SEA Minutes and Correspondence 1992

Minutes of the Organizing and General Business Meeting,
Society of Early Americanists
Sunday, May 31, 1992



All officers present. Sixteen audience participants.
Called to order, 12:10 p.m.; closed, 1:15.


1. Carla Mulford opened the meeting by calling for audience
members and officer-panelists to introduce themselves.

2. Mulford presented a statement about the history of the
development of the Society of Early Americanists, and proceded to
describe the functions of the newsletter, the affiliation of the
Society with the ALA, the use to which dues would be put, and the
work of the officers.

3. William Scheick gave background and called for suggestions and
potential assistance for the development of the Society
newsletter. The excellence and usefulness of the newsletter was
generally commended by those in the room. Members of the
audience--Reiner Smolinski and Jeanne Holland most notably--
offered to assist in foreign contacts for information (RS) and in
preparation of bibliographic citations (JH).

4. Raymond Craig explained the functioning and usefulness of the
electronic bulletin board, EARAM, he has set up at Kent State.
Raymond expressed his intention to offer information about the
bulletin board to interested audience members and to all
interested potential Society members.

5. Carla Mulford opened the meeting up to the floor. Comments
from audience participants included statements about the
usefulness of the newsletter, the reasonableness of the dues
(with the suggestion that they might be raised), the usefulness
of the electronic bulletin board, and the potential for
developing additional conferences at appropriate historical
sites.

Respectfully submitted,




Carla Mulford


Minutes of the Initial Breakfast Meeting,
Council of Officers of the Society of Early Americanists:
Saturday, May 30, 1992.

Present: Raymond Craig, Jeffrey Hammond, Sharon Harris, J.A. Leo
Lemay, Carla Mulford (Chair), and William Scheick.
General Call to Order: 8:10; Meeting Closed: 9:15.

1. After making introductions all around, those present generally
acknowledged their willingness to serve in the officers' posts
that have been established as a preliminary to the formal
development of the Society. Carla Mulford expressed her
gratitude to all members for agreeing to serve as the first
officers of the Society.

2. It was generally agreed that Sharon Harris would look into the
means by which the new Society could apply for non-profit status.

3. The agenda for the working session/business meeting was
approved for the following day.

4. Raymond Craig presented to the group information on the
viability of having an Electronic Bulletin Board available to
early Americanists. The group liked the project and encouraged
Ray to continue working toward setting up the bulletin board at
Kent State. It was suggested and agreed upon that Ray would
compile and edit bulletin board entries and provide the edited
information to Bill Scheick, for inclusion in the Society
newsletter.

5. The dues schedule was discussed. It was agreed that dues for
regular membership by employed scholars could be set at $8; dues
for graduate students, independent, or retired scholars could be
$5; and dues for foreign scholars could be $10. (Note: the dues
structure was amended at the general business meeting, with an
increase by $2 in the employed and foreign scholars categories.)

6. Bill Scheick pointed out that the newsletter was designed to
serve early Americanists and asked for suggestions for
improvement. It was generally agreed that Bill had done a superb
editing job with the newsletter.

7. Bill Scheick noted that records of subscriptions for the
newsletter were exactly kept thus far, and he said would send to
Sharon Harris the information about each subscriber so that the
newsletter subscription could be applied to membership dues.

8. Several goals for the Society were discussed.
1. Carla Mulford began the discussion by speaking to the
issue of networking of early Americanist scholars and the efforts
the Society might make toward that goal. A social gathering
early during the convention (before any panels might have taken
place) was discussed. Jeffrey Hammond recommended that a
breakfast-time gathering might be useful. Leo Lemay recommended
a women's caucus breakfast. The group generally considered the
viability of offering such special gathering possibilities but
came to no resolution about the matter.
2. Bill Scheick suggested that one appropriate topic for a
future conference would be to have a forum of panelists speak to
the issue of "identity": What ARE early Americanists' concerns;
what is it that early Americanists think they do; etc. All
agreed that this suggestion was a good one. Leo Lemay pointed
out that a forum like this would not take up one of the slots
normally appointed for the presentation of papers to the Society.
It was agreed that the topic would be pursued for next year's
program.
3. Leo Lemay suggested that efforts increasingly be made to
involve foreign scholars in the ongoing activities of the
Society. It was agreed that foreign scholars could make a
significant contribution to the Society.
4. Additional Society-sponsored meetings were discussed.
Leo Lemay recommended that one person, not on the Council of
Officers, be selected to gather information about prospective
conferences. Carla Mulford suggested that the Vice President,
Rosemary Guruswamy, could serve as a clearing-house for
suggestions for conferences from the membership at large. Most
members of the group agreed that making a call to the membership
for conference suggestions would produce the greatest amount of
information.

