Board of Directors Meeting
       ESAF, Watertown NY
       November 19, 2001

The meeting of the Board of Directors of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology was called to order at 3:40 p.m. with President Philip Perazio presiding.  A quorum was present. (Attendance attached)

The minutes from the previous board meeting were accepted as distributed on a motion by Mark McConaughy, seconded by Bill Johnson.

Treasurer's report-Paul Cowin stated that the updated report and budget has been distributed to the board since the last meeting.  He reports that the Society is solvent.

The Elmer Erb Permanent Fund-Kurt Carr reports that the trustees will meet via conference call in December to discuss strategies for investment in the present market.   A report will be ready for the next board of directors meeting and Annual Meeting 2002.

OLD BUSINESS

2002 Archaeology Month Planning-Amanda Valko offered a report of her meeting with the Army Corp. of Engineers from the Leetsdale Site represented by Conrad Weiser and Lori Frye.  A preliminary design idea was put out for comment.  The recommendation of the board was to keep the design simple and complement the theme with written text, bookmarks, and other supplemental materials.  The Archaeology Month 2002 materials will be incorporated  in the membership enrollment plans for the SPA.  The meshing of the two promotions will be discussed further by the Chapter Forum on Membership Committee--Mary Alice Graetzer and Ginger Dlutowski.

The following points were considered:

  • Timetable for publication of poster-preliminary mailing should be ready for April to be distributed to the public schools in Pennsylvania.  Jim Herbstritt should be consulted to follow his timetable from 2001. 
  • PAC Secretary/Treasurer Mark McConaughy will contact regular sponsor for a commitment of intent for 2002 so they will be properly credited on the poster.  This will be done ASAP.
  • SPA will have a final preview and editing privileges before the poster goes to press.
  • Guidelines for future Archaeology Month planning will be developed during the 2002 process.
Kurt reported that there is a new director at BHP, Jean Cutler, who would like to meet with the SPA Board to discuss common educational goals including the handling of Archaeology Month materials, educational distributions, websites, help for the City Island Site and additional common goals. 
A date will be set in February for a noon lunch meeting hosted at the State Museum when Ms. Cutler can be present.  Board Members will be notified as to the date. 

Revision of the Constitution-Verna Cowin reported that the constitution revisions have been made and will be presented to the membership via the website.  Notification of the revisions will be made in the newsletter with a reference to view the changes on the website.  A vote on the revised constitution will be made at the 2002 Annual Meeting.  Chapter Presidents are asked to please notify their membership to review the document.

Chapter Forum on Membership-Mary Alice Graetzer and Ginger Dlutowski were not in attendance.  A time will be set aside at Annual Meeting for an open forum discussion to take place.  There is a budget for promotional information and items to encourage new members to the society. All Chapters are asked to assign a representative to be present at this forum.

The list of educational contacts to recruit members through state college anthropology departments was developed by Verna and Paul Cowin.  Additions were suggested (Kutztown, Clarion, and Mansfield) and the list will be included with the regular mailing list of informational mailings of the Society. 

NEW BUSINESS

Private Collections Policy-A number of requests come to the Society for guidance in disposing of collections, both provenienced and unprovenienced.  The discussions for the development of the Society's policy was as follows:

  • Solicit information from the State Museum and Carnegie on how donated collections are handled, availability for study, loan policies, and acceptance policies.
  • Do collections remain local?
  • Are collections accessible?
  • What is a proper repository? State facility? Historical societies? Educational facilities? Regional facilities?
  • Sources of curation funding?
  • How should the SPA direct inquiries? 
  • Develop a list of educational facilities and contacts for the donation of unprovenienced collections.
  • Develop a team of volunteers to use unprovenienced collection to produce "loan sets" for local schools, either for temporary or permanent loan programs.
  • Develop a team to catalog collections for a donor.
  • Use the local curation and educational set development as an inducement for collectors to donate or make provisions with their estates to donate collections.
  • Develop an announcement to put on website to "advise" collectors about repositories for their collections.


More information is need to finalize a policy for the society. Anyone having experience with curation guidelines should offer to serve on this policy committee.  More discussion will follow at the February Board meeting.  Please contact the Secretary to be present at that meeting or forward materials to the Secretary no later than January.

Discussion for the Good of the Society

In an effort to remain in contact with members as they move, the board has approved the Secretary's request to ask the editor of the PA Archaeologist to include change of address information in future issues. 

President Philip Perazio has suggested that the SPA open a listserver informational site for interested parties to discuss archaeological issues.  Brian Fritz and Philip Perazio will investigate the process, cost, safeguards, etc. of setting up this service.  They will report back to the Board in February.

Donna George asked for a ruling on an inquiry concerning the awards committee.  The board has ruled that new memberships counted for the John Witthoft Award should be counted by category only, i.e. individual (1), family (1), student (1), life (1) and institutional (1).

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
 

Judy M. Duritsa
Secretary
 


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