating Committee reported the following election results:

Mary Marshall Clark--First Vice President
Tom King--Council member
Sherna Gluck, Ruth Hill and Linda Shopes--Nominating Committee members

New Business (Laurie Mercier)

After taking the gavel as new OHA president, Laurie Mercier announced the 2001 Oral History Association annual meeting will be held in St. Louis.  She urged OHA members to call, write or e-mail her with any advice and suggestions they have for improving the association.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 a.m.

Respectfully submitted, Mary Kay Quinlan, OHA Newsletter Editor.