Society for Historians of the Gilded Age

and the Progressive Era

MINUTES OF THE MARCH MEETING AND COUNCIL OF THE SOCIETY

FOR HISTORIANS OF THE GILDED AGE AND PROGRESSIVE ERA

March 26, 2004

President Donna Gabaccia, University of Pittsburgh, called the Council Meeting of the Society

for Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era to order at 5:50 pm, March 26, 2004, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place in Salon B. In addition to President Gabaccia, the following SHGAPE Council and other members attended the meeting: Vice President Peter Argersinger,

Southern Illinois University and Secretary-Treasurer Murney Gerlach, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center.

Additional Council Members present included Professors: Roger D. Bridges, Bloomington, Illinois; Kristin Hoganson, University of Illinois; and JGAPE Editor, Alan Lessoff, Illinois

State University. Others present included: Jacqueline Moore, Austin College; Ballard Campbell, Northeastern University; Kris Lindenmeyer, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; David MacLeod, Central Michigan University; Susan Traverso, North Central College; Charles C. Calhoun, East Carolina University; Philip VanderMeer, Arizona State University; and Richard Schneirov Hischnei, Indiana State University.

Introductions

President Gabaccia welcomed the group and especially new Vice President Peter Argersinger, and members of the Council, and members and guests gave self-introductions who were in attendance.

She also invited SHGAPE members to attend the reception immediately after the Council meeting, and to attend and participate in the sessions which were sponsored by SHGAPE at the

OAH meetings.

Minutes

Professor Bridges moved the approval of the Minutes of January 9, 2004. Professor Campbell

seconded the motion; it passed unanimously. They will be posted on the SHGAPE website.

Appointments

The following appointments were presented and confirmed: “Skip” Hyser, Membership Chair;

Shannon Parsley, Graduate Student Member; Jacqueline Moore, Chair of the H-SHGAPE Editorial Board; Patrick Reagan, Webmaster; and continuing Chair, Nominating Committee, Phil

VanderMeer; and two new members, Dan Letwin and Kim Phillips.

Authorizations

The Council unanimously confirmed and ratified the actions taken by the Executive Committee:

“For the year, 2004, SHGAPE will provide $2,000 to the editor of JGAPE.. $600 was advanced to Editor Alan Lessoff, in Fall 2003, for Journal expenses in 2004).” Secretary-Treasurer Gerlach asked that all expenses be properly accounted for and receipts and invoices be delivered to him

so that the SHGAPE financial records could be properly maintained, and expenses be based on those normally provided for to the editor of the Journal based on previous years.

The Council confirmed and unanimously approved the payment of $2,106 to the History Cooperative for putting the 2002, 2003, and 2004 issues of the Journal online. Previously, $1,589 had been previously paid for the year 2003. Professor Lessoff indicated that he had been able to negotiate the original estimate of between $5,000 and $4,500 down to $3,695 for all three years. In the future, SHGAPE would be responsible for annual fees of about $1,500-$1,600 to keep posting new volumes, and the Council would revisit annually the benefit of this added feature and approve any additional annual fees. President Gabaccia thanked Professor Lessoff for his work and negotiating with History Cooperative. Professor Lessoff reported that he would be meeting with the History Cooperative in May or June.

Membership

Professor Gabaccia reported for “Skip” Hyser, Membership Chair, and Dr. Gerlach also reported some membership statistics. Currently, membership consists of 211 individuals, 69 institutions, 30 students, and 1 joint, or a total of 311. A breakdown for inactive members for 2003 (did not renew for 2004), included 52 individuals, 6 institutions, 16 students, and 1 joint. President Gabaccia discussed expanding the Membership Committee, and calling those members who did not renew. She indicated that she would discuss this with Dr. Hyser, Dr. VanderMeer and Dr. Gerlach. There was discussion abut the possibility of using well known historians as authors for the Journal to help in recruiting new members. This year Membership renewals will take place in October.

Graduate Student Report

A written report by Shannon L. Parsley was circulated and discussed, especially with reference to JGAPE opportunities for AHA presenters, 2005 panels, the newsletter, and how to involve graduate students in activities of SHGAPE.

Newsletter

A written report was circulated by David Blanke on the newsletter, 450 copies of the spring 2004 issue were printed, and the report made reference to working with Western publishing and the Hayes Presidential Center. Dr. Blanke asked for suggestions of articles and suggestions for the newsletter. It was recommended that extra copies be brought to the AHA and OAH meetings.

Program Committee

Dr. Argersinger reported for the committee and circulated a written report, which thanked other members of the Program Committee (Gordon Bakken, California State University, Fullerton; Ruth Crocker, Auburn University; Kristen Hoganson, University of Illinois; and graduate student representative Shannon Parsley, American University). In particular, he reported on efforts to arrange SHGAPE panels for the AHA in Seattle, January 2005, and the OHA in San Francisco,

March 2005. Panel sessions would be submitted in April to both AHA and OAH Program Committees.

Finances

Murney Gerlach passed out a financial report for SHGAPE for March 23, 2004, in which he noted that the total liabilities and equity assets were $22,917. He also noted that total income for January through March 23^rd, primarily membership renewals, was $6,921 and total expenses were $3,796, with an overall margin of $3,124. He noted that the investment of $3,695 for the History Cooperative was a new cost, which the Council should review to see if the increased membership and benefits were helping the organization. He thanked Suzanne Darr and Mary Lou Halbeisen for their continuing efforts to provide the detailed accounting and membership services for SHGAPE.

Prize Committee

Jacqueline Moore reported for the SHGAPE Biennial Article Prize Committee, and on the process by the committee for the selection of the article. There were 32 submissions, and the unanimous choice was Christopher Capozzola’s article, “‘The Only Badge Needed is Your

Patriotic Fervor’: Vigilance, Coercion, and the Law in World War I America,” Journal of American History 68, no. 4 (March 2002): 1354-82.

H-SHGAPE Report

Kris Lindenmeyer reported for the H-SHGAPE Online Editors and Editorial Board. She indicated that they had commissioned and published 80 H-SHGAPE reviews since 1988.

JGAPE Report

Alan Lessoff, Editor, circulated and commented on a written report, which covered such topics as the articles for January, April, and July 2004, the status of manuscripts, special projects and invited articles, the review process, History Cooperative, the new design, finances, and public history. He noted that Karen Cox was attending the annual meeting of the National Council on Public History, and would report back on building the projected public history component of the journal.

Nominating Committee

Philip VanderMeer reported for the Nomination Committee on the criteria for nomination and the actions planned for the next year. He noted that the committee sought nominations and suggestions by August-September 2004, and preliminary discussions by the committee would take place in October with a final list of nominees to be sent to the Membership secretary by December 1^st.

New Business

President Gabaccia said that she would assume the responsibility of helping to institutionalize and update the SHGAPE web page and work with other members of the Council as she proceeded on the project.

President Gabaccia also discussed the importance of coordinating and reviewing the steps by which SHGAPE could proceed with an Endowment Campaign, and thanked any members of the Council for making contributions to the endowment. Dr. Gerlach reported that currently we $2,392.97 in the current fund. Professor Campbell suggested that excess income at the end of the year might be transferred to the endowment at the end of the year, and Professor Bridges incicated that it was important to have 1005 participation by SGAHPE Council members before going out to the public or membership. Dr. Gerlach also suggested trying to find several major leadership gifts of four or five figures to start the campaign - this was a sign of successful planning.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7 pm, and the members of the Council moved to a general reception that followed immediately afterwards in the Copley Marriott.

Respectfully submitted,

Murney Gerlach

Secretary