Minutes of the Annual Business Meeting
of the Hume Society
The meeting was called to order at 17:00 by Saul Traiger, President of the Hume Society. Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Corliss Swain, announced the agenda:
1. Approval of the minutes of the 2002 business meeting.
2. Report of the President
3. Report of the Secretary-Treasurer
4. Report of Hume Studies
5. New business
Under item 1, approval of the 2002 minutes (which were posted on the Society's website shortly after the Helsinki conference) was moved, seconded, and ratified by the members present.
Under item 2, Saul Traiger reported on the following items:
(a) The Executive Committee has been meeting almost non-stop virtually, using e-mail, as provided for by the constitutional revisions made at the end of 2001. Current issues are listed on the web.
(b) In connection with Hume Studies, the EC has
(i) authorized an increase of $10.00 (U.S.) in the Institutional rate and
(ii) authorized participating in the Poesis project at the bibliographical level.
The EC is looking into ways to improve electronic access to the journal for subscribing institutions.
(c) The EC has appointed a new coordinator, Eleanor Wittrup, for the Pacific Division APA group meetings, effective 2005. Mark Collier is the coordinator through 2004.
(d) The membership list of the Hume Society is now available to members only on the website at www.humesociety.org/members/membersonly/asp/complete-membership.asp.
(e) A permanent business office has been established at the Páll S. Árdal Institute for Hume Studies, University of Akureyri. The University of Akureyri has donated the services of an administrative assistant, who processes dues and manages the database. All transactions are done using the humesociety.org website enabling the President and Secretary-Treasurer to have full access to them.
(f) Hume Conferences have been planned through 2006:
• The 31st Hume Conference, with the title "Industry, Knowledge and Humanity" will be held in Tokyo, Japan, August 2nd-7th, 2004, hosted by Keio University. The Conference Directors are Masaki Ichinose, Tatsuya Sakamoto, Francis W. Dauer, and Saul Traiger.
• The 32nd Hume Conference, with the title "Hume and the French" will be held in Toronto, Ontario 19-23 July 2005. The organizers are Don Ainsley, David Owen, and Stanley Tweyman.
• The 33rd Hume Conference will be held in Koblenz, Germany on 9-12 August, 2006. The organizers are Rudolf Luethe, Lorne Falkenstein, and another co-director who is yet to be selected.
Invitations for 2007, 2008, and beyond are welcome. Saul encouraged members to start thinking of the 2011 conference now and suggested that Edinburgh would be a natural venue.
(g) Saul gave the floor to two of the organizers of the Hume Conference in Tokyo. Tatsuya Sakamoto of Keio University announced that plans were well under way both for the program and for local arrangements. He announced that the organizers, well aware of the concern of members about expenses, have been able to secure a special rate for the conference hotel, which at this point and given current exchange rates will be approximately $50 to $80 per person per night. Co-organizer Francis Dauer gave a tantalizing preview of the post-conference tour, which is being arranged for those who want to stay on a few extra days in Japan. Details of the tour will be available on the Tokyo Conference web site.
Under item 3, Corliss Swain gave a report from the Secretariat and a financial report
The report from the Secretariat comprised the following items:
(a) The new permanent business office, which was mandated by the membership in 2001, is now in operation thanks to the untiring efforts of Mikael Karlsson and Saul Traiger. The Secretariat reported that Saul Traiger, who donated his time and efforts, set up a new system for collecting and recording dues payments and tracking memberships. This new system along with the support personnel whose time was donated by the University of Akureyri has made the job of the Executive Secretary-Treasurer much more manageable.
(b) Mikael Karlsson announced the establishment of the Páll S. Árdal Institute for Hume Studies at the University of Akureyri. The Institute, which houses Árdal’s library, will soon be open to Hume scholars who wish to do research there.
(c) Electronic balloting, which was used for the first time last year, was successful and will be used again this year. Members were reminded that they would need usernames and passwords to vote electronically.
(d) Corliss informally reminded members that an EC election will be held in November and that nominations to the EC were welcome. A call for nominations will go out in early September. Two regular members will be elected to three-year terms. The regular EC members whose current terms will expire at the end of 2003 are Don Garrett and Michael Mahlerbe. Both are eligible for re-election.
