Lyman L. Johnson

We had a very successful annual meeting in Seattle. As all of you know, planning and successfully running an event of this scale is very difficult. I would like to thank all of those CLAH members who helped make our meeting a success. I would particularly like to thank Ward Stavig, our Executive Secretary, Lori

Simons, our secretary, and Ken Andrien, Chair of the Program Committee. Everyone at the luncheon was disappointed that Marysa Navarro, our speaker, was unable to reach Seattle on time due to travel delays caused by a winter storm. Fortunately, we can look forward to the publication for Marysa’s talk in a future issue of The Americas. Despite this disappointment, many of those who attended the luncheon told me that they enjoyed the Space Needle Restaurant, which provided one of the more memorable venues for a CLAH business meeting and award ceremony.

I am disappointed to have to inform the CLAH membership that our efforts to pursue a formal linkage with H-LATAM have gone slower than anticipated. We have made substantial progress, however. With the fall Newsletter we will submit for your approval amendments to the CLAH Constitution that will formalize our new relationship with H-LATAM. In the mean time we will initiate a number of new services based on this relationship. By the time that Newsletter reaches you, we will electronically post a questionnaire to all CLAH members for whom we have an e-mail address. This questionnaire will help anticipate problems that may occur with the electronic delivery of the Newsletter. Please respond to this questionnaire. If you do not receive the questionnaire, it means that the Secretariat does not have an e-mail address for you or that the e-mail address it has is incorrect. Contact the Secretariat at clah@h-net.msu.edu to provide a correct address. We will also attempt the electronic delivery of the Newsletter in the weeks following the circulation of the printed Newsletter. Let the Secretariat know of any delivery problems. As I mentioned in the last Newsletter, the publication and mailing of the Newsletter is one of our largest expenses. If a substantial portion of the membership is willing to accept the electronic delivery system we are developing, we will have more money to spend on our other activities and will be able to hold down dues.

We are also updating the CLAH homepage which is now hopelessly out of date. Among the many improvements to the homepage will be the potential for our regional and standing committees to offer reports, debates, and other forms of scholarly exchange in a convenient manor. The Economic History Newsletter under the editorship of Eugenio Piñero will be added to the homepage in the coming months. Given this proliferation of new tasks associated with the homepage, we might find it necessary to add a homepage editor to the CLAH administrative structure in the future.

One of our organization’s most important services to the profession is to provide research support to talented graduate students and recent Ph.D.s. With the exception of the Cabrera Fellowship, our named awards are currently funded at levels that require CLAH to commit general funds to supplement endowment earnings for these awards. At the General Committee meeting in Seattle, Donna Guy suggested that we begin to more aggressively solicit new contributions to these endowments so that they become self -funding. I agree with Donna’s suggestion and urge you to consider making a donation to one of these important funds.

My e-mail address has changed. You can now reach me at either ljohnson@email.uncc.edu or lyman.johnson@MCI2000.com. Please feel free to share with me your opinions and suggestions about our organization. The elected officers and Secretariat staff of CLAH are interested in better serving your needs. I wish you all productive and enjoyable summer and look forward to seeing many of you at upcoming conferences or, better still, in Latin America this summer.