American Society for Legal History
Meeting of the Board of Directors
Thursday, November 7, 2013
7:30-10:00 pm
Monroe Room, Hyatt Regency Miami, Miami Florida
Note: These materials contain the names of winners of (or nominees for) prizes, awards, and fellowships. Please keep this information strictly confidential.
MATERIALS
Page
Minutes of 2012 Board Meeting...... 2
Regular Business: Officer Reports
Secretary’s Report...... 7
Treasurer’s Report...... 8
Regular Business: Committee and Publication Reports
Annual Meeting, Committee on the...... 9
Cromwell Prizes, Advisory Committee on the...... 10
Articles Subcommittee Report...... 11
Books Subcommittee Report...... 13
Dissertations Subcommittee Report...... 15
Documentary Preservation, Committee on...... 17
Finance Committee...... 20
Graduate Student Outreach, Committee on...... 21
H-Law...... 25
Honors, Committee on...... 29
Hurst Memorial Fund, Committee on the...... 30
Law and History Review...... 38
Local Arrangements Committee...... 43
Membership Committee...... 44
Murphy Award Committee...... 45
Nominating Committee...... 48
Preyer Memorial Committee...... 49
Program Committee...... 52
Projects and Proposals Committee...... 56
History of the Society Subcommittee Report...... 58
Internationalization Subcommittee Report...... 60 69
Publications Committee...... 61
Reid Book Award, Committee on the...... 62
Research Fellowships and Awards, Committee on...... 64
Studies in Legal History...... 65
Surrency Prize Committee...... 68
Sutherland Prize Committee...... 69
American Society for Legal History
Board of Directors
Minutes of the November 7, 2012 Meeting
St. Louis, Missouri
DRAFT – NOT YET APPROVED
Officers and Board Members Present (in alphabetical order): Greg Ablavsky, Constance Backhouse (Immediate PastPresident), Richard B. Bernstein, Mary Bilder, Holly Brewer, Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Christian Fritz, Risa Goluboff, Michael Grossberg (President-elect), Sally Hadden (Secretary), Linda Kerber, Amalia Kessler, Craig Klafter (Treasurer), David Lieberman, Michael Lobban,Bruce Mann (President), Michael Willrich, Victoria Saker Woeste, and Charles Zelden.
Also Present (in alphabetical order): Lew Bateman, Michael Churgin, Elizabeth Dale,Mary Dudziak, John Gordan, Sarah Barringer Gordon, Dan Hamilton, Craig Joyce, David Konig, Patricia Minter, and Christopher Tomlins.
The meeting was called to order at 7:30pm.
1. Approval of Minutes. The minutes of the November 2011 meeting in Atlanta, Georgia were approved.
2. Secretary’s Report. Sally Hadden presented, and the Board accepted, the Secretary’s report.
3. Treasurer’s Report. Craig Klafter presented, and the Board accepted, the Treasurer’s report. Klafter explained the necessity of being audited, the auditor’s report, and proposals for the 2013 proposed budget. A motion to reappoint the auditors in 2013-2014 passed.
4. Report of the Committee on Conferences and the Annual Meeting. Craig Joyce presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. Joyce stressed that volunteers to hold future meetings are always welcome. He expressed the thanks of the committee to local arrangements chair David Konig.
5. Report of the Advisory Committee on the Cromwell Prizes. John Gordan presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. Gordan expressed the Cromwell Foundation’s approval of the improved procedures and results from the various subcommittees, and praised the work of the subcommittees as flawless.
6. Report of the Committee on Documentary Preservation. Michael Churgin presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. He noted that the ASLH and others (OAH, Society of Archivists) had opposed the sampling method of records retention proposed by the National Archives, but he was not optimistic about saving the records under discussion.
7. Report of the Finance Committee. Klafter presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. He indicated that the Finance Committee reviewed and approved the Society’s third quarter report for 2012; proposed a FY 2013 budget which includes funding for the Projects and Proposals committee; and reviewed the performance and asset allocation of the endowment.
8. Report of H-Law. Charles Zelden presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. Zelden reported on the upcoming changes to H-Net 2.0, which will make it look more like a moderated blog with additional posted content.
9. Report of the Committee on Honors. Chris Tomlins presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. A motion to make all remaining corresponding fellows of the Society into honorary fellows passed.
10. Report of the Committee on the Hurst Memorial Fund. The Board accepted the committee’s report.
11. Reports of Law and History Review. Elizabeth Dale presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. A motion authorizing the incoming President to send letters of appreciation to Dean John V. White and Dean Christopher Hudgins of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, passed. Saker Woeste asked about plans for the board to recognize David Tanenhaus’s service as outgoing editor; Mann announced that a statue (traditional gift) had been acquired to give him. A motion to send a letter of thanks on behalf of the Board, to David Tanenhaus, in recognition of his many years of service as editor in chief of the Law and History Reviewpassed.
