Annual General Meeting (1997)

Peter Sabor opened the meeting at 17:45 by thanking Thierry Belleguic for organizing such a splendid conference on aspects of time. He was delighted at the number of graduate students presenting papers, and at the outstanding list of plenary speakers.

1. Conference President's Report
Thierry Belleguic thanked his institution, his colleagues, his students, and the various people who helped him with the conference for financial and administrative support. He was happy to be welcoming about 120 members to the conference. He organized free accommodation for graduate students by pairing them up with students from his university.

2. President's Report
Peter Sabor was happy to report that we have an increase of members with the membership drive. Peter Sabor and Eleanor Ty had sent out approximately 250 letters to people and about 35 new or lapsed members joined or rejoined our society this year. Our application for Charitable status has been sent to Revenue Canada.

3. Secretary-Treasurer's Report
Eleanor Ty reported that there were 207 members currently which is up from last year. However, expenses, such as those for the Bulletin, are increasing. We are not sure if we will continue to receive the SSHRC travel grant for students. Income for last year exceeded the expenses only by a small margin (about $90). On behalf of the executive, she proposed an increase in membership dues. Our dues have not been raised for 15 years, and have not kept up with inflation. The fees would be as follows: $45 for regular members, $35 for part-time members with Lumen, and $20 for graduate students. Robert Merrett moved, seconded by Katherine Quinsey. The motion was unanimously carried.

4. Lumen--Executive Editor's Report
Alex Sokalski reported that there was good sales of Lumen volumes last year (108 vols). Saskatoon Volume 15 has appeared; Windsor Volume 16 is set to go to the printer by the end of the month. The essays for Victoria Volume 17 are out with readers. Alex suggested that perhaps we might do a 30th anniversary issue for the year 2001 as we have some funds available.

5. Bulletin--Editors' Reports
Ray Stephanson noted that there have been three issues of the Bulletin so far. The costs for these have been shared by CSECS and the Eighteenth-Century Studies Group at the University of Saskatchewan. Around 300 copies of the Bulletin are printed per issue, with approximately 225 going to members, and the rest sent free to increase our profile. Ray has found a way to decrease the costs of production, and will have a smaller version on hard copy for the next issues. Benoît Melançon reported that the number of people subscribing to the electronic version of the Bulletin has increased to 90. He encouraged people to read the fuller version of the newsletter by e-mail which would also cut our costs. He stressed the advantages of continuing to send out free copies of the Bulletin to maintain our profile.

6. Future Conferences
1998: Robert Merrett announced the dates of the Alberta conference to be 16 - 20 September 1998. Air Canada will be the official airline, and will give a free ticket (for the Montréal conference) for every 30 tickets sold. The theme is "Material Productions and Cultural Construction" and the plenary speakers will address the history of gardening, the culinary arts, and the popular systematisation of knowledge in encyclopedias. The registration is set at $120 but will include 4 meals, including one 18th century affair. It promises to be an exciting media event.
1999: Benoît Melançon of Université de Montréal will host the 1999 conference. The theme will be announced in the near future.
2000: John Baird will organize the meeting in conjunction with the International Scottish Studies conference at the University of Toronto.

7. New Executive
President: Marie Laure Girou Swiderski (University of Ottawa)--Moved by Alex Sokalski, seconded by Monique Moser-Verrey. Carried unanimously.
French representative: Thierry Belleguic (University of Western Ontario)--Moved by Kenneth Graham, seconded by Robert Merrett. Carried unanimously.
Fine Arts representative: Ursula Rempel (University of Manitoba)--Moved by Christa Fell, seconded by Katherine Quinsey. Carried unanimously.

8. Madoff Prize
The essays are still with the readers.
[EDITOR'S NOTE:
The University of Victoria Selection Committee is pleased to announce that the winner of the 1996 Madoff Prize is Richard Pickard (University of Alberta) for his essay "Gender, Class Environment(alism): the Cutting of Trees in Augustan Poetry." He will receive $150 plus a book of his choice, and his essay will be appearing in the Victoria volume of Lumen. The Committee would like to congratulate Mr. Pickard, and it would also like to thank all those who submitted papers for consideration.]

9. ISECS
Marie Laure Girou Swiderski announced that Andrew Carpenter has a campaign to raise money for fellowships (to pay for accommodation and registration of members from countries with weak currencies, graduate students, and retired staff) for the next ISECS conference in Dublin 1999. The ISECS Executive committee is willing to match contributions raised. The members of our executive had voted to give $25 each for this fellowship, and encouraged members to donate whatever they could. Cheques can be sent to Eleanor Ty.
CSECS is nominating Benoît Melançon for the position of Associate Vice-President in the executive committee of ISECS, and twenty signatures were gathered in support of this.

10. Other Business
Website: The CSECS website, created by Benoît Melançon, is up and running. Feel free to visit it: index.html.

Present

Eleanor Ty, Peter Sabor, Alex Sokalski, Ray Stephanson, Claire Grogan, Jay Macpherson, Thierry Belleguic, Patrica Debly, John Rempel, Jeanne Wood, Garry Retzleff, Kathleen James-Cavan, Grant Campbell, David John, Rosena Davison, Paul Rice, Christa Fell, John Baird, Robert Merrett, Kenneth Graham, Katherine Quinsey, Monique Moser-Verrey, Nancy Senior, Marie Laure Girou Swiderski, Roland Bonnel, Marc André Bernier, Bernard Andrès, Benoît Melançon.

Submitted by: Eleanor Ty

Accueil Home

Congrès Meetings

Publications

Adhérer Join

Contact

c18 Europe c18 America

Recherche Find