Oral History Association
Annual Meeting Council Minutes
October 9 and October 12, 2013
Wednesday, October 9
Present: Mary Larson, Stephen Sloan, Paul Ortiz, Jeff Friedman, Dan Kerr, Regennia Williams, Cliff
Kuhn. Calinda Lee participated remotely.
The meeting was called to order at 8:35 AM.
It was moved, seconded and carried to approve the Mid-winter Council minutes of March, 2013, with
correction to the spelling of Tami Albin’s name.
Executive Director’s Report (Cliff Kuhn)
In addition to general administrative responsibilities, Council had four specific initiatives for the
executive director during 2013. Kuhn reported progress on each initiative:
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Hire staff for Executive Office – Hired Gayle Knight in January, 2013.
Development of strategic plan – Council and Executive Director’s work with Janet Rechtman of
University of Georgia’s Fanning Leadership Institute is progressing well.
American Council of Learned Societies membership – The OHA application has been turned in
and is moving through the long process of approval. Kuhn is cautiously optimistic about OHA’s
chances. The first vote will be on October 11.
Implementation of communications strategy – One graduate student is assigned to keep the OHA
website updated. She works on posting items for news, updating the calendar of upcoming events,
and getting blog posts from committee members. In addition, there have been regular posts to the
OHA Facebook page and H-Oralhist and intermittent posts on the Twitter and LinkedIn pages
associated with OHA. Traffic on the website is up about 50% over 2012.
Council discussed social media choices. Council would like to continue reaching out to members of all
ages by looking into Instagram, Google Plus, and other platforms that are gaining traction.
Kuhn reported on other work that has taken place this year:
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He has cultivated relationships with a range of related associations such as StoryCorps, the Oral
History Section of the Society of American Archives, and the Federation of State Humanities
Councils;
He authored a “State of the Field” essay for the November 2013 issue of AHA Perspectives;
OHA is co-sponsoring an oral history workshop at the 2014 meeting of the Organization of
American Historians. (Thanks to Lu Ann Jones and the Southern Oral History Program for setting
this up.);
We revived our relationship with the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress;
OHA has entered into an agreement with History®, formerly The History Channel, to produce a
best practices document for K-12 teachers and students; and
We signed a new contract with Oxford University Press, covering the Oral History Review,
membership, and Oxford’s contribution to the Emerging Crises Research Fund.
Membership: The OHA office has also worked with Oxford to improve membership procedures. As of
Oct 1, individual membership is 630 and institutional membership is 185. This constitutes a slight
increase over final 2012 membership and the first time membership has increased since 2008. Council
discussed ways to re-invigorate OHA’s relationship with state and regional organizations as a way to
increase membership. There is currently no membership committee, and establishing a committee may be
a way to review OHA membership structure, pricing, and retention.
Finances: The Finance Committee has been revived and has made recommendations for a more robust
investment strategy to be discussed later.
Elections: This year OHA continued an online election process. We had 76 participants compared to 83
last year and about 200 when mailing a paper ballot card.
President’s Report (Mary Larson)
Larson thanked Council and staff for the support and assistance they have provided throughout the last
two years. She expressed confidence in the strategic planning process that will be discussed in detail on
Saturday. Last year, Larson asked all of the standing committees to appoint web liaisons to the executive
office. Sara Patenaude, one of the OHA graduate students, has been posting the blogs as they come in,
and this is a good addition to the website. Council thanked Mary for her two years of excellent service as
President of OHA.
Committee Reports
Nominating Committee (Paul Ortiz)
The Nominating Committee reports the following slate has been elected:
1st Vice President: Anne Valk, Brown University
Council seat #1:
Amy Starecheski, Columbia University
Nominating Committee Seat 1:
Maria Beltran-Vocal, DePaul University
Nominating Committee Seat 2:
Curtis Austin, Ohio State University
Nominating Committee Seat 3:
Irene Reti, University of California Santa Cruz
Council discussed the fact that current and upcoming officers have not been on Council. While Council is
very pleased with the OHA officers, that is something to mention to the Nominating committee. The
experience of being on Council can be of value to officers. Council discussed the need for ongoing
conversation about diversity—geographical, vocational, etc. Council discussed interest groups and
committees and how they can work to cultivate a diverse group of leaders. Discussed asking members, via
an email, why they didn’t vote to get suggestions on plans for 2014 election.
2013 Annual Meeting Update (Stephen Sloan)
Sloan reported that a great meeting is planned for Oklahoma City. Sloan reviewed the highlights,
encouraged Council members to attend interest group meetings and Sunday morning sessions, and
pointed out the larger than usual international participation on the program. He and the program
committee are concerned about the attrition in presenters made especially acute by the government
shutdown. Council discussed how OHA can get more commitment from presenters earlier in the process.
Suggestions included a mid-summer check in with presenters, earlier notification of time slots for travel
planning, and discounted early registration to encourage presenters to register in the summer.
