Links to minutes for business meetings
Edith Wharton Society Business Meeting
May 28, 2005
Boston , MA
The meeting was called to order at 9:35 a.m. with ten members attending. The
items of business covered were as
follows.
1. The Celebrating the Centenary of The House
of Mirth conference was announced.
2. The Edith Wharton Society is in the process of becoming registered with
the IRS as a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit corporation. As Carole Shaffer-Koros explained,
having the EWS account under Kean University 's nonprofit status threatened
that status for the university, so we had to incorporate in order to conduct
business, keep a bank account, and so forth. This will also enable us to accept
credit card payments, which will make paying for conference fees and membership
dues much easier, especially for our international members. The members expressed
their thanks to Robert Koros, who has taken care of this matter for us.
3. The EWS
constitution must be amended to include the sections necessary for
certification of nonprofit status by the IRS. Although the changes cannot be
formally voted upon until MLA, a copy of these changes was distributed to the
members and a nonbinding vote was taken: the vote was unanimous in favor of
the amendments affecting nonprofit status. A nonbinding vote will be taken
at the House of Mirth conference.
4. To allow for more flexibility in voting on the constitution in the future,
a proposed amendment that would allow voting on the constitution at MLA, at
the EWS biennial conferences, or by paper ballot. Like the others, this amendment
will be voted on at MLA. The document with the proposed changes will be available
at the Wharton Society site.
5. Since Edie Thornton has received no nominations for the three new positions
on the Executive Board, Donna Campbell extended the deadline to June 30, after
the Celebrating the Centenary of The House
of Mirth Conference. Those wishing
to nominate someone should contact Edie in writing, either by using the
form on the Edith Wharton Society site, by
sending her an e-mail, or by sending the information by postal mail.
6. Because the constitution makes no provision for an absence of nominees,
Donna proposed an amendment that stipulates that in the absence of nominees,
the nominations will be extended until May 31 (after ALA ). This amendment
will be voted on at MLA. She also mentioned that the site has changed servers
and encouraged the members to use our domain name address, www.edithwhartonsociety.org .
7. ALA next year will be in San Francisco at the same hotel as in 2004, the
Hyatt Regency Embarcadero Center ; in 2007, it will again return to the Westin
Copley Plaza in Boston at the same room rate.
8. The EWS will begin offering an essay prize to beginning scholars; the winning
essay submitted will be published in the Edith Wharton
Review,
and the writer will receive $250. A draft version was circulated, and those
present offered corrections and additions; the
final copy will be available online,
and the prize will formally be announced at the House of Mirth conference.
9. Carole Shaffer-Koros gave the treasurer's report. The organization is financially
healthy, although the House of Mirth conference expenses
will reduce the total amount in the bank. The biggest expenses are those involved
in putting out the Edith Wharton Review . Linda Costanzo Cahir will be taking
over as editor of the EWR beginning with the next issue.
10. Topics proposed for next year's ALA in San Francisco were as follows: Margaret
Murray, Edith Wharton and Local Color; Carole Shaffer-Koros , Terror and Evil
in Edith Wharton's Works. The latter topic won the most votes so that will
be one of the panel topics for next year's conference. As vice president, Hildegard
Hoeller will chair the other, which will probably be on Edith Wharton and the
Harlem Renaissance. The call for papers will be posted
to the usual places in September.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna Campbell
Secretary pro tem