12. Report of the Local Arrangements Committee. David Konig presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report.
13. Report of the Membership Committee. Patricia Minter presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. Minter expressed the committee’s thanks for the subsidy made for graduate student membership fees. Forms remain available from CUP in hard copy to use for Society membership. Kerber asked about the stability and retention of graduate student members within the Society, as this transition is fragile moment for most societies. Minter reported that with only one year’s data it is hard to tell, but should know more in the future. Bernstein inquired about outreach to undergraduates; Minter said that her committee would take the topic up at its Saturday meeting. Mann asked whether it would make sense to delete institutional membership numbers (no longer a valid category), and if followup was done with non-renewing members to ask why they did not renew. Minter said that the committee could and would begin doing this.
14. Report of the Murphy Award Committee. Mary Dudziak presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. She described the origins of the award, which will be presented for two years only.
15. Report of the Nominating Committee. The Board accepted the committee’s report. The Secretary reported the results of the annual election:
a. For seats on the Board of Directors, Margot Canaday, Reuel Schiller, Mitra Shirafi, David Tanenhaus, and Karen Tani stand elected.
b. For seats on the Nominating Committee, Michael Willrichstands elected.
16. Report of the Preyer Memorial Committee. The Board accepted the committee’s report.
17. Report of the 2012 Program Committee. Michael Willrich presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. Mann asked whether future annual meetings should have more panels or more slots available, as this may affect future hotel contracts. Willrich indicated that most panels of merit had been accepted. Backhouse questioned whether those rejected were individuals who did not feel “connected” to the Society, and wondered whether panels need to be internally cohesive. Bernstein added that the Preyer panels have been uncohesive and they work well, although sometimes “orphan” papers are solo because they deservedly cannot find copanelists. Grossberg asked how many orphan papers were rejected, and suggested that in future, it might be possible to offer a “New Directions in….” to provide a forum for them. Willrich indicated that 6-10 orphan papers had been proposed in 2012. Tomlins indicated that the Law and Society Association was working to create networks of affiliation via the CRN project and that some 40-50% of L&S panels arise from the CRN initiative. Saker Woeste asked (returning to Mann’s original question that it might be possible to use Sunday as a panel day; this could be discussed via email. Bilder replied that hotel prices made staying three night impracticable for most people. Lieberman suggested it might be a good thing to add more panels and slots, and suggested polling previous Program committee chairs to see if there were panels or papers they regretted omitting. Bernstein seconded the idea.Zelden noted that H-Net/H-Law in future may provide a platform for networking otherwise orphaned papers. Bernstein suggested that it might be a good idea to consider doing regional conferences, if size and number of panels is a continuing concern. Goluboff suggested that the Graduate Student Outreach committee may help to build better networks between novice scholars. Willrich indicated that the Program committee of 2012 saw a lack of diversity in coverage (geographic, temporal) among the panels proposed. Kerber questioned whether it might be a better decision to ‘salt’ panels with individuals with a global perspective, rather than put them into panels strictly by shared geographic locations. Mann indicated that the conversation needed to continue, and proposed that the Program committee for 2013 use the additional meeting rooms in potentially ‘innovative’ ways. He would ask the Program committee members to speak with Board members to come up with different ideas about putting together panels.
18. Report of the Projects and Proposals Committee. Rayman Solomon presented, and the Board accepted, the committee report. He provided an overview of the allocations made for the allocated funds,in particularfor the 2013 preconference, dissertation travel grants, subsidies to underrepresented fields, the Hurst Institute 2013, the oral history project of the History of the Society committee, Australia-New Zealand Legal History society for a panel swap, and for the travel of international & junior scholars to travel to this meeting (allocated by the program committee). Bilder questioned whether the money for graduate student travel grants and other activities was funding the same small pool of graduate students. Mann replied that the support offered graduates students was in line with the proposals made by the Graduate Student Outreach committee. Ablavsky indicated that the GSO hoped to broaden the reach of the Society by funding a variety of activities. Willrich asked whether it would be possible to expand the subsidies offered to graduate students on the Program to include post-docs as well? Mann said that it should be done, and had been done in 2011. Klafter noted that the funds need not be restricted to panel presenters, but could be spread among attendees. Kerber and Mann also indicated that support should go to independent scholars, as well as lecturers and adjuncts without permanent academic support. Mann suggested that we expand this initiative slowly so as not to overspend in future.
19. Report of the Internationalization Subcommittee for Projects and Proposals. Chris Tomlins presented, and the Board accepted, the subcommittee report. Tomlins reported on the three swaps in place. Zelden indicated that the 2013 hope was to swap with a Latin America group.
20. Report of the History of the Society Committee. Craig Joyce presented, and the Board accepted, the subcommittee’s report. Joyce provided an overview of the committee’s activities and indicated that an oral interview with Barbara Black, past president of the Society, had been completed.