In addition, the Saul Traiger’s term as President will expire at the end of 2003. Saul announced that he will not seek nomination for a second term. He did, however, promise to continue to work behind the scenes. As retiring President, Saul said that it has been a pleasure and an honor to serve as President of an organization that works.
(e) The Society's web site <www.humesociety.org> is continually updated and contains various innovations and improvements, including newly available archived volumes of Hume Studies (through Volume 25).
The report from the Treasurer comprised the following.
Copies of the Annual Financial Report for 2002, submitted by Mikael Karlsson and of the Interim Financial Report for 2003, submitted by Corliss Swain were circulated at the meeting and are available on the web site at www.humesociety.org/about/minutes/annualfinancialreport-02.html and www.humesociety.org/about/financial-report-03.html.
Corliss reported that the Society is in good shape financially. Thanks to the efforts and good stewardship of Mikael Karlsson, we began the year with assets equaling approximately $38,000 (US). This year we will have some additional, one-time expenses in connection with setting up the business office in Iceland and with the Hume Studies on-line archives, and our contribution to Hume Studies will be $2,500 more than it was last year, so our expenses will be somewhat greater than last year. In addition, monetary contributions to the Society will be less than last year’s, because St. Olaf College was asked and has agreed to give a course release to the Secretary-Treasurer rather than a monetary grant. Even taking these factors into account, at this point it looks as if we will be able to end the year with close to the same amount as we did last year.
It was noted that the Society has received donations of time and services not only from St. Olaf College, which granted one course release per year to support the work of the Executive Secretary-Treasurer, but also from Occidental College, which allows us to use its Server, and from the University of Akureyri, which donates the time of an extremely competent administrative assistant.
Under item 4, Paper copies of the Editors’ Report were circulated to the members who attended the meeting. This report is available on the web site at www.humesociety.org/about/editorial-report-03.html.
Under item 5, two resolutions were put forth, the first by Jane McIntyre and the second by Mikael Karlsson. Both were seconded and then unanimously approved by the members present.
Resolution 1:
Whereas the Hume Society has convened its 30th Annual Hume Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 29 – August 2, 2003, therefore
• Be it resolved that the Society extends its thanks to the University of Nevada-Las Vegas for its gracious hospitality as the host institution, to Michelle Baker, the University’s Conference Coordinator, to the local volunteers Bill Kerney, Suzanne More, Pat Scales, Ceci Mun, Marlisa Moschelle, Linda Natiens, Nathan Restori, Phil Luchetta and Bob Casebier, and to the College of Liberal Arts, the Department of History, the Department of Political Science, and the Department of Philosophy for making local arrangements for the conference; also
• Be it resolved that the Society expresses its appreciation to the conference directors: to Craig Walton for his untiring efforts in making local arrangements and preparing the conference program, and to Phil Cummins and Michel Malherbe for their efforts in preparing the conference program; then finally
• Be it resolved that copies of this resolution be sent to the appropriate administrators of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, of the College of Liberal Arts, the Departments of History, Political Science, and Philosophy, and of the home institutions of the conference directors.
Resolution 2:
Whereas Saul Traiger will be retiring as President of the Hume Society at the end of 2003, after a three-year term, and
Whereas Saul’s service to the Hume Society has been exceptional in terms of improving the society’s service to members, including especially web-based services, in thoroughly revising the Society’s constitution, in designing and implementing the Society’s business and record-keeping protocols and establishing a permanent business office, and in preserving and strengthening the Society’s international character, and in making Hume Studies available in electronic form;
• Be it resolved, that the Society expresses its enormous gratitude to Saul for his outstanding service, and to Occidental College for its generous and friendly support, which made it possible for Saul to carry out effectively the duties of his office; and
• Be it further resolved that copies of this resolution be sent to the appropriate administrators of Occidental College.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned by Saul Traiger at 17:58.
Respectfully submitted,
Corliss Swain
Executive Secretary-Treasurer.
Amended 14 September 2004