Oral History Association
October 2014 Council Minutes
October 8-11, 2014
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Present: Stephen Sloan, Paul Ortiz, Anne Valk, Jeff Friedman, Dan Kerr, Amy Starecheski, Regennia
Williams, Cliff Kuhn
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 a.m. The first order of business was discussion of the midwinter Council minutes. The minutes were approved by Council with no amendments.
Executive Director’s report (Cliff Kuhn)
Kuhn discussed the 2014 financial situation. The endowment saw a large increase due to a $100,000
contribution from the Eleanor Stoddard trust and $35,000 from the operating reserve. We followed the
finance committee’s recommendations to transfer the endowment to Vanguard with 40% of the value in a
money market account and 60% in an index fund. As of October, the OHA endowment has an unrealized
gain of more than $11,500; this was less than $1,000 in 2013. The finance committee would like OHA to
use up to 5% of the endowment each year.
Annual meeting revenue is up for 2014 and should be close to $30,000. Paul did a great job fundraising
for sponsorships, and registration numbers are significantly higher than 2013. Stephen also did a great
job in 2013 getting sponsorships which was critical for that meeting, so sponsorships are becoming a large
factor in whether the annual meeting makes money. Paul would like to continue to contact oral history
programs to contribute as sponsors and grow this revenue stream.
The new membership software is the only large expense that was not included in the approved budget. We
just recently signed an addendum with Oxford for OHA to handle individual membership. Oxford will
continue to do institutional membership and consortia.
Georgia State has requested an increase in the contribution from OHA due to increases in salary and
fringe benefits. In year one of the grant, OHA contributed $40,000. GSU has requested that
contributions increase in year 2 to $42,555 and in years 3-5 increase to $45,000. GSU is currently
contributing about $110,000 per year for OHA. The original agreement was OHA contributed $40,000,
not necessarily tied to salaries. Council requested a copy of the agreement. Since this involves staff,
Council decided to discuss this at a later time without staff present.
For 2014 election, we use Balloteer software and also mailed postcards. 14 members did vote by postcard
for a total of 90 voters.
We are using All Academic abstract submission software for the first time this year, and we have received
very positive feedback so far. Council discussed potential new types of sessions such as paper discussion
or facilitated conversation.
Our financial goal is to not run a deficit budget in 2014, and we are on track to end the year without using
any funds from the operating reserve.
Visits to the OHA website continue to grow. The response to news on the Boston College case saw the
largest numbers. The History Channel education document has been distributed widely by the Library of
Congress. Projects involving Veterans oral history, such as a possible NEH grant on the moral injury of
war, continue to provide opportunities for partnership.
A new membership committee has been formed and will meet on Thursday. Kuhn hopes that 2016
planning committee will be formed soon and looks forward to working on 50th plans.
President’s Report (Stephen Sloan)
Sloan has reviewed the strategic plan to make a charge for the Executive Director for 2015 and each
committee. He is looking forward to taking membership back from Oxford in 2015. Sloan would like to
stay involved in membership committee for 2015. Council discussed how new membership software
would enable greater communication. Sloan thinks OHA needs to have a different relationship with
institutions like Samuel Proctor and Columbia and perhaps create new category for institutional
partnerships.
The OHA awards need more attention to attract submissions. There was no written charge for award
committees, so no clear deadlines. Sloan will create a charge for each committee and work to encourage
submissions.
Sloan was asked to speak at the SOHA meeting, and he particularly enjoyed the SOHA roundtable of past
presidents. Something along those lines would be a good idea for 2016 celebration.
2014 Meeting update (Paul Ortiz)
Madison meeting is having strong registration. Troy Reeves has done a spectacular job as Local
Arrangements chair and the submitter of a Wisconsin Humanities Council grant. Regennia Williams
showed great leadership in securing Richard Davis’ participation. Some sessions will be taped and OHA
will have access to those tapes. Discussed whether OHA would want a YouTube channel and how we
disseminate information. Ortiz believes constant communication between the organizers and the office
and a strong, flexible Call for Papers were key in having a successful meeting.
Kuhn pointed out that using skype has become an issue. This will come up again and we may need a
policy. Recruiting chairs and commentators is also a process that needs work.
Nominating Committee (Anne Valk)
The committee did a great job finding strong candidates and working to get the nominating process better
organized. Sady Sullivan was a very good chair, and it looks like Irene Reti will be 2015 chair. The process
of getting the slate to the OHA office and newsletter editor needs to improve. It was unclear who would do
want and made for some last minute scrambling. Each contest was very close which shows we had very
qualified candidates. It was the sense of the Council that the nominating committee should also be
involved in suggesting ways to increase voter participation.
