Minutes: December 1, 2005

A regular meeting of the Board of Directors of the Capital Area Archivists was held on Thursday, December 1, 2005 at the Capital District Library Council in Albany, New York.

Board members present: Craig Carlson, Susan D'Entremont, John Diefenderfer, Rachel Donaldson, Jean Root Green, Brian Keough, Amy Rupert, Amy Schindler, Emily Southworth, Bonnie Weddle and Geoff Williams.

Amy Schindler, President, called the meeting to order at 3:34 pm.

1. Approval of Minutes of June 13, 2005 Meeting
Minutes were approved.

2. Membership Report/Membership Recruitment Efforts
No report given.

3. Financial Report
Brian Keough, Treasurer, distributed a financial report for July-November 2005 (attached). The checkbook balance on July 1, 2005 was $1,453.89. CAA received $35.00 in dues and $966.08 for CAA's portion of the profit from the April 2005 MARAC/NYAC/CAA meeting. CAA spent $200.00 in support of the October Capital Region Archives Dinner. The balance as of December 1, 2005 was $2,254.97.

4. Old Business
· MARAC/NYAC/CAA Meeting Wrap-Up
See Financial Report above.
· Capital Region Archives Dinner
The Board agreed that CAA could continue to support the dinner financially because of the money made this year on the MARAC/NYAC/CAA conference. The Board feels the dinner is an important tradition that should be continued. Several members made suggestions for venues for the 2006 dinner: Vista in Jonesville (Clifton Park), which is on a golf course; the Hampton Inn in Albany; and the Edison Club in Rexford. The Hampton Inn is new, and the board was not sure whether it has the space for a dinner. Brian Keough knows the owner of the Hampton Inn's restaurant, Yono Purnomo, and would be willing to approach him about costs. Susan D'Entremont encouraged people to send other ideas for locations or speakers to her.

5. New Business
· Contribution to SSA-SAA Emergency Assistance Grant Fund
Amy Schindler briefly explained the Fund, which was established to address the stabilization and recovery needs of archival repositories that have been affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Board approved donating $250.00 to the Fund.
· Future Programs
Several ideas for future CAA programs were introduced:
-Fundraising
-Brian Keough suggested that since we have a healthy budget, we could use $300-$500 to invite a "big name" speaker. Members said they would think of speakers CAA could invite.
-Archival software. This could be an informal discussion where people using various programs, such as PastPerfect or Access, to manage their collections could talk about the pros and cons of each. Inviting vendors was suggested, but the board decided that it would be too awkward to discuss competing products at the same venue. The Archivist's Tool Kit, an open source software that is due out in summer 2006, was mentioned as part of this discussion
-Copyright. Peter Hirtle from Cornell was mentioned as a possible speaker. Bonnie Weddle also mentioned a local attorney who has presented at the State Archives. She will get his contact information.
-Genealogical research. CAA hasn't done this for several years. The last program attracted a very large audience.
-Invite an appraiser to discuss the process of appraising the monetary value of an item.
-2006 is designated as Capital Region Architecture Year, so CAA could do a program tied in with that. Several people mentioned hearing John Pipkin make a presentation on Albany architecture at a recent conference and said he was an excellent speaker. CAA could tie in a program on this topic with a visit to Historic Albany Foundation's Architectural Parts Warehouse on Lexington Ave in Albany.
-Haunted Albany/Weird Albany. Charles Fort, an Albany native and well known eccentric of the turn of the last century, was mentioned.

No decisions about the content of future programs were made. Board members will think about the above topics and make suggestions for speakers to Amy Schindler.

Emily Southworth noted that the SAA student chapter would like to tour a local archival institution. All of their field trips this year have been outside the region. The tour could be followed by a CAA "mixer" where the student chapter members could talk informally with CAA members. The Schenectady Museum was mentioned as an interesting site, and several Schenectady watering holes were suggested for the post-tour meeting. Amy Schindler will contact Chris Hunter about the possibility of a tour in January.

6. Other Business
Bonnie Weddle announced that the National Archives and Records Administration budget passed. It includes $7.5 million for NHPRC, with $5.5 million of that earmarked for grants to the states. She also noted that NARA representatives will be at the NY State Archives on December 7 to discuss their electronic records project.

The front page of the December 1 Times-Union had an article on the Albany County Hall of Records project to preserve and digitize photographs from the city engineer's office.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:20, followed by a CAA program on donor relations.

Respectfully submitted,
Susan D'Entremont