The meeting was held on January 8, 1998 from 5 - 7pm at the Sheraton Hotel in Seattle, Washington. Lyman Johnson, President presided.

Susan Socolow discussed her work on the CLAH — H-LATAM relationship. She discussed the proposed amendment to the CLAH Constitution and By-laws, Article II, Section 2, to make CLAH a co-sponsor of H-LATAM and change responsibilities of the Vice-president of CLAH. The proposal would include representatives from the CLAH general committee, president and executive secretary to sit on the H-LATAM board in the form of ex-officio. There would also be editorial board members appointed for H-LATAM from CLAH that would be appointed to serve three-year renewable terms. H-LATAM distribution of the electronic version of the CLAH newsletter was also discussed CLAH members would receive the electronic version earlier than the printed copy. The newsletter would be available to the general public after a six-month lapse. Some questions and ideas that were brought up concerning how to keep the newsletter Ablocked@ for either six-months or one year. It was suggested that members be polled on who preferred to receive the newsletter in print and who would prefer the internet. The internet option would save CLAH money in printing costs, however, all agreed that the membership directory should be kept in print form.

Lyman Johnson discussed the possibility of either moving the CLAH endowment funds to another investment company or altering how American Express handles the funds, as well as for easier to read reports and alternative investment strategies. Harbor Capital Management, Inc. had prepared an investment proposal for CLAH at the request of the president, which was reviewed the committee. The need for alternative investments for CLAH and, the need to devote more attention to the endowments and the development investment strategies was also discussed. Most of the investments taken on by CLAH at the present time are through Front-Load funds, except for the Warren Dean Fund which is a Back-Load fund. All investments are through IDS Funds, and all are with American Express.

Three proposals were:

1. A new investment strategy that would allow CLAH to build a greater principal.

2. Have a larger array of investment managers, instead of depending 100% on American Express funds, such as IDS Funds.

3. Have clearer and more easily understood financial reports

It was suggested that a subcommittee look at these funds and additional proposals and to give a report to the General Committee via e-mail by June 1. It was also proposed to start a financial committee with a president appointed chair.

Election results were announced for the General Committee elected positions. The winners were Richard Salvucci and Stuart Schwartz.

The 1997 Financial Report was presented by Ward Stavig, who noted that the infusion of funds to the secretariat from the University of South Florida has greatly strengthened CLAH=s operating budget. It was discussed that while award and prize donations are down greatly from last year, budgeting cost have also been reduced. Donna Guy suggested that something be done to establish a financial base for the awards since CLAH sometimes has to take money away from the IDS funds for operating costs.

Judy Ewell, representing the Scobie Committee, discussed the need to change the regulations

pertaining to the Scobie Award. It was proposed to have the deadline moved up from April 1^st to March 1^st to accommodate winning students. The travel definition was changed to state that funds are to be used for exploratory research, up to 3 months, and to make sure that the funds are used properly. The rule of three recommendation letters was reduced to two letters and a second language proficiency is now a requirement. It was also noted that Scobie committee members would now serve two-year staggered terms.

Erick Langer gave the preliminary ranking report of the 1999 AHA-CLAH conference panels. It was proposed to put AHA panels that are related to CLAH in the CLAH program and invite those who are not members of CLAH to join.

Avi Chomsky, representing the CLAH Teaching Committee, discussed their work with the AHA teaching committee.

Don Stevens, representing the ComPAQH committee, stated that he was resigning his position of committee chairman and would be replaced by Steve Haber. The committee is working on a newsletter and a website on population. Eugenio Pinero will be taking over the Economic History newsletter.

Barry Carr, representing the International Scholarly Relations, read a message from Linda Salvucci stating that they are looking into Latin American institutions that have archives.

Michael Conniff noted that someone needs to take over the Lombardi maps project. He suggested that the Teaching Committee work on that and possibly put the maps on the Internet.

Ward Stavig related that the University of South Florida library approached him about organizing and permanently housing the CLAH archives. The library would retain the archives which would be open to the public. These costs for the archival services would be borne by the University of South Florida.

There being no further business, a motion to adjourn the meeting was made, seconded, and passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Ward Stavig

Executive Secretary