2017 December 6 meeting minutes
Attendees: Ron Becker, Raymond Frey, Bonita Grant, Paul Israel, Christie Lutz, Tara Maharjan, Deborah Mercer, Jessica Myers, Karl Niederer, Laura Poll, Gary Saretzky, Julia Telonidis, Bob Vietrogoski, Richard Waldron, Lorraine Williams, Maxine Lurie, Larry Kidder
Treasurer's Report (Richard Waldron). The report will be sent later*.
Membership Report (Karl Niederer): 82 members have paid dues for the current year. As of 6/30/17, there were 94 members paid through that year. There are 2 new members for this year. Per Karl’s tracking, gifts are well above previous years.
Website/Facebook Page (Tara Maharjan): 169 Facebook followers. Send any website updates to Tara.
Committee on Author Awards (Deborah Mercer): Author Awards were presented to the winners. 18 books were submitted, which is a record. Authors had no issues submitting multiple copies. Larry Kidder is the newest member on the committee, there is a need for another committee member. There is a possibility of combining with the NJ Historical Commission in some way, especially since there is some overlap in submissions for their awards, and NJSAA offers subject expertise among its readers.
Committee on the Award for a Librarian (Bob Vietrogoski): Tom Frusciano has received his signed and framed award.
Committee on Teaching Awards (Raymond Frey): We now have access to two public school databases which will enable us to get the award announcement to almost all NJ schools, as well as to the right people.
Stellhorn Award Committee – for Undergraduate Papers (Richard Waldron): There were 14 submissions. Dick would like to get in touch with previous recipients and potentially create a newsletter to show what they have been doing. Such an effort would help cement us as a “class act” and create a community (online) to stimulate connections and build a network. It was also suggested that we could feature these award recipients regularly on our Facebook page. A vote was taken as to whether to move forward with the newsletter; passed unanimously.
Discussion ensued about whether to consider accepting films for submission for the Stellhorn Award, possibly for 2019. We would need to recruit people willing to review films. Decided that we would solicit help from Mason Gross, the H_NJ list, and among our individual contacts.
Graduate Student Papers Award (Paul Israel): It was reiterated that there were no submissions this year, but Paul will reach out to students he knows are working on NJ project for submissions next year. Part of the challenge is not knowing what out of state students might be working on NJ topics, and even then NJ may just be a small portion of their larger topic.
NJSAA Lecture Series & schedule of future events (Laura Poll): At our Tuesday, February 6th meeting Sandra Moss will speak on the polio epidemic of 1916. The April meeting, tentatively scheduled for Tuesday the 17th, will feature student paper and teaching award winners.
Summer off-site plans have changed slightly. The June meeting is scheduled for the 27th at the Alice Paul Institute and will feature Catherine Hudak on "The Ladies of Trenton: Women's Public and Political Activism in Revolutionary NJ." The Carnegie Series will consist of a panel in June, exhibit in July and Eleanora Dubicki lecture in August. The Series will be sponsored by NJSAA, Union County Office of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, and the Elizabeth Public Library.
Development Committee (Jessica Myers): Jessica distributed a report from the July meeting along with four proposals put before the board. The discussion of the proposals was tabled until the February 6th meeting so that the board and members could have time to review the proposals. The report will be sent with the agenda for the February meeting.*
New Business and Member News:
Maxine noted that we should have had a vote for officers last year. We need to assemble a nominating committee that will report by the February meeting. Karl volunteered to serve on this committee.
Following the business meeting there were presentations from the Author Award winners:
Scholarly: Fatal Sunday: George Washington, the Monmouth Campaign and the Politics of Battle by Mark Edward Lender and Garry Wheeler Stone (Presentation by Gary Wheeler Stone)
Reference: Envisioning New Jersey: An Illustrated History of the Garden State by Maxine N. Lurie and Richard F. Veit (Presentation by Maxine Lurie)
Popular: Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital by Rusty Tagliareni and Christina Mathews (Presentation by Robert Kirkbride, Rusty Tagliareni and Christina Mathews)
Minutes respectfully submitted by Christie Lutz