March 28, 2009

President Ronald Bayor opened the Annual Business Meeting at 4:30 p.m. with nineteen IEHS members present. (The Editorial Board Meeting of the Journal of American Ethnic History preceded the Annual Meeting.) The Minutes of the 2008 IEHS Meeting were approved. Bayor began his presidential Report by thanking the IEHS officers that completed their terms of service: Executive Board members Hasia Diner, Russell Kazal, and Raymond Mohl (serving 2006-2009); IEHS Treasurer, Eric Arnesen (serving 2006-2009), and IEHS Secretary Betty Bergland (serving 2002-2009). Bayor announced that outstanding issues with Transaction Publication resulting from the transfer of the Journal are settled and reported that IEHS received $50,000 in that settlement. Bayor acknowledged and thanked the lawyers that worked with IEHS on a pro-bono basis--Henry M. Schaffer and Russell J. Hoover of Jenner and Block in Chicago. Bayor also thanked the individuals that worked on the two IEHS special awards this past year—the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Distinguished Service Award.

Bergland gave the Secretary’s Report, announcing the results of the 2009 election. The Vice-President/President Elect is Hasia Diner of New York University. New members elected to the Executive Board that will serve a three-year term from 2009-2012 are Alan Kraut, Joshua Dewind, and Nancy Carnevale. On behalf of the Society, Bergland congratulated these individuals and thanked other members that agreed to run for election: Nora Faires, Kirsten Fermaglich, Mark Bauman and Sarah Cornell. She noted that 95 ballots were cast, approximately 31% of the 304 individual members.

John Bukowczyk gave the Business Report for the Journal of American Ethnic History. He reported that the issues have been published on time in each quarter. He noted that the new Book Review Editor is in place, Allan Austin, and that approximately thirty book reviews appear in each issue. Some decline in the manuscript submissions has been noted. Bukowczyk announced that two special issues were planned in the near future: one on “Homoerotic, Lesbian and Gay Ethnic and Immigrant Histories,” guest-edited by Horacio Roque Ramirez; and a second on cold war politics and American ethnic groups, to be guest-edited by Jeva Zake. Another planned special issue on music is on the permanent back burner. He noted that the Qualey Award would be announced this evening at dinner (see notice in this Newsletter). He reported that the Council of Editors of Learned Journals recognized former editor Ronald Bayor in December with the CELJ Distinguished Editor Award. Reporting on circulation of the Journal, Bukowczyk noted that back issues are available as a subscription add-on and that the back-files of the journal also are now available via JSTOR. This year the Journal also instituted electronic subscriptions for individual members.

Jim Bergquist gave the Newsletter editor’s Report. He noted that a total of eight hundred (800) Newsletters are sent out in May and November to individual members and institutions. The cost of publishing an issue is about $700 and there has been a rise in the mailing costs. He added that he continues to seek articles for the front page of the Newsletter articles focused on pedagogy, theory or historiography.

The Treasurer’s Report of Eric Arnesen circulated among members and Bayor commented on key elements. The balance as of April 1, 2008 was $41,551.65; expenditures in the past year totaled $63,916.00 and revenues totaled $135,302.12, leaving a total balance as of March 26, 2009 at $112,937.37. Ron Bayor added several comments. He noted that the Pozetta Prize Endowment is decreasing in its principle; however, the Saloutos Prize funding is sound. He also noted that the IEHS now carries Liability Insurance for officers and board members.

Barbara Posadas gave the Program Chair’s Report. She announced that five sessions were proposed for the forthcoming American Historical Association Annual Meeting in San Diego, California in January; also, four sessions have been proposed for the 2010 Organization of American Historians in Washington, D.C. in April. In addition, Posadas noted that an informal session memorializing Jon Gjerde at the OAH meeting is being planned David Gerber and David Hollinger.

Russell Kazal announced that the Pozzetta Dissertation Prize had been awarded to Hidetaka Hirota of Boston College for his project, “’To any place beyond [the] sea where he belongs’: Nativism, Citizenship, and the Deportation of Paupers in Massachusetts, 1848-1877.”

