Minutes Council of North American Map Societies (CONAMS)

Minutes of Meeting October 12, 2009

 

Members Present:         John Docktor, Bill Warren, William Brandenburg, Howard Lange, Wes Brown

 

The meeting was called to order in Raleigh N.C. on the occasion of a SHD meeting.

 

Howard Lange reported that the Washington Map Society reported that they are considering establishing a presence on Facebook. Jeff Katz is researching this for the society. An issue they are weighing is how open a forum it should become; should they let anyone on it or restrict its use some how.

 

Bill Warren reported that the California Map Society has added a popular event. It is called the Bay Area Map Group where interested map enthusiasts meet at someone’s home on a Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4 pm. Attendees must be members. The event rotates locations. This meeting has been occurring three or four times a year and is an excellent social addition to the California Map Society that only has formal meetings twice a year.

 

Wes Brown reported that owing to the economy and a paucity of dealers willing to fly to Denver, the Rocky Mountain Map Fair has been cancelled for 2009. The event occurred for eight years but has had waning dealer activity the last three years. The Rocky Mountain Map Society loves putting on the Fair and hopes to have a map fair occasionally as the group hosts a major conference or other map event.

 

Wes Brown reported that the society had participated in three different map exhibits recently including one at the Denver Public Library and one at the American Alpine Museum in Golden. The third was actually mounted by the members themselves in conjunction with the Loveland History Museum. All of the thirty or so maps were drawn from members’ collections with over ten members loaning maps. The exhibit had a small exhibit catalogue. It was organized to coincide with the annual meeting of the Oregon California Trails Association that met in Loveland in August.

 

A question was raised as to what were current levels of annual dues for map societies. They are as follows: California $30 ($15 for seniors), Rocky Mountain $20, Washington $37, New York $30, Chicago $25, Texas $25, Cumming Map Society zero.

 

The next CONAMS meeting will be during lunch on Saturday, January 30th in Miami.