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SEPTEMBER 2011 MINUTES
16
September 2011 BOARD MEETING
Board
members present:
Virgil Lueth, Jean DeMouthe, Penny Williamson, Jamie Neuman, Julian Gray,
Anna Domitrovic The meeting was called to
order a 1:39 pm by president Virgil Lueth.
He went t DeMouthe said that the
Tucson case in 2012 should be in keeping with the show theme of "Arizona
Minerals." Suggestions were made for
subjects, including rare minerals of Arizona and Arizona type localities.
She suggested that the "mystery" case be dropped due to lack of SMMP
participation and little public interest. VL said he would write to
the Denver show committee about how some museums were not coming to their show
due to lack of monetary support. "Meet and greet the
curators" was discussed; most people were not pleased with how it went.
The board asked VL to ask the committee to schedule a series of short
curator lectures instead for next year. Williamson said that the
Russian museums did not get the show paperwork soon enough to allow them to get
funding to attend. VL said he would add
that to his letter. Domitrovic will present the
treasurer's report and updated roster at the main meeting. There are new jobs posted
for mineralogists at both LACM and Phoenix. DeMouthe asked if anybody
knew when the SMMP (then MMAC) began. No
answer. Possible programs for
Tucson include Fran Allegra to speak on tax implications of donations,
evaluating minerals for donation. Neuman
suggested databasing, with Mindat involvement. VL closed the meeting at
2:02 pm.
GENERAL
MEETING The meeting was called to
order by president Virgil Lueth at 2:06 pm.
Introductions were not made, but people were encouraged to sign in.
The minutes from the
previous meeting in Domitrovic gave the
treasurer's report. Combined checking,
CD and savings accounts total $8,262.30.
She urged people to look at the membership list online to see if they have paid
their dues. The membership list will be
culled before Tucson, and people not paying dues will be dropped.
Collections Committee:
Lueth announced that letters will be sent to the administrators of two
collections in jeopardy, the California State Collection and the New York State
Collection. The Calif. State curator
reported that the collection is scheduled to be boxed and put in a warehouse in
Sacramento, since the State does not own the property where it is currently
displayed. The fate of the colln is
undetermined. Jolyon Ralph said he would
support this effort with an article on MinDat. DeMouthe asked for ideas
for the SMMP display in Tucson, and presented those discussed at the board
meeting. Reported that there would be no
more "mystery" case. Lueth urged members to
submit proposals for the SMMP collections grant, which can provide up to $1,000
annually for collection-based projects.
There have been no submissions for the SMMP grant this year. He also mentioned the best
practices series of articles, and asked for submissions or topic ideas.
There is a template on the web site. Williamson opened a
discussion of possible topics for the Tucson program.
Gray suggested valuing specimens and tax implications.
Post suggested a speaker on that topic who had lecturer in Dallas, and
has articles in the MR. Williamson
pointed out that a discussion of American tax laws is of no interest to
international members. She proposed
instead another interactive or demonstration program, similar to last year's.
She said she would be open for suggestions until October, when a decision
would have to be made in order to get into the Tucson program. Lueth reported that he will
write to the Denver show committee regarding the reductions in monetary support
for museums, scheduling of "meet the curator,", and the timing of show
notifications, particularly for international members.
A discussion followed
regarding the "meet the curators" activity at the Denver show.
It was suggested by several people that the activity be condensed and
limited to one or two hours during the show when all curators would be present
at their cases. And there should be more
and better advertising, if they intend to continue this activity. Jim Hurlbut reported that
school children coming to the Denver show are often bused in from around the
area, which is often paid for by local mining companies. Lueth suggested using the
SMMP listserver for quicker and better communication regarding show dates and
other time-sensitive information. Bruce Geller said that the
show committee had changed to Marty Zinn's shipping agency, since many people
had problems in the past, and communication had been poor.
Terry Huizing asked for help at the
Saturday night auction. Sara Timms spoke about her
database program and offered a demonstration to interested members following the
meeting. Lueth asked for input
regarding the possibility of an SMMP meeting or reception at the MM7 meeting in
Dresden, august 2012. Membership agreed
this would be a good idea (no vote taken). Peter Davidson said that
the SMMP Europe section would be hosting an event at the Munich show on 10/28 in
the late afternoon. They still need a
better way to transfer money; PayPal works if we can get it going from our end. The Rice Museum reported
that they had a short list of 3 curator candidates, all of whom found out about
the job through the SMMP website. Davidson said that there
ought to be a forum on collections, sponsored by SMMP, on the MinDat website.
Williamson asked who are
the collection and museum representatives on the IMA, and how are they chosen.
Post said that the IMA is not transparent in their procedures, and U.S.
representatives are appointed through the Min. Society of America. The meeting adjourned at
2:54 pm. Respectfully submitted, |
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