Council of North American Map Societies

Minutes of meeting of February 4, 2012 in Miami

Attending: Jeremy Pool - Boston Map Society, Dennis Gurtz -Washington Map Society, John Docktor - CONAMS, Art Holzheimer – Chicago Map Society, Tom Sander – Soc. for the History of Discoveries, and Wes Brown – Rocky Mountain Map Society, Ginny Harvey – IMCOS, Ray Wolf – Philadelphia Map Society.

The meeting was called to order by President John Docktor and the group went around the table giving a status report of their local society, passing along new ideas, and identifying ways to cooperate.

Ray Wolf reported that the Philadelphia MS is in its first full year of existence. They are currently having meetings every other month. It meets at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania Building with a couple dozen attendees on average. It was organized by Barbara Drebing.

Jeremy Pool reports that Boston MS, with 140 members, will have eight events this year. Jeremy is currently serving as President. They meet at the Leventhal Map Center at the Boston Public Library typically having 30 to 50 attendees per meeting. They have done several joint events with Harvard.

Dennis Gurtz reported that the Washington MS is currently seeking new board members but is very energized having eight or nine meetings a year. They have an active FaceBook membership with four or five new posts per week. They have been trying to get a Wikipedia posting and this is giving them some grief. Ralph Ehrenberg is back at the LOC and is aggressively supporting the society. They currently have 400 members, many of whom are attracted to receiving the Portolan Journal.

Wes Brown reported that Rocky Mountain MS is stable with about 90 paid members; they actively purge the rolls every year. There was much discussion about the upcoming conference jointly held with Texas Map Society in Denver. The title is The Mapping of North America: Westward Expansion and will be held July 26^th and 27^th followed by a two-day map fair at the Denver Public Library on the 