The meeting then turned to the proposed amendment to the IEHS By-Laws. The proposal, drafted by Vice-President/President Elect Barbara Posadas and mailed to IEHS members with the meeting announcement in February, recommends a one-year interval (as opposed to the current three-year interval) between terms of service on the Executive Board. Posadas moved to accept the proposed amendment; Alan Kraut seconded the motion. Bayor opened the discussion. Victor Greene asked for the rationale for the proposal. Posadas argued that the three-year interval was counterproductive to the functioning of the Society; that the IEHS is losing good people who seek leadership roles in other organizations; that the Executive Board is a primary route to active involvement in the Society; and that if members must wait a three-year interval for service, the Society limits possibilities for members. Bergland cautioned against the proposal. She noted the Society’s efforts in the past years to recruit and engage new members, and the reduced interval carried the risk that familiar names and persons rather than new members would be recruited; she also noted that the issue had been previously discussed by the IEHS and the three-year interval had been upheld. Further, she added, that in current election cycle for the Executive Board, of the initial nominees four were ineligible, but three of these were because of expired membership, reasonably a result of the shift from Transaction Publication. Consequently, the frustration of this year’s Nominating Committee may have contributed to the desire for change, rather than a systemic problem. Posadas offered that the Society should count on the good sense of the Nominating Committee to seek folks for the Executive Board and that it behooves us to get new people, but the Society should avoid recruiting individuals with only half-hearted interest. John Bukowczyk noted that memberships for some nominees expired during the IEHS nominating process. Rachel Kranson pointed out that renewals were technical matters. Walter Kamphoefner wondered about other issues. Ron Bayor called for the question. The motion carried: sixteen in favor and two abstaining. The proposed By-Laws Amendment passed.

[The amended IEHS By-Laws now read as follows—the italicized phrase is the adopted change: “Article VII EXECUTIVE BOARD Sec. 1 Election and Term of Office. The Executive Board shall consist of six (6) current officers and nine (9) additional members, three (3) of whom will be elected in each year. Such additional members shall be elected for three-year (3-year) terms in the same manner as prescribed for the officers. Service on the Executive Board shall be limited to one three-year term and incumbents should not be re-nominated until after an interval of one year. All past Presidents of the corporation shall be considered “ex-officio” members of the Executive Board entitled to attend all meetings of the Executive Board and entitled to vote during the three (3) years immediately succeeding their Presidency.”]

Under New Business, Ron Bayor proposed a new IEHS Award for the “Best Dissertation” in honor of Rudy J. Vecoli and suggested a committee for this purpose. Victor Greene seconded the motion. Ron Bayor appointed an ad hoc committee for the Vecoli Award: Rachel Kranson, Alan Kraut, and Ron Bayor.

Bayor asked for other New Business. Walter Kamphoefner raised the matter of videotaping IEHS sessions, prompted by a request at the 2009 AHA. (Bergland explained the context. As the IEHS contact person on record at AHA, she received a telephone call the day before the session from a C-Span correspondent wishing to tape the IEHS-sponsored session chaired by Walter Kamphoefner. She informed the correspondent that the usual academic protocol is to secure permission from speakers in advance. She attempted unsuccessfully to speak with Kamphoefner, but reached Bayor, who concurred that permissions must be secured. When re-contacted by Bergland the journalist expressed disappointment and asserted that AHA permitted him to tape all other sessions; however, he was only interested in the IEHS one.) Discussion of the matter followed. Bayor moved that IEHS generate a form for taping sessions with an opt-out clause. Elliott Barkan suggested that such a move would open a Pandora’s box, the conclusion when this had been examined in the 1970s. Alan Kraut noted that C-Span often tapes at bookstores for signings, so the issues involve who is doing the taping and why. Russ Hoover (visiting attorney) stated that in some states taping without consent may be a crime. Jim Bergquist recommended that the Program Chair ask session participants for their consent to tape. John Bukowczyk offered that there are intellectual property issues involved in taping as scholars often present works in progress. Victor Greene raised the question of what transpires if session participants resisted taping. Bayor proposed that the matter be tabled for further study.

Elliott Barkan moved to thank President Ron Bayor for his years of service as IEHS President and Vice-President/President Elect. All agreed.

The meeting adjourned at 5: 30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Betty Bergland, IEHS Secretary