2014 Annual Meeting Update (Ortiz)
Ortiz reported that we have a tremendous leadership team in place for Madison. Troy Reeves, director of
the UW-Madison Oral History Program, is chair of local arrangements. Natalie Fousekis, director of the
Center for Oral and Public History at Cal-State University, Fullerton, and Kathy Newfont, faculty chair
for the Ramsey Center for Regional Studies at Mars Hill College, are the program committee co-chairs
for the Madison meeting.
Ortiz visited Madison in the summer and met with key local and regional stakeholders. He reports that the
Madison Concourse Hotel is very nice with attentive staff. There are many possibilities for local events
and walking tours given the huge farmer’s market and vibrant community. Council discussed the
possibility of nearby performance venues since that is often problematic at a hotel, and the local
arrangements committee could look into that. Council remarked on great list for Program Committee but
would also like one person from the Diversity Committee and one from the Education Committee.
Staff reports that 2013 program chairs and Madelyn Campbell had asked OHA staff to explore the
purchase of abstract submission software. This would be a tremendous help in creating and scheduling the
annual meeting program. Staff is moving forward with this and plans to have a new submission system in
place for 2014 meeting. Discussed the location of the mid-winter Council meeting. It was the sense of
Council that the mid-winter meeting should remain in Madison. It will likely be in February this year.
Future Meetings (Kuhn)
Plans for the 2015 meeting in Tampa are going well. Annie Valk is already making contacts with the
Florida oral history community, so work is progressing.
For 2016, members have been interested in celebrating the 50 year anniversary with a meeting in
California, site of the first meeting. Long Beach is looking like an affordable possibility given its
revitalized downtown and programs in area that could provide support. Staff will continue to pursue that
and bring ideas to Council at the midwinter meeting.
Council discussed the feasibility of submitting a bid for the 2016 IOHA meeting to be held in conjunction
with the 2016 OHA meeting. Kuhn has spoken with some longstanding members who seem in favor of
submitting a bid. Discussed issues to consider such as: border crossing, currency, translation, different
culture at IOHA meeting, and meetings at different times of the year. Discussed possibility of sharing
revenue and how that might work. Some members explained that there is tension between European and
South American members, and the visa process can be long and arduous. There will be a meeting on
Thursday with international members to discuss the possible bid. Council decided to wait on a decision
until hearing a report from that meeting.
Council discussed other collaborations possible for annual meetings. The American Folklore Society is a
natural fit, but that would not be possible until 2017 because they have already made commitments
through 2016. Council would also like to encourage a Wisconsin/Canada partnership for 2014 meeting.
Scholarship committee (Calinda Lee)
Lee reported that the committee is pleased that all the presenter scholarship recipients are attending the
meeting. This year, non-presenter awards were small; five were offered at $200 each. Only two of those
can attend, so committee is giving them more money which may make it easier to attend. Small awards
may not make enough difference to enable travel for non-presenters. Council discussed ways that this
committee’s work could be leveraged to drive membership, committee membership, and diversity.
Council members encouraged more follow up with winners to see how receiving a scholarship was
significant for them. Council wants to cultivate their inclusion in OHA community and use scholarship
winners as ambassadors for OHA.
Emerging Crises Award (Kuhn)
OHA received 41 applications. This is the highest number ever with 22 countries represented. The
committee selected Carrie and Michael Kline’s project, the Oil and Gas Rush in the Marcellus Shale
Fields of West Virginia: An Emerging Crisis. The winners will present at a future OHA meeting.
Vox Populi Award (Kuhn)
The committee selected two winners this year because committee had trouble deciding between an
individual and an organization. Should we alternate between individual and organization each year? The
award committee has discussed this previously and decided it was better to have flexibility since different
applications come in each year. Council would like to hold the line on one choice each year. Why don’t
we have lifetime achievement award? OHA has discussed this before as well, and members decided to
keep the award criteria broad.
Finance Committee (Kuhn for Roger Horowitz)
Council reviewed recommendations made by the Finance Committee. The main point of the report is that
OHA must look at investment as a long term strategy and put the endowment to use. If we are in the stock
market, there will be ups and downs.
It was moved, seconded and carried to approve the investment recommendations presented by the Finance
Committee.
Kuhn discussed expenses for 2013. Some items were more expensive this year at GSU, such as printing,
because Dickinson had absorbed some of those costs. Council discussed money saving opportunities and
potential revenue from Oxford University Press. OHA is on track to end 2013 with funds very close to
our adopted budget.
International committee (Beth Millwood)
OHA had a much larger applicant pool of international scholarships this year, which is great. For
international members, our small awards don’t make much of a dent in the cost of traveling to the
meeting, however. The committee would like to do more. Council discussed the option of giving fewer,
larger scholarships. Overall, the committee is very pleased with the international participation for the
2013 annual meeting.
Oral History Review/ Kathy Nasstrom, Troy Reeves, Doug Boyd
Nasstrom explained the guiding principle that work accepted for the OHR must have a strong oral history
component. She has spent a great deal of time cultivating and developing submissions in order to have the
volume of work needed. Dealing with Oxford University Press has been frustrating. Quality and
production are not getting better, there are just different problems with each issue.
Kathy has requested editorial assistance in the form of an interim editor for her upcoming sabbatical year
(beginning June 2014) and a co-editor for the future in order to manage the workload. Council discussed
how this might work. It was the sense of Council that it would be best to have the current editorial team
help select a new co-editor so that person would share the same vision for the journal. Council uniformly
supports the collaborative approach of the editorial team and wants to continue that. Staff will work with
editors to begin the search. Council discussed items to bring up with Trish Thomas on Saturday, including
Oxford introducing errors and copy editing oversight.
Education Committee (Debbie Ardemendo)
This year, the Education committee has worked on a best practices document for grades 4-12 sponsored
by the History Channel. The committee is sponsoring a session at annual meeting, and Allison Tracey has
served as the website liaison. The committee has gotten some requests for educational resources and
would like to have a resource page on the OHA website. Discussed this possibility, and Council
encouraged committee to begin by gathering rather than creating content. Ardemendo asked for a
schedule for when reports are due to Council during the year to help her plan.
Diversity Committee (Larson/Kuhn for Tami Albin)
Discussed whether Diversity committee is sponsoring any sessions at the 2013 meeting. While they are
not, the program committee did make diversity a priority in their planning. Council discussed asking each
relevant committee to generate two sessions each year. Council would like that to become part of
committee culture. Albin had several questions in her report that Stephen will get back to her to review.
Council discussed adding RSS feed icon to website to help committee chairs and others keep up with
OHA news. (This sets up notification to subscribers if there is a change to website.) Discussed possible
sliding scale for OHA membership to help with diversity of income.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:47 PM.
Saturday, Oct 12
Present: Mary Larson, Stephen Sloan, Paul Ortiz, Jeff Friedman, Dan Kerr, Regennia Williams, Cliff
Kuhn. Calinda Lee participated remotely.
The meeting was called to order at 8:30 AM.
The President welcomed new Council members Amy Starecheski and Annie Valk.
Publisher’s Report/Trish Thomas
Trish reports that The Oral History Review is doing very well. She discussed growth in consortia,
secondary rights, and other non-member revenue. Council asked her about retention of members, and she
explained that the more OHA can do to emphasize member benefits, the better for retention.
Thomas discussed frequently sourced articles. She discussed the possibility of a virtual issue where the
most frequently viewed articles are brought together for emphasis.
Council discussed production issues and copy editing. For Oxford, the introduction of errors is the largest
frustration. Discussed QR codes and their cost. Trish will check on this and report back.
Council asked if there has been more discussion at Oxford on having a different version for the print and
online journal. Thomas said that if OHA wants to propose some differences between journals, keep
pushing on that and she can work with their IT department to see what is possible. OHA could make
contribution in the digital field because of our subject matter.
Publications Committee/Jeff Friedman
The committee has not resolved the issue of the incomplete post-secondary education pamphlet. The
author has not been contacted. Council discussed the future of the pamphlet series which is maintaining
sales at a steady level. State and regional groups said they want more pamphlets; they are very useful for
historical societies and local historians. Discussed what to do with the pamphlets we have, and what
going forward. A Veterans oral history pamphlet might be desirable, particularly if we are renewing our
participation in the Veterans Oral History Project. Council has been raising these questions for the past
years but not providing much guidance. Can we create a charge for this committee so they can get
something accomplished? Doug Lambert is the new chair, and the committee would like to create quality
publications.
Discussed updating the Oral History in the Digital Age website and keeping this current as a committee
project. Dean Rehberger and Doug Boyd would welcome this. The work could include reviewing articles
to update and commissioning new articles. OHA would need some sort of agreement between the parties
regarding hosting the site, admin access, etc.
For a charge, the publications committee could first sort out the feasibility issues of OHDA project. The
second part of the committee charge would be to explore producing a Veterans oral history pamphlet.
Committee would need to engage with staff and with the Veterans Oral History Project. Stephen Sloan
will pursue wrap up of post-secondary pamphlet work.
Strategic Planning Process (Janet Rechtman)
Council worked with Rechtman to continue editing and refining the latest version of the strategic plan
document.
Council Liaisons (Larson)
Discussed assignment of liaison positions for each committee. The following were assigned:
Diversity: Regennia Williams
Education: Amy Starecheski
International and Scholarship: Dan Kerr
Publications: Jeff Friedman
IOHA meeting bid
Kuhn reported on Thursday meeting with members interested in discussing a possible 2016 bid to host
IOHA meeting. The group discussed similar issues as Council did: visa difficulty, accommodation
expense, and division of labor and revenue. The group was supportive of a bid but wanted to make certain
OHA understood the complexities of IOHA and possible difficulties.
Council discussed the pros and cons of a 2016 bid. It was the sense of Council that OHA should not make
a bid for 2016 but should start working toward a possible future bid by making concerted effort to
welcome international participation at all levels in Tampa in 2015 and southern California in 2016.
Commendation
It was moved, seconded and carried to approve an expression of Council’s gratitude to Calinda Lee for
three exemplary years of service on the OHA Council.
Meeting was adjourned at 4:15 PM.