• January 4, 2006
• February 7, 2006
• April 19, 2006
• May 31, 2006
• August 10, 2006
• October 10, 2006

President Suzanne Singleton called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.

Suzanne noted that Laura Koser was unable to attend the meeting and had asked if it would be possible to participate via speakerphone. Suzanne said she had not been able to get in touch with anyone at the Archives who could tell her if this were possible. She also wondered who would pay for the call if it were.

• Treasurer's Report

  Jim reported that SCAA is still in good financial shape and made money on the spring conference. He does not know of any outstanding expenses left over. He thanked Judith Smith and others at the Archives for their help.

  Jim said that the maturity date of the SCAA Certificate of Deposit was at the end of April. Alexia said that she knew of a 4% rate available at BB&T and asked if we couldn't do better than the 2.72% we are currently getting. Jim said he would check into other options. He said that he could roll over the CD, the term of which is 13 months, but that decisions made by the scholarship committee on what to do with the money would affect how it should be invested. Alexia suggested that we see what the best rate was for a term of not more than 15 months. She did not think that the awards by the scholarship committee should be any more than $500. Mike suggested that we try to have one year's operating cost in reserve, which is approximately $5,000. Jim said that we also have $10,000 in our checking account, so we have plenty of liquid funds. Alexia said we could look into a money market account, which allows limited check-writing and withdrawals, instead of a regular checking account. It was decided that Jim would find the best rate for a new, 15-month or less CD for the money in the maturing CD. He suggested putting $5,000 from the current checking account into a money market account.

  Suzanne said she would like to see the scholarship awarded this year by the time of the early-registration SAA deadline in June. Alexia moved that we give $250 to the president or vice president (or other Board member) to represent SCAA at SAA, and that the attendee write a piece for the newsletter. Elizabeth seconded the motion.

  Suzanne brought up the audit which has been proposed for SCAA's books. Jim said that his records were fairly complete. He suggested having a group made up of volunteers, people besides Board members, to work on the audit. Alexia suggested getting an estimate from an external auditor. Alexia and Suzanne both said they would ask their personal accountants about cost. Suzanne said she would circulate an email summarizing the cost and then ask for a vote.




• Membership Report

  Elizabeth said that Henry has not been working on the membership directory as far as she knew. Suzanne said the last one came out on April 18, 2005, and that it usually was published in the spring. Elizabeth said she would ask Henry about it. There were 75 members at the beginning of the year, and Jim said we have gotten 5-6 new members since the spring meeting.




• Vice President's Report

  Elizabeth suggested a location for the annual social, Hagood Mill in Pickens County. It is a circa-18th century grist mill which is still operating. Group tours are $25 or $1/person (suggested donation). It is open the third Saturday of each month and by appointment. There are places for hiking and picnics and sometimes music, storytellers, or other events are scheduled.

  Alexia asked about good places to eat in Pickens. Mike suggested Pendleton instead. The idea of having lunch and/or a walking tour in Pendleton was discussed. There are more and better restaurants in Pendleton and places for people to stay, such as Liberty Hall. Mike and Jim said that Pickens can be difficult to get to (no direct route from Columbia). Alexia proposed that the outing consist of meeting in Pendleton and going to Ashtabula Plantation, then going to Pickens to the mill.

  The idea of a date in the fall was discussed, for cooler weather and enjoying the fall color. Mike pointed out that heavy football traffic might dictate a summer excursion instead. Elizabeth suggested June, when it would not be as hot. She will check the programming at the mill for the next few months. We need to make sure to publicize the event as soon as we can.