The committee reports the following results of the 2014 election:
Doug Boyd, 1st Vice President
Kristine Navarro-McElhaney, Council
Jeff Corrigan, Rebecca Sharpless, and Rosie Uyola, Nominating Committee
Tampa 2015 meeting (Valk)
Valk reported on site visit to Tampa with Cliff Kuhn and Program Co-Chair Sharon Utakis. They were able
to meet with a large group of interested parties from the Florida oral history community. The meeting
was very fruitful, and there is now a diverse program committee in place. The Call for Papers is complete
and has been distributed somewhat. The co-chairs want to keep a big tent but with a clear focus.
Filmmaker Andy Garrison is confirmed to participate, probably for Wednesday night. He may show
“Trash Dance” about sanitation workers and talk about his work. A plenary session on the Guantanamo
Bay public memory project is confirmed. Two tours, Ybor City and Tarpon Springs, are ready to go with
local guides in place.
The group met with Florida Humanities Council staff. OHA may get support to have Florida residents
who are planning oral history projects attend a workshop and one day of the conference. State
Humanities Councils have been strong supporters of the annual meeting the past two years.
Annual Awards (Sloan and Kuhn)
Award submissions were low this year. Sloan asked about the possibility of using All Academic for award
nomination submissions. Staff will check on this. The education committee has taken on a role in
spreading the word about awards in the past and can be asked to do this again.
Council discussed desire to change language for “nonprint” format award and what is requested for
submission. The name of the award is also negative and may need to be changed. We may want to create
some new award categories for 2016. Council agreed that there is a need to streamline and standardize
award language and submission instructions. Paul may want to appoint a “disappearing” task force to
look at language describing awards. Staff needs to update awards on website and keep this updated.
Council discussed timeline for awards process. It was the sense of Council to announce award winners in
August and highlight winners as part of annual meeting publicity. Winners should be notified in July so
that they can make plans to come to the annual meeting. Council would like the President to notify award
winners and the award committees to notify all those who submitted.
Finance Committee (Horowitz, Kuhn, and Knight)
No report was submitted, but the finance committee did make recommendations for investing the
endowment and the staff followed the plan. As we look to 2016, Council may want to give this committee
more detail on their role and develop a more comprehensive set of guidelines. OHA should consider
whether volunteers should be managing OHA assets as they grow or if we need professional help. Council
may also want to involve the finance committee in planned giving campaign.
OHR report (Stephanie Gilmore, Troy Reeves, Kathy Nasstrom)
Gilmore reported that the short form initiative for the OHR has been wildly popular. This new format for
submissions is an exciting venture because it gives people an opportunity to engage in their research or
teaching.
The production relationship with OUP has improved—there was nowhere to go but up! The Oxford
Publisher report takes credit for OHR social media initiative but that is Troy’s effort. His grad students
have assisted and made this very successful.
Digital initiatives editor Doug Boyd is stepping down. A production editor may be more helpful in the
future since our current ability to have anything digital with Oxford is limited. Elinor Maze is so skilled
that she could take this on in addition to copy editing. This would lighten Troy’s load, and the cost would
be neutral since Doug is stepping down.
Council discussed having a print journal vs. a digital only journal. This is a discussion that may require a
task force of editors to sift through.
Gilmore reviewed upcoming issues. There have been a large number of submissions for the LGBTQ
special issue. Teresa Barnett is going to work on a 50th anniversary special issue.
Council officially thanked Stephanie Gilmore for stepping in and doing great work. OHA hopes to send
both Troy and Stephanie to Oxford Journals day. Council recognized the great work Kathy does as well.
Membership (Sloan, Kuhn, Knight)
OHA is signing an addendum with Oxford this month to take membership in house. OHA will process
2015 renewals and provide all communication. The office worked to negotiate the best financial deal, and
it should be about neutral. OHA will pay $28 per individual member to Oxford and keep the remaining
membership funds. OHA can raise individual member rates, and that will not affect what we are
contractually obligated to pay Oxford. They will invoice us once a year based on the number of members
on August 15.
Council discussed logistics of membership and the potential for two-year or multiple-year memberships.
Council asked if we can create new membership categories. We are able to do this within our agreement.
If we want to have oral history centers join as a new category of partnership, we should call them sponsors
rather than members to avoid confusion with Oxford.