9. Plans for the next year's conference were discussed.
1. The Executive Officers (Mulford, Guruswamy, and Harris)
will referee papers and paper proposals for the conference.
2. It was generally agreed that the greatest number of
sessions should be sought by the Executive Officers. If five
sessions--a day's worth of sessions--could be attained, it was
considered that this would be best for the ongoing activity of
the Society. If three sessions were all that could be attained,
then one of those sessions would be devoted to an author, and the
two other sessions would be open-topic calls for papers.
3. Authors considered for author-focussed sessions included
Bradstreet, Taylor, Franklin, Edwards, and C.B. Brown. Other
topical sessions such as a "women in early America" session were
also recommended.
4. The group agreed that, in light of the great number of
papers offered in previous sessions on Brown and Franklin, a
session on Edward Taylor would be most useful. The other two
sessions would be open-topic calls for papers. And an additional
session--a forum--should be sought for early Americanists to
discuss "identity" issues.

Respectfully submitted,




Carla Mulford


GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE FOR 1992

November 1, 1992

Dear Early Americanist:

As announced in the autumn issue of the Society of Early
Americanists Newsletter, we have formally organized a society for
those who are interested in the literature and culture of early
America. We shall have formal affiliation with the American
Literature Association, and we hope, in future, to sponsor our
own independent meetings.

Please consider joining us. In doing so, you'll join a growing
number of early Americanists--many more than you'd guess--who are
seeking broader professional support as well as convivial
relations at professional meetings. For your membership, you'll
receive the twice-yearly Society of Early Americanists
Newsletter, which offers a comprehensive account of the most
recent professional writings and professional meetings in the
field. As a member, too, you'll be invited to attend the annual
meetings of the Society of Early Americanists at the American
Literature Association convention, where you'll have an
opportunity to meet scholars whose interests are your own.
You'll receive notices of special events related to the
membership, too, such as opportunities for gatherings at other,
related professional conferences. Most notably, by joining now,
you'll assist in generating a growing visibility for this field
and its scholars.

You'll find enclosed a copy of the first pages of the recent
newsletter (describing the history of the formation of this
Society), along with a membership sheet for you to complete,
should you wish to join us. Those who join the organization this
fall term will receive by December 1, 1992, a copy of the drafted
Bylaws and Constitution of the organization. Please take a
moment to read the enclosed materials. We hope you'll join us!


Carla Mulford Rosemary F. Guruswamy Sharon Harris
Penn State Univ. Radford Univ. Univ. of Nebraska
President Vice-President Executive Coordinator








December 8, 1992


Dear Member of the Society of Early Americanists:

On behalf of the Council of Officers of the Society of Early
Americanists, I'm pleased to be sending you our draft of the
Constitution and Bylaws of the Society of Early Americanists.

The Constitution is designed to accord with our affiliation with
the American Literature Association, the "parent" organization
with which we are currently affiliated. The Bylaws describe the
operations of the Society. We welcome your comments on these
draft documents. Please send any comments you might have to our
Vice President, Rosemary Fithian Guruswamy, by March 31, 1993:

Prof. Rosemary Fithian Guruswamy
Department of English
Radford University
Radford, VA 24142

Sharon Harris, the Executive Coordinator of the Society,
continues to receive membership requests, I'm happy to say, and,
thanks to Sharon's efforts, we have now completed our packet of
materials for filing for non-profit status for the organization.
We are, in other words, off to a good start, owing to the
encouragement of our many members.

We wish to remain responsive to members' concerns. Concerns of a
business nature (e.g., questions about your account with the
Society) can be sent directly to Prof. Sharon Harris, Department
of English, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0333.
News, offprints, and comments for the newsletter should be sent
directly to our newsletter editor: Prof. William J. Scheick,
Editor, Society of Early Americanists Newsletter, 9901 Oak Run
Drive, Austin, TX 78758-5547. You are, of course, always
welcome to write directly to me, too, at the address above.

Cordially,




Carla Mulford, President
Society of Early Americanists