• Newsletter and Web Design

  Kate said she was giving Geoff LoCicero the articles for the next SCAAzette, and that it should be posted in early May. She distributed copies of sample logos designed by Geoff. The consensus was that the colorful banners were preferred. Some liked the underlined and/or bolded “A” for “Archival” and others did not. We were also split on the presence of the state outline. Kate pointed out that any colors could be used. She suggested that we may want different but similar styles for the web logo, letterhead, and other uses. Alexia suggested using the block “SCAA” inside the outline of the state. This idea was generally approved. Kate said she would ask Geoff to mock up versions with various color combinations and then circulate the samples via email. She said Geoff had done a template of the new webpage but she could not access it. She will circulate a link when it is available. Suzanne mentioned that other changes on the website still need to be made, such as the removal of the Resource Register and the Membership list and posting of newer minutes. Dorothy pointed out that neither the January or February 2006 minutes had yet been approved because of a lack of a quorum at the prior Board meeting. Suzanne said that the online minutes did not need to go back any further than 2005. Alexia suggested getting a notice about the social posted on the site as soon as possible.

  Jim pointed out that we had not voted on the scholarship matter even though it had been moved and seconded. The motion was to spend $250 of the scholarship money to send the president, president-elect (vice president), or other Board member to represent SCAA at the SAA annual meeting. The motion passed.

  Mike moved to approve the minutes of the January and February meetings. The motion passed.




• Director's Report

  Mike said there were 4 issues to consider for the fall conference: location, time, program, and cosponsorship. He reported that the surveys from the spring conference had generally been very positive. The main reasons to continue to have the conference at the Archives and History Center are: central location; free use of the space; and plenty of parking. However, we do not currently have any representatives of the Archives on the Board except Alexia, so coordinating the planning is difficult, although Judith Smith did a wonderful job for the spring conference. He said it is not really feasible to hold a conference in Clemson, and Alexia said Charleston would be equally difficult. Mike asked if he should ask Judith to help with the fall conference. Since there will be more time to plan than there was for the spring conference, and we have a new director (Laura) now to help, the consensus was that we would ask if she would be willing to help again. We discussed trying to avoid conflicting dates with the South Carolina Library Association meeting, and found that it is taking place this year from November 29-December 1. Mid-October seemed to be the best tentative date for our conference.

  Returning to the idea of hosting an SAA workshop, it was suggested that we could have a two-day conference including the workshop. Alexia said perhaps the SAA workshop could be saved for the spring and meanwhile we could check into the arrangements that will be necessary. Jim suggested talking with the Society of Georgia Archivists to see what their experience had been in hosting a pre-conference SAA workshop.

  As for the program, Mike brought up the idea of having Department of Education lawyers speak on FOIA, FERPA, and other privacy issues, plus possibly following up on the disaster-planning theme from the spring meeting. Kate brought up copyright issues on the web as another idea that coordinated with the privacy theme. It was mentioned that the head of the USC law library had spoken to SCAA before on similar topics and had been well-received. Kate suggested our theme could be “Law and Original Order”. Alexia said we could ask members to submit questions they were dealing with for the speak




• New Business

  Elizabeth brought up the Three Rivers Music Festival, which is taking place April 21-23 around the Gervais Street Bridge area in Columbia. She said arrangements had been made by the city to allow festival attendees to get into the State Museum, Edventure, and the Confederate Relic Room for free, and the city would reimburse the museums. The NAACP has complained about the Confederate Relic Room being included as it is “offensive”. Mayor Bob Coble responded that the Relic Room would not be included in future years. Elizabeth thinks this is unfortunate since the Relic Room contains not only Confederate relics, but also military relics from the Revolutionary War to the present, including information on African-American military units. She suggested that the SCAA board should make a statement of support for the Relic Room. Everyone agreed that the matter was mostly an unfortunate result of the word “Confederate” being in the name of the institution. Mike moved that Elizabeth draft a document and circulate it for approval by the board. It was suggested that the document could take the form of a press release, a letter to the editor, or a letter to Coble and the president of the state NAACP. Elizabeth agreed to do so. Suzanne said that the Scholarship Committee has been set up and will meet soon.

  The next meeting was set for May 31 at 10:00 a.m. at the Archives.

  The meeting was adjourned at 12:30 p.m.