Annual General Meeting (2001)

Bessborough Hotel
Saskatoon, SK

Meeting called to order at 17:00.

Present: Marianne Henn, Vivien Bosley, Isobel Grundy, Larry Bongie, David Trott, Alison Scott-Prelorentzos, Servanne Woodward, Marie Laure Girou Swiderski, Pierre Berthiaume, Ugo Dionne, Martin Nadeau, David Oakleaf, Nancy Senior, April London, Lisa Vargo, Mark Phillips, Paula Remlinger, Ethel Groffier, Ray Stephanson, Gordon Fulton, Peter Sabor, Sébastien Charles, John Baird, Jay Macpherson, Frans De Bruyn, Betty Schellenberg, Benoît Melançon.

1. Minutes of the previous meeting adopted as presented.

2. Conference President's Report

Ray Stephanson reported on preparations for the Conference this year, which have gone very smoothly. Thanks to extensive financial support from the University of Saskatchewan, the Conference budget is in fine shape. Ray submitted a budget for the conference showing an income of $45,740 and expenses of $41,280. Total registration is 168 persons, of whom 100 are presenting papers. One quarter of these speakers are graduate students. The other 68 are occasional attendees and graduate students. Ray thanked the University for its support and voiced a special thanks to Lisa Vargo, who organized hotel, catering, and other arrangements.

3. President's Report

The President thanked Ray Stephanson for his hard work in preparing this year's conference and congratulated him on his great success. He noted that proposals to reform Lumen are being pursued actively and that changes to the Constitution are being studied. Documentation on the finalized proposals will be sent out to members well before next year's General Meeting in Québec City.

4. Secretary-Treasurer's Report

Frans De Bruyn presented a consolidated statement of income and expenses for the year (Oct. 2000-Oct. 2001) and a balance sheet of the Society's current assets and liabilities. Currently the Society's net worth, once liabilities (production costs for Lumen 99 and 00, and travel grants owing to this year's conference participants) are taken into account, stands at approximately $57,000, continuing the dramatic improvement in the Society's finances over the last few years. These figures include the Lumen account currently managed by Alex Sokalski. (See attached financial statements.) Reasons for this dramatic improvement include increases in donations and interest earnings, reduction of expenditure for the Bulletin, savings in office and clerical costs, and the publication of the last three issues of Lumen (vols. 18-20) at a cost less than that budgeted.

On the membership front, this year's figures show the Society maintaining the strong growth it enjoyed last year. Our membership stands currently at 195, and the Secretary-Treasurer estimates that this figure will grow to about 220 by year's end.

Given the strong financial position of the Society, the treasurer proposed that the Society's books be formally audited this year and that proposals be entertained for a judicious increase in the Society's expenditures on programs for its members. Among the ideas suggested are the following:

* Support for the International Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ISECS) program to assist ISECS members from countries with weak currencies,

* Donating sets of Lumen to ISECS member societies that have difficulty gaining access to academic publication,

* Financing the Mark Madoff Prize in future from the Society's budget, rather than from the budget of the annual conference,

* Hiring a webmaster to improve the Society's website (moneys currently being saved by our move to an electronic Bulletin can be reallocated for this purpose),

* Establishing a fellowship program to help fund the research of Society members.

It was agreed that expenditures on the first four points above be authorized immediately, and that the last point be studied further--for discussion and possible implementation next year.

5. Lumen

In the absence of the managing editor, Benoît Melançon reported that the Montréal volume of Lumen (#20) is now going to press and should be out by the end of the year. The volume is 150 pages long and contains 11 articles. The Toronto volume (#21) is also coming along well and should be forthcoming early in 2002. John Baird reported the happy news that the cost of the Toronto volume is being met entirely out of last year's conference budget. We have received about $1,000 in income from sales of Lumen this year.

6. Future of Lumen

John Baird presented the report of the ad hoc committee on the future of Lumen (see attached report). Since changes to Lumen will entail constitutional and other changes, it was agreed that Benoît Melançon and Frans De Bruyn will serve in the upcoming year, respectively, as acting editor and acting business manager. Further steps will be taken next year to put Lumen on a solid footing for the future.

7. Bulletin: Editors' Report

Kathleen James-Cavan reported that the Bulletin has been operating smoothly, and there have been no expenditures this year owing to the move to an electronic format. Last year some concern was expressed about the circulation of the Bulletin to members without e-mail connections. The Secretary-Treasurer has studied the matter and reported that currently only 9 members of the Society remain without an e-mail connection, so that electronic coverage is now almost complete. CSECS will be moving in the upcoming year to post the Bulletin on the Web, for ease of access.

8. Future Conferences

Peter Sabor reported on preparations for next year's meeting in Québec. It was also announced that hotel accommodations have been secured in downtown Vancouver for the 2003 meeting.

9. New Executive Positions

The President expressed the Society's thanks to two long-time members of the Executive who are now stepping down: Peter Sabor, our delegate to the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS), and Alex Sokalski, the managing editor of Lumen. The following new and returning delegates and representatives were acclaimed: English representative (Betty Schellenberg), History, Politics, and Economics representative (Mark Phillips), ASECS delegate (Servanne Woodward), ISECS delegate, for 2002 (Marie Laure Girou Swiderski), Lumen editor (Benoît Melançon), Lumen business manager (Frans De Bruyn).

10. Madoff Prize

The Madoff Prize winners for 2000 are Patricia Simmons and Sébastien Charles. The General Meeting voted its congratulations to these winners.

11. ISECS, ASECS, HSSFC and Other Organizations

April London reported that she has attended meetings of the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada as an observer but that no issues pertinent to our Society have come up.

Frans De Bruyn was unable to attend this year's ASECS affiliates meeting.

Benoît Melançon reported on the last meeting of the ISECS Executive. He announced that there is still room for panel proposals for the 2003 ISECS meeting in Los Angeles. ISECS is promoting a program of support for delegates from countries with weak currencies. National societies can donate funds for this purpose which will then be matched by ISECS. As already agreed (see item 4 above), CSECS will lend financial support to this project. Benoît also reported problems with the ISECS directory. It appears that ISECS will not be ready in 2003 to go completely to an electronic format, and a paper version of the directory will still be available.

12. Other Business

No other business was reported.

Meeting adjourned at 18:15.

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