Notes from the Edith Wharton Society Business Meeting
May 24, 2006
American Literature Conference
San Francisco, CA
- Constitutional changes have been passed to allow us to function as a non-profit organization.
- The next Edith Wharton Conference is planned for May or June of 2008 at The Mount. The topic will be “Edith Wharton and Women’s History,” with “history” broadly defined as a discussion of contemporary authors, intellectual history, and material history.
- We need to elect three representatives to the Executive Board. Both nominator and nominee must be members of the Edith Wharton Society. Executive Board members are expected to serve as reviewers for the Edith Wharton Review. While we have extended the deadline for nominations to June 15, 2006, we have received only one application: I have requested that we move the deadline back. [Note: It has been moved back to August 15, 2006. –D. Campbell] Applications may be sent through the Edith Wharton web page or to me directly at thorntoe@uww.edu.
- We need to elect a secretary. This person must have served for a year on the Executive Board. Nominations are also due by June 15 but again, perhaps we should move the date back.
- Hildegard Hoeller has drafted a description of an Edith Wharton Beinecke Research Award of $1500 “to enable a scholar to conduct research on the Wharton materials at the Beinecke Library at Yale University.” A research proposal, c.v., and basic budget are due on March 1, 2007. Notification of award will take place by April 15 th and the award can be used after that from May 1, 2007 until May 1, 2008. Applications can be sent directly to Hildegard. [An announcement of this research prize will be forthcoming in the Edith Wharton Review and at the Wharton Society site.–D. Campbell]
- Treasury Report: we currently have $29,156 in our treasury.
- There is a reduced rate for all Edith Wharton Society members to subscribe to a new journal, Studies in American Naturalism.
- There was discussion about how to solicit topics for sessions at the MLA and ALA. Typically, we accept one from the board, and one from the floor at the conference itself. Changes suggested are: those presenting papers or proposing panels must be members of the Society or willing to join; individuals will henceforth be able to propose a panel or paper in advance through the Edith Wharton Society web site. These proposals will be included in the vote at the MLA and the ALA.
- A call for papers for the September ALA in San Diego has been sent out. Margaret Murray will chair the panel on the topic, “The Fiction of Edith Wharton.”
- Next year’s ALA panel topics have been chosen. Hildegard will chair a panel on “Literary Responses to Edith Wharton,” and Edie Thornton will chair a panel on “Edith Wharton, Addiction, and Compulsion.”
- Carole Shaffer-Koros will make arrangements for the Edith Wharton dinner at the MLA in Philadelphia this year.
- There was also discussion about how to use our home page. Some ideas for content were: discussion questions about Wharton texts; study guides; Wharton stories that are hard to find elsewhere; and scholarly work/articles. Further discussion of this issue is needed.
Respectfully submitted,
Edie Thornton
June 13, 2006
The Edith Wharton Society 