The Southwestern Historical Association

Minutes & Treasurer's Report

of the Annual Business Meeting for the Year 1999

held at San Antonio

on 2 April 1999

The Annual Business Meeting of the Southwestern Historical Association (SwHA) was called to order at 4:02 pm, with Michael L Collins (Midwestern State - TX) presiding.  President Collins asked for a summarized reading of the minutes of the previous meeting and a treasurer's report.  The minutes were approved with a summary of the reading, and the treasurer's report was approved as read.

The Secretary-Treasurer, Sarah C Neitzel (UT PanAmerican), reminded the members that the minutes, list of officers, call for papers, prize winners, etc., was on the webpage of the SSSA at http:  //  www .  sfasu . edu / soc / sssa /  [N.B. This web address is not functional.]

President's Report

Collins mentioned that he had enjoyed the past year as president and mentioned that one of the main jobs of the president is to attend the Executive Council meetings of the SSSA.  He thanked the Secretary-Treasurer, Neitzel, and the three program chairs, Joan E Supplee (Baylor), Ingrid Westmoreland (Southeastern Oklahoma State), and Melodie Andrews (Mankato State) for their work.

He further noted the following items:

1.  In the Executive Council of the Southwestern Social Science Association (SSSA), there had been discussion about starting the meeting on Wednesday afternoon or going through Saturday morning.
2. The SSSA would have the convention director position open after 2000.
3. The SSSA would need to elect a new Secretary.
4. Online registration would be in place for 2000.
5. Exhibits Director Cary D Wintz (Texas Southern) suggested recently published authors might want to have a book signing or an exhibit from their press.

Program Chair Report

Supplee reported that the SwHA had now eclipsed Sociology.  There was also a need to take some of the pressure off Phi Alpha Theta, but how?   (See Special Report on Program.)  Supplee also expressed concern about no-shows, not only in History but in the other disciplines as well.  F Bullitt Lowry (North Texas) recommended that chairs of sessions notify the program chair about absentees and that the program chair notify the department chair of the individual.  His motion passed.

Vaughan B Baker Simpson (Southwestern Louisiana) moved that a report on the program be included in the future Red River Valley Historical Journal.  The motion passed.

Baker Simpson also commended Supplee for a fine job as program chair.

There was a long discussion on how to handle Phi Alpha Theta sessions that often run very late in being completed for the program.  It was agreed that participants in completed sessions should be notified one those sessions have been finalized.  The web could be used to announce late forming sessions.

Paper Prizes

The various paper prize committees reported the 1999 winners as follows:

• Glenn Melancon (Southeastern Oklahoma State) announced that the winner of the Walter R. Craddock Prize in European / Asian History was Henry Eaton (North Texas) for "The Romanian Holocaust and Historians."  Honourable Mention went to Mark Bevir (Newcastle - UK), for "Socialism, the State, and Civil Society in Modern Britain."
• Edward Weller (San Jacinto) announced the United States History Prize went to Gerhard Grytz (Nevada - Las Vegas) for "'Culture in the Making:'  The Yavape of Central Arizona, 1860-1935."  Honourable Mention went to Albert H Tillson, jr. (Tampa) for "Wage Workers in a Plantation Society:  Virginia's Northern Neck in the Revolutionary Era."
• Daniel Castro (Southwestern - TX) announced the Latin American / African History Prize went to Barbara Ganson (Florida Atlantic) for "Gender Reorientations in the Jesuit Reductions in Paraguay."

Graydon A "Jack" Tunstall (South Florida) from Phi Alpha Theta, with Ben Procter (Texas Christian), awarded checks to the winners in each Phi Alpha Theta category.  The winners of the Ben Procter Prizes for the Best Phi Alpha Theta Student Paper in United States History were:

• 1st Place - Daniel Cobb (Oklahoma) for "Intended but Unforeseen:  Indian Community Action and the Foundations for Self-determination and Modern Tribalism, 1963-1975."
• 2nd Place [TIE] - Jennifer Fish Kashay (Arizona) for "'Oh That My Mouth Might Be Opened:'  Missionaries, Gender, and Language in Early 19th Century Hawaii" & Alexandra Kindell (Iowa State) for "Unpave the Way to Progress:  Agriculture, Isaac Newton, and the USDA in American Memory." {AMENDED 11 January 2003.} 

The winners of the Ben Procter Prizes for the Best Phi Alpha Theta Student Paper in European History were:

• 1st Place - Donald R Keltner (Baylor) for "Wellington and the Battle of Fuentes d'Onoro:  A Re-evaluation of Content and Consequences."
• 2nd Place - Rachel Greenwald (California - Irvine) for "Ethnocentricity in the Federal Republic:  West German Journalists on Immigration, 1970-1989."
• 3rd Place - Zsolt Varga (Texas Christian) for "Contemporary American Press Coverage on the Outbreak of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution."

The winners of the Ben Procter Prizes for the Best Phi Alpha Theta Student Paper in Latin American / Asian / African History were:

• 1st Place - Analiese M Richard (Southwestern - TX), for "Weaving History:  Gender Religion, and Social Change in Zinacantan, Mexico."
• 2nd Place - Emily Story (Vanderbilt) for "Unintended Outcomes:  William Walker and the Emergence of Nicaraguan Nationalism."
• 3rd Place - Teresa M Van Hoy (Texas) for "La Marcha Violenta?  Railroads and Land in Nineteenth-Century Mexico."

President Collins congratulated the winners of the prizes and directed the Secretary-Treasurer to write the appropriate letters of congratulations as well as send checks to the prize winners.

Nominating Committee

Supplee of the Nominating Committee recommended Castro as Vice-President and Program Chair for the Latin American / African History Section.  No further nominations from the floor were forthcoming and the recommendation of the Nominating Committee was approved.

Old Business

Melancon, editor of the Red River Valley Historical Journal, thanked Dr. Rodriquez, President of Midwestern University (TX), and Northeast Oklahoma State University for their financial contributions to the journal.  He also thanked Southeastern Oklahoma State University for its continuing support of the journal.

Lowry commented on membership in the SSSA for historians and made the point that the Social Science Quarterly (SSQ) was not a benefit for the historians.

Janet Schmelzer (Tarleton State) was commended for being general program chair and on being elected Vice-President of the SSSA.

New Business

Procter moved that Supplee write the universities and thank them for their financial commitment to the journal.  The motion was approved.

Collins turned the meeting over to the incoming President.  Supplee adjourned the meeting at 5:30 p.m.

signed Sarah C. Neitzel (UT PanAmerican)

Page last reviewed 9 July 2004.