Council discussed the possibility of an ejournal after our publishing contract with Oxford has expired.
OHA does get a large portion of our revenue from Oxford, but are we thinking about the future beyond
that? Currently, about 25% of Oxford revenue comes from individual membership. The remainder is
institutional members, consortia, and media rights. Oxford is by far the largest source of revenue for
OHA at this time.
Council discussed the fact that libraries are cutting budgets for journals. As OHA is hugely dependent on
institutional and consortia membership, so we need to think about the future of those memberships.
Council discussed possible new member categories. Sliding categories based on income were suggested,
but policing this is tough. New membership committee will be tasked with thinking through new
categories of membership.
The meeting was adjourned at 4:30.
Saturday, October 11
Present: Stephen Sloan, Paul Ortiz, Anne Valk, Doug Boyd, Jeff Friedman, Dan Kerr, Kristine NavarroMcElhaney, Amy Starecheski, Regennia Williams, Cliff Kuhn
Meeting called to order at 8:30 a.m.
Oxford Journals Report (Trish Thomas)
Trish Thomas presented the Oxford Journals report. Institutional subscriptions are continuing to decline
across the board. Institutions are joining consortia to get more journals for less cost. OHA does not lose
that subscription revenue stream as they are obligated to continue to pay the same rate. Consortia access
is going up.
Thomson-Reuters notified Oxford in July 2014 that OHR had been accepted for inclusion in several
citation index services. This can be helpful for tenure review. Trish will circulate impact factor
information when it comes out in 2015.
The OUP blog is the most visited academic blog in the world, and it brings attention to individual articles.
The OHR content on the blog is significant, thanks to the work of Troy and his students.
Thomas discussed change to OHA coordinating individual membership. She stated that Oxford has a
subscription fulfillment model, not a membership services model. Oxford is not a flexible organization, so
OHA should be able to do more with individual membership.
Publications Committee (Jeff Friedman)
Jeff presented for chair Doug Lambert. Only one person attended the committee meeting yesterday,
Teresa Barnett. The committee may need some new members. Jeff Corrigan is still interested in
participating but was attending nominating committee.
Friedman and Council discussed the oral history in the digital age website. OHA does not “own” this site,
but could OHA take on updating website and keeping it current? The site gets many visitors but is not
kept current. It is not a scholarly site but more a technical, methodological site.
Discussed online journal possibilities, open access oral history journal possibilities, and the OHR blog.
How could the publications committee be involved with digital initiatives?
A Veterans history oral history pamphlet has been discussed, and Cliff talked about this recently with
Monica Mohindra at the Veterans History Project. There is a possibility that OHA and VHP could produce
a pamphlet together as collaborators. It could include information for groups that VHP cannot address
such as spouses and children of vets. Using digital files, the information could be packaged in different
ways to use for various groups. Cliff will continue to talk with Monica and others about this via conference
call, and OHA hopes to get a pamphlet produced in 2015. A Veterans pamphlet should be a seller and
would be marketed far and wide. This publication may be the top priority for the committee.
Videotaping is taking place at the annual meeting, and it is best practices/methodology that is being
filmed. Should the publications committee be curator of what is filmed at meeting? Should things be
posted on YouTube or the OHA website? Are we trying to attract a younger membership? Taping should
be of high profile sessions and be very well done. We need to think about uses for the tapes. Council
decided to stay with taping keynote speakers and plenary sessions at first. The publications committee can
take the lead on determining what is taped at the annual meeting.
Diversity Committee (Tami Albin)
This year’s committee has tried to increase participation in the annual meeting. When a committee
sponsors a session, it needs to be included in the program. Staff will try to add this field to the All
Academic submission system. Sliding scale membership for OHA came up in the committee meeting as
did the need to have more housing options available to encourage attendance at the OHA annual meeting.
OHA will set up a housing bulletin board for 2015. The planning for the diversity committee reception
needs to be incorporated into the larger scheme of the annual meeting, and role of diversity committee
should be made clear.
Rebranding Discussion (David Laufer)
David Laufer presented his re-branding process and ways it could be used. Council discussed the process
and how the graphic outcome represents much thought about where OHA is going. Council would like to
see a big rollout of the rebranding through 2016 linking new images with the next 50 years. We found a
remarkable lack of dynamic photos available, but we should try to use real photos from projects.
Development Strategy (Kuhn)
Kuhn outlined current funding and how we can increase revenue in existing categories. The endowment
fund is growing, and we may want to create targeted funds within the endowment. Kuhn plan to attend
TIAA-Cref-sponsored fund management presentation at upcoming AHA conference.