21. Report of the Publications Committee. Michael Grossberg presented, and the Board accepted, the committee’s report. CUP would prefer to have online-only subscriptions to libraries. It may in fact raise our revenues. A motion to permit this change was proposed and passed.
22. Report of the Committee on the Reid Book Award. The Board accepted the committee’s report. Backhouse suggested that we expand the recognition extended via the book and article prizes to include honorable mentions.
23. Report on the Committee on Research Fellowships and Awards. The Board accepted the committee’s report. Mann explained that the committee makes recommendations to the Cromwell Foundation. Grossberg suggested that it might be appropriate to suggest to the Foundation that the Society would appreciate if it met a little earlier, so that award winners could be notified farther in advance. Gordon indicated that the Foundation sits only once a year, and next year’s meeting is October 28.
24. Report of the Studies in Legal History Series. The Board accepted the editors’ report.
Gordon indicated that the series would have a table in the book display area and offer a ‘meet the editors’ session on Saturday. Brewer added that new guidelines for writing proposals had been added to the series website. Lobban noted that 1-2 books will appear next year. Mann expressed the Society’s thanks to Lew Bateman and CUP.
25. Report of the Surrency Prize Committee. The Board accepted the committee’s report.
26. Report of the Sutherland Prize Committee. The Board accepted the committee’s report.
27. New Business. There was no new business for discussion.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:55 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally E. Hadden
ASLH Secretary
1
Secretary’s Report
Sally Hadden
During 2012-2013, I was contacted by a number of individuals and groups. Individuals seeking ASLH co-sponsorship of a panel proposed for the AHA annual meeting sought the society’s willingness to sponsor them (which we did, after discussion among the Executive Committee). I recommend that the website’s conference module include a note on the method to use in future when seeking co-sponsorship for sessions at other annual meetings.
Individuals seeking to promote their books or journals (e.g., the new journal Comparative Legal History), services, and activities to the Society contacted me, attempting to discover the best ways to make ASLH members aware of their publications/work/groups. In particular, we have been approached about the need to broadcast/simulcast sessions at the annual meeting, as the AHA does. I forwarded numerous queries to the most appropriate person or committee within our Society. One group wrote seeking to determine whether the Society would choose to boycott Florida after the “Stand Your Ground” decision was announced; the Executive committee considered this proposal and determined that other methods existed to discuss this issue, short of cancelling the annual meeting (see 2013 program panel addressing this topic). Concerns about the Society’s website occasionally surfaced, particularly during the election when a few individuals wondered if we had shifted to an entirely online voting mode and they were unable to cast ballots. Some individuals continued to express their frustrations about renewing their Society membership on CUP’s website directly to me.
Among the more interesting queries was one from the American Historical Association, seeking information about our most recent program. In particular, they wished to know more about the total number of sessions, the length of sessions, and the number of non-presidential plenary sessions. Another unusual request arrived from a Brazilian scholar, alerting us to a potential new law there that would require specific credentials for interdisciplinary scholars that might prove to be exclusive rather than inclusive in nature. His request for a letter from the Society expressing its concern about this proposed law was forwarded to the Society president
Two of my more pleasurable duties were receiving news about the Society’s new honorary members, and the election of new members in the 2013 class of the Board of Directors. The results of the election will be announced at the Board meeting.
Respectfully submitted,
Sally Hadden
Treasurer’s Report
Craig Klafter
Please see second file, attached to email.
Annual Meeting, Committee on the
Craig Joyce, Chair
SoFlo Acknowledgments
South Florida (Miami/Fort Lauderdale), Nov. 7-10, 2013. The Committee on the Annual Meeting, on behalf of the Society, thanks (and expresses the hope that members of the board, too, will take occasion to thank) the 2013 Local Arrangements Chair, Charles L. Zelden of Nova Southeastern University, along with Timothy Dixon, Gary Gershman, Robert M. Jarvis and Stephen Levitt, also of Nova Southeastern, and Victor Uribe of Florida International University.
Forthcoming Meetings
Denver, CO, Nov. 6-9, 2014. From sea level to the Mile High City! In 2014, the Society will make its first-ever visit to Colorado, headquartering at the Four Seasons, rated Denver’s #1 hotel by Frommer’s ($155 for ASLH members only): The hotel, located in the Theatre District and featuring clear views of the Rocky Mountains, is one block from historic Larimer Square, and only a few light-rail stops from exquisite dining at Denver’s renowned Buckhorn Café: LAC Chair: Tom Romero, Sturm College of Law, University of Denver.
2015 and Beyond. In 2015, the Society’s normal geographic rotation should return it to the Northeast (as broadly defined by a committee chair from Texas). Discussions are well-progressed toward a meeting to be held in Our Nation’s Capital, although current economic conditions in American higher education, and particularly U.S. law schools, have made funding the affair a challenge. For 2016 and 2017, a location in the Midwest and a location outside the United States, not necessarily in that order, seem likely.