Minutes of the MCS General Meeting
Oxford, UK, 29 June 1997
The first General Meeting of the Margaret Cavendish Society opened with a statement by Emma Rees expressing thanks to Shirley Stacey for organizing a successful conference. (Those present applauded and cheered.)
There followed a procedural motion from Susanne Woods that all decisions adopted this day would be provisional for a period of two years, subject to review and revision, and result in a permanent constitution by the end of two years (Summer 1999). PASSED.
AGENDA:
I. A provisional quorum shall consist of 20%. PASSED
II. That Emma L.E. Rees shall act as chair of meeting. PASSED
That Nancy W. Miller shall act as secretary of meeting. PASSED Margaret Cavendish In Print.
III. That the following offices on the Executive Board of the International MCS shall be created and duties set:
- President: calls meetings, sets agenda, presides. PASSED
- V.P.: Acts in absence of president. PASSED
- Secretary: Takes minutes, keeps membership records. PASSED
- Treasurer: a managing treasurer will collect dues locally (in country/currency of residence) and organize dues collected by regional treasurers. PASSED
- Web Master: to create and manage MCS website. PASSED
- List Editor: to manage existing MarCav e mail list. PASSED
- Newsletter Editor: to compile, solicit, write, and edit MCS newsletter. PASSED
- National Liaison: REDEFINED as Member at Large and regional treasurer. PASSED
- Member at Large (provisionally set at 10): to act as regional treasurer (if the only representative on board of a given country/currency) and otherwise partake of board decisions. PASSED
IV. Nominations. There followed a discussion about board members who are already in place. The majority present proposed that a new, more internationally representative board should be voted into office. Nancy Miller expressed concern that existing board members not present at the meeting had no say in their displacement. Proposal PASSED with majority vote.
- President: Nancy W. Miller PASSED
- VP: Emma L. E. Rees PASSED
At this point Nancy Miller again expressed concern about displacing those already in office who were not informed that such an election were to take place. A vote was taken on whether this group present does indeed have authority to make such changes. PASSED A vote was taken on whether all continents containing Cavendish members should be represented on the Board. PASSED
- Secretary: Alexandra Bennett PASSED
- Managing Treasurer: Carole Breakstone PASSED
- Web Master: Susannah Quinsee PASSED
- List Editor: Jim Fitzmaurice PASSED
- Newsletter Editor: Deborah Burks PASSED
- Members at Large: Sheila Ottway (Netherlands) PASSED, Jo Wallwork (Australia) PASSED, Hero Chalmers (UK) PASSED, Anne Shaver (US) PASSED, Line Cottegnies (France) PASSED, Rachel Warburton (Canada) PASSED, Mami Adachi (Japan) PASSED, Gweno Williams (UK) PASSED, Effie Botonaki (Greece) PASSED, Brandie Siegfried (US) PASSED, Cecile Jagodzinski (US) PASSED, Elaine Walker (UK) PASSED, Sylvia Bowerbank (Canada) PASSED
All above nominees were elected to office.
V. Discussion and vote to postpone appointing a committee to oversee Cavendish projects PASSED. Discussion and vote to rotate the international meeting and conference among countries/continents at least every two years and have one conference coordinator to organize each meeting PASSED. Line Cottegnies offered to organize the next meeting in Paris.
VI. Vote to adopt the MCS constitution with following amendments/additions: The time period covered shall now read 1620 1680; Members at Large may stand for a second term; Dues will be collected by regional treasurers in amounts set by the executive committee: All PASSED.
VII. The following items were all noted for future discussion: Whether to publish conference proceedings and who should select papers for such proceedings; Whether abstracts of conference papers should appear in the newsletter; Whether awards should be established for Cavendish articles/books.
The meeting closed with a vote to adjourn to a pub PASSED.
Nancy W. Miller
Oxford, June 1997