NEWSLETTER

Society for the History of Children and Youth

Society for the History of Children and Youth
Biennial Business Meeting, June 30, 2007
Minutes

President Kriste Lindenmeyer called the meeting to order at 10:40 AM.  Forty-eight members were in attendance.

Treasurer’s Report: Jim Marten explained the new dues structure (which will now include a subscription to the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth) and reported that the SHCY currently has about $11,500 in the bank.  Most members whose memberships expire in summer 2007 have not yet renewed, so that amount will go up significantly in the next few months.

Report on the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth.  Laura Lovett reported the successful completion of negotiations with Johns Hopkins University Press; stressed the international and interdisciplinary goals of the journal; introduced the other editors and several features of the journal; and asked members to encourage their university and college libraries to subscribe.  Jon Pahl, book review editor, encouraged members to suggest books to review and solicited volunteers to review books.

Report on H-Childhood: Pat Ryan reported on the progress made in reviewing books on H-Childhood and encouraged members to ask publishers to send books to be reviewed.  He also called for volunteers to become co-editors of the book reviews for H-Childhood; this will make it possible to review more books in a greater variety of fields.

Kriste led a short discussion of H-Net and invited members to volunteer to editors for H-Childhood.

Report on the SHCY Newsletter: Paula Fass, reporting for Kathleen Jones, thanked the editors of the newsletter.  She solicited reactions to and summaries of the conference and of individual sessions and photographs from the conference and personal news of events and achievements for the August newsletter.  The January/February issue will feature ideas about teaching the history of childhood; she solicited articles and brief notes about assignments, readings, etc.  She also called for additional editors from outside North America (both in terms of residence and in terms of their research fields), for an editor to ensure that a teaching section appears in each newsletter, and ideas for future articles and themes.

Kriste proposed amendments to the By-Laws altering the makeup and size of the Executive Committee. After lengthy discussion and several friendly amendments, the proposals passed without dissent.  The following are the pertinent sections of the By-Laws, with the approved changes in caps and bold font:
Section 2: The Executive Committee will govern the organization.  Voting members of the Executive Committee include the President, Vice-President/President Elect, immediate past-president and EIGHT at-large members of the Society.  AT LEAST ONE MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MUST BE A GRADUATE STUDENT AT THE TIME OF ELECTION.  NO MORE THAN THREE AT LARGE MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE (NOT INCLUDING THE GRADUATE STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE) CAN RESIDE IN THE SAME COUNTRY DURING ANY TWO-YEAR PERIOD.  The Secretary-Treasurer, Liaison to H-Net, and editor of the Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth will serve as non-voting members of the Executive Committee.   The President and President-Elect will serve two-year terms.  At-large members of the Executive Committee will serve four year terms.   The Secretary-Treasurer and Liaison to H-Net shall serve at the pleasure of the Executive Committee.  In the event of an unexpired term, the President in consultation with the Executive Committee is empowered to appoint a member of the society to complete the term.

A discussion on the location for the 2009 meeting followed.  Paula Fass suggested UC-Berkeley; she will conduct preliminary research on costs and viability and report back to the Executive Committee.

Kriste led the membership in thanking the members of the various SHCY committees, the Secretary-Treasurer, and especially the conference hosts and program committee.  A motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously officially thanking Linköping University and the city of Norrköping for hosting the conference.

The membership approved the minutes from the 2005 business meeting.

Kriste completed the ceremonial transfer of the magic scepter to the incoming president, Paula Fass.

The meeting adjourned at 12:05.

Submitted by James Marten, Secretary-Treasurer.