The Martineau Society met on Sunday 16 July, Moray House,
13 members were present
1. Apologies were received from Andrew Hill, Marion and Harold Just, Howard Hague, Bob Webb, Ted Hovet, Maureen Colquhoun, Barbara Todd, and Margaret Marks.
2. Minutes of 11th AGM: 17 July 2005
The Minutes were circulated and approved.
3. Matters Arising not on the agenda
There were none
4. Chairperson’s Remarks
Thanks were proffered to Gaby Weiner for organizing this year’s conference, and also to Moira Burke. Thanks were also conveyed to all Committee members, in particular Iris Voegeli, Alan Middleton and Sophia Hankinson, for their continued support to the Society.
There was sadness at the news of the deaths of two important members of the Society: more recently, of Frank Schulman, the Society’s President and last year, of Ken Fielding. An obituary for Frank Schulman will be included in the next Newsletter (a combined effort from the
5. Annual Report
The Secretary circulated the summary of the main events of last year, including last year’s conference in
Agreed: that the report would be revised, and a signed copy sent to the Treasurer.
6. Treasurer’s Report
The statement of accounts for 2005 was circulated. The following points were highlighted, that:
- the Society’s finances were in healthy state, even though the statement excludes membership of 11 life members each of whom made a one-off payment of £150.
- the largest cost to the Society this year had been the James Martineau Miscellany (£3,000) but some reimbursement was anticipated through sales by
- it costs relatively little to run the Society since the main activity, the annual conference, is largely self-financing from conference fees.
- membership currently stands at 54, with 9 new members so far this year, some as a direct consequence of the website.
- it is important for members to sign up to Gift Aid List, and for the Treasurer to contact those who had not yet done so. Gift Aid had yielded £350 this year
- since Frank Schulman’s illness, there had been no-one to collect
- no information had been received from Armitt about sales of Harriet Martineau’s Miscellany. It was agreed that Gaby W. would follow this up and arrange for any accrued monies to be sent to the Treasurer.
- no information had been received from
- a report re-
Agreed: to accept the Treasurer’s report, and convey thanks to Iris Voegeli for all her work.
Agreed: to a raise in concessionary membership subscription from £7.50 to £10, to be ratified at the next AGM (the cost of full membership to remain the same).
7. Newsletter Editor’s Report
The following points were made, that:
- there had been a bumper issue this year.
- next year, there will be two issues, as usual
- the cut off date for copy will be 1st October, for the November issue, and1st April for the May issue.
- copy is preferred via email attachment.
- conference presenters are requested to submit a long abstract of their paper, plus contact details, so that queries can be followed up.
- Care needs to be taken to maintain accurate contact details of Committee members which are usually included in the Newsletter.
- the Secretary will take over responsibility for providing address labels for the Newsletter and will receive 5 extra copies for general distribution.
- members to be encouraged to approach publishers for review copies of Society-related publications
- a statement of accounts and a subscription reminder to be included in the first Newsletter, and the 2006 AGM minutes, in the second Newsletter.
Agreed: to convey thanks to Deborah Logan (and Valerie Sanders) for their contributions to the publication and distribution of the Newsletter.
8. Duties of post-holders
Following a discussion of the range of activities with which the Society could and should be involved, the following suggestions were made as a means of raising profile of the Society:
- distribution of leaflets and sale of publications at relevant conferences.
- inclusion of conference report section in each Newsletter.
- Rod V. and Gaby W. to contact the leaflet designer for a prototype of the leaflet which can then be circulated electronically
- Iris V. as Membership Secretary, to be promptly informed of any changes in membership details in order to maintain accuracy regarding Society mailings and email contact.
9. Election of Officers and Committee
Following death of Frank Schulman, the Committee proposed Sophia Hankinson for President of the Society (nominated Valerie Sanders, seconded Elisabeth Arbuckle). No other nominations were received.
It was unanimously agreed that Sophia Hankinson be appointed President of the Society
The following Committee members were re-elected unopposed (nominated by Elizabeth Arbuckle, seconded Rod Voegeli):
9.1 Chairperson Valerie Sanders
9.2 Treasurer/ Membership Secretary Iris Voegeli
9.3 Secretary Gaby Weiner
9.4 Newsletter Editor Deborah Logan
9.5 Other Committee members Elisabeth Arbuckle, Barbara Todd, Shu-Fang Lai, Margaret Marks, and Alan Middleton
10. Other Matters
10.1 Harriet Martineau Sociological Society Meetings.
It was planned to hold the next HMSS meeting in May,
10.2 Martineau Society Website
It was reported that this was now working well. The aim is to find out whether Sarah Lawson is prepared to continue in her role as webmaster. It was agreed that the Secretary would check this and arrange for a book token to be sent, in appreciation.
10.3 Publicity
Thanks were expressed to Rod Voegeli for organising the printing and distribution of the leaflet. Positive comments were made about the layout and content. The importance of establishing who owns copyright of leaflet was noted (Rod V. to check).
The aim now is to distribute it as widely as possible, possibly on less expensive paper.
Agreed: that 1000 copies of the leaflet to be run off at
Agreed: that the combination of website and newsletter seemed, at last, to be effectively disseminating the work of the Society.
10.4 Future events of the Martineau Society
10.4.1
AGM 2007
In addition to a number of other venues,
Agreed: to hold the 2007 conference in
10.4.2 AGM 2008
Agreed: that Ann Peart to be approached to organise the 2008 conference in
11. Any Other Business
11.1 Other Societies
Agreed: that Gaby W. will maintain contact with Carlyle Society, and that members from other societies will continue to be welcome.
11.2 Publications
- Re-publication by the Society of biography of Violet Martineau’s biography of Gertrude
It was noted that the present copyright holder has given permission for this.
Agreed: that Sophia H. will make further enquiries and report back.
- Publication of Historiettes: Shu-Fang reported that she is currently looking for a publisher of these
- Publication of Harriet Martineau Letters, edited by Deborah L., it was reported, will take place in the forthcoming year.
11.3 Conferences
Noted: details of the following conference.
Title: Harriet Martineau: Subjects and Subjectivities
Date: 21 April 2007
Place:
Description: This interdisciplinary one-day conference considers the making of political, imperial and individual identities in the work of Harriet Martineau (1802-1876). Confirmed speakers include Catherine Hall (UCL), Deborah Anna Logan (
Contact: Cora Kaplan (c.l.kaplan@qmul.ac.uk) or
Ella Dzelzainis (e.dzelzainis@bbk.ac.uk)
School of English and Humanities
020 7631 6167
GGW/11-Nov-09