President's Message
Howdy!
Our Annual Meeting in Burlingame, CA was a huge success and was complimented by many members! As usual, the big success for me was the Board and membership meetings. I have been working diligently for almost a year on the downsizing of the Board, which passed by a landslide when we voted on it. Now, the 75 member Board will be downsized to approximately 25 members, which is much more workable. Next, I go to work revising the bylaws to reflect the articles and section number changes, of which there are more than eight. We will let you know when we have completed this task and you can view it on our website.
I have several projects in the works for the CCHS, none of which particularly deal with the bylaws. First, we need to have a visual and audio program in effect to facilitate our monthly Executive Committee (EC) meetings, due to the fact that the EC members are located all over the state. Ben is working on a program in which we will be able to hear and see each other during meetings. We have it in our 2016 budget to get this done.
Next, we need a DVD with snippets of past conferences, workshops and a CCHS infomercial for our RVPs. The RVPs can then share this DVD with local historical societies that don't know about CCHS. This should be a great tool for our RVPs!
Our next Symposium will be in Redding, CA on October 15-17! Please notify your historical society members about this event and encourage them and yourselves to attend!
Conserve water! One of our local water company executives said recently that we will NEVER run out of water if we conserve. Remember that one of our country's past Presidents stated, "Gasoline will NEVER be $1.00 a gallon. Please conserve water."
I will keep you apprised of CCHS upcoming events. Have a great summer!
John Lenau
President
Conference of California Historical Societies
[email protected]
(760) 249-4650
First Vice President's Message
Greetings!
The CCHS Annual Meeting, held in Burlingame, CA, May 28-30, 2015, was a great success! There were several interesting and informative workshops and speakers, two excursions to local historical sites, wonderful camaraderie and networking. All in all, something for everyone!
The RVP meeting's agenda was shortened in order to have time for Kris Payne's excellent training on NationBuilder, the communication software that CCHS has adopted. This software will enable all CCHS members, and particularly the RVPs, to communicate easily with one another and with other like-minded historians and history-oriented organizations.
For those who were not able to attend the Annual Meeting and RVP NationBuilder training, there will be a "cheat sheet" posted online soon to orient new users to this administrative software. Watch for this, and as soon as it is posted I will send out a special notice to encourage all RVPs to use NationBuilder as a useful and important tool to help make CCHS successful.
You will find several attachments to this newsletter, which I hope everyone will take the time to open and read. They contain a lot of useful and important information, suggestions, and ideas, which all CCHS organizations can modify for their own use. Again, our goal is to "help local historical societies and small museums acquire skills in management, acquisition, preservation, and restoration techniques," as well as share ideas about how RVPs can help their member societies better serve their communities.
I encourage everyone to watch the CCHS website for further information about NationBuilder. There will also be information and an explanation about the new RVP structure that has organized the 40 RVP regions into eight larger groups.
Best wishes for a wonderful summer!
Attachments:
May 2015 RVP Meeting Report for Region 29 (East San Gabriel Valley) by Ralph H. Thomas
May 29th, 2015 CCHS Breakfast Discussion Notes with Beverly Lane
Thinking Like an Archivist, Part I: Where Should We Start? by Lauren Lassleben
Thinking Like an Archivist, Part II: What Are the Next Steps? By Lauren Lassleben
RVP 2014 Fall Report for Region 25 (LA County & San Fernando Valley) by Cim Castellon
Andrea Blachman
1st Vice President
Conference of California Historical Societies
[email protected]
(925) 387-5385
Second Vice President's Message
Here are some of the award recipients at the Awards Luncheon on May 30th during the CCHS 61st Annual Meeting in Burlingame, CA (I am pictured at far right). We discovered why San Francisco was the place to be a century ago and again today in a whirlwind of workshops, special tours, a history fair, book clubs, and a genealogy roundtable discussion.
Yes, we still found time to conduct the business of CCHS. This included structural changes and learning how to make best use of a membership building and tracking tool called NationBuilder. You will be finding out more about this in the weeks and months ahead!
When you get right down to it, all history is local. So it is always a special occasion to recognize those who go the extra mile. Top honorees this year: The Individual Award was given to Bonnie Krames and Bill and Collen Lund of the Moraga Historical Society; The Scholastic Award was given to Lorin K. Hansen of Fremont; and The Waddingham/Doctor Award was given to Brita Berryman Rozynski of Nevada City and Dr. Gary Turner of Los Angeles for over 25 years of outstanding service to a local historical organization.
Do you know an individual or organization deserving of recognition? Awards Chair, John Shea (picture above, first row, center) reminds us that now is the time to start working on a submission for 2016. The deadline to have it in is February 15th and it often takes 6 weeks to 2 months or more to gather the necessary information. Check out the award rules and details.
Thank you to the other members of the Awards Committee: Irene Almeida, Barbara Kimball, and Daniel Munoz.
Andrea Blachman, CCHS 1st Vice President, presented the Outstanding Regional Vice President Award to Kris Payne of Diamond Springs, Region 38, El Dorado County, and to the late Charlotte Price of Inglewood, the longtime RVP for Region 37, Southwest Los Angeles. Price, 93, passed away on May 4th.
I would be remiss if I did not thank CCHS President, John Lenau, his lovely wife, Allene, and Ann Shea for surprising me with the President's Special Award.
Michael Otten
2nd Vice President
Conference of California Historical Societies
[email protected]
(530) 888-7837
New Regions Defined for CCHS
This May at the Annual Meeting, the CCHS membership voted to consolidate its Board to 25 members. In order to ensure continued representation throughout the state, CCHS has identified 8 larger regions that will have one representative each on the Board. These individuals will be responsible for representing their specific region as well as serving as a liaison to the RVPs in their larger region. CCHS is in the process of filling these representative positions as well as "at large" Board member positions - if you are interested in serving on the CCHS Board, please contact Nominations Chair, Ann Shea.
View a map of the new groupings for CCHS.
Thanks for a Great Three Days!
CCHS 2015 Annual Meeting · May 28-30, 2015 · Burlingame, CA
View more pictures from the Annual Meeting.