Developing new revenue streams is important. HISTORY contributed $10,000 in 2014 and we hope that
relationship will continue. Workshops are a potential revenue stream. OHA initiated partnership with the
Veterans History Project to share workshop revenue with the American Folklore Society. There are no
ongoing oral history workshops for community historians available at this time, and that may be a
revenue generation stream. Landmark anniversaries for organizations may be time for oral history project
in which we could participate by providing training or having members do training.
A planned giving campaign for OHA is slated to begin in 2015. OHA may want to establish named awards
associated with a certain donation.
Oral History as Scholarship Statement (Kuhn, Sloan)
The Executive Director was asked to develop a statement on oral history as scholarship. Kuhn met with a
group of oral history scholars at the annual meeting to discuss this effort. Kuhn reported that it was a
fertile discussion on language, framing, and what we define as oral history. He will continue to discuss
this with others at future gatherings such as ACLS, AHA, and NCPH. Mary Larson volunteered to survey
tenure evaluation criteria at various universities. Council suggested the need for two documents: a tool kit
on how to advance one’s tenure hopes and another aimed at evaluators. Tenure mentoring discussed as a
member benefit. Council would like a broad statement on scholarship that would work for historians and
other fields such as sociology.
At the annual meeting, Sherna Gluck organized a breakfast meeting to begin to discuss updates to the
OHA Best Practices document. The last revision was undertaken in 2009. The document is somewhat
clunky at this point. Council discussed how best to revisit and update the document on a regular basis.
With no standing committee, we would need a task force to be appointed.
Sloan stated that there is a group of OHA members interested in establishing a metadata committee. They
want to include standards in the best practices document. Council discussed how best to direct this
welcome initiative. Council approved creation of a metadata task force. The charge will request a white
paper of their recommendations which will need to be in line with current archive standards.
Annual Meeting Mentor Program
A group of energetic OHA members organized the first mentoring program at this annual meeting. With
assistance from the office in finding mentors, the group matched mentees with mentors. Over 50 pairs
were matched, and it appears that the program is going very well. How do we sustain this and what type of
structure should be put in place? We may want to ask the organizers to do a wider call for mentors next
year. Discussed possibility of a gathering time such as the newcomers breakfast. The matching needs to
take place more in advance of the meeting. First-timer ribbons would be good for the conference as well.
Education Committee (Debbie Ardemendo)
The education committee had a great committee meeting and discussed the perennial issue of how to get
more K-12 educators involved in oral history. The teacher workshop today had 10 people, but none were
classroom teachers. Discussed appointments to committee. Jamie Karmel is willing to head up committee
next year. Debbie would like to stay on committee but not as chair. A request for a stipend for people to
work on the resource section of the website is included in the committee’s report to Council. They would
like to make the OHA website THE place for teachers to go to get quality oral history resources. Council
discussed project and stipend request. Funding for this effort will have to be discussed as part of 2015
budget at mid-winter Council meeting. Council agreed that it is valuable for the committee to have a clear
task and this effort should be encouraged.
International Committee (Beth Millwood)
Millwood reviewed scholarship recipient list for 2014. Council discussed committee’s idea of “overawarding” due to the fact that there are usually award winners who cannot attend. This would be taken
into consideration during 2015 budget discussions. Council discussed ways to increase involvement of
international oral historians.
Scholarship Committee (Teresa Bergen)
OHA had a large pool of scholarship applicants. Bergen did not have records on how many scholarship
were awarded and accepted in the past, and that might be helpful information to compile. Sloan has
updated version of scoring sheet that he will distribute. OHA should work to align the application with
the review criteria.
Council would like to bring higher visibility to scholarship recipients, especially if we are going to base
part of future fundraising efforts on providing more scholarships.
Strategic Planning Discussion (Kuhn, Sloan)
Council reviewed strategic plan action items to see what has been accomplished and what should be the
next steps.
2016 Meeting (Kuhn and Doug Boyd)
Doug Boyd reported that he is gearing up for an exciting meeting in 2016. The program committee and
the 50th anniversary committee will need to work together on the program so that we can honor our past
and highlight current work. SOHA is eager to be involved, so we need to get in touch and get this
partnership going. Council discussed possible ways to make the 50 th a year-long event rather than just an
annual meeting event. Council discussed OHA archive material at North Texas University and possibility
of funding a fellowship to work with archives as part of the 50 th anniversary of OHA.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.