2002-12-30 MLA

Minutes of the Business Meeting of the Edith Wharton Society
MLA, New York, N. Y.
30 December 2002

The business meeting for the Edith Wharton Society was held at the beginning of Session 774, “The Ambivalence of Place: The New Yorks of Edith Wharton.” President Augusta Rorhbach called the meeting to order and announced the results of the election. The new at-large members of the Executive Board are Laura Saltz and Frederick Wegener; the new Secretary is Hildegard Hoeller. Moving up from previous offices are Julie Olin-Ammentorp (from Vice President to President) and Donna Campbell (from Secretary to Vice President).:

Augusta then informally polled the membership about moving the business meeting to ALA and the response was less than lukewarm. Irene asked if it made a difference to people that it take place in Cambridge every other year; this too seemed to matter not much at all. Thus, there isn’t a definitive “yes” or “no” and maybe even more of a “no.” We are where we began.

Augusta let people know about the conference at Roehampton and the extended deadline; she handed out the flyers noting the new deadline date of January 10, 2003.

Augusta mentioned that we would conduct an election for next year’s special session at the end of the session. Slips were handed out for people to write down their ideas.

Augusta announced the deaths R.W.B. Lewis and Scott Marshall and the Society’s plans to honor these two important figures in Wharton studies with a festshrift issue of the EWR for each of them. Details to follow in CFPs that will appear on the website and elsewhere.

And finally, those present were informed of the date time and location of Scott Marshall’s Memorial Service: Wednesday, Jan 29th, at 7:30 pm at Calvary Episcopal Church on Park Ave South at 21st St.

The topics for next year’s MLA sessions are “Edith Wharton, the Novel, and History,” chaired by Julie Olin-Ammentorp, and “The Business of Being Edith Wharton/The Edith Wharton Business,” chaired by Augusta Rohrbach. The Call for Papers is now available on this site.

Augusta Rohrbach
(Edited for the web with some additions by Donna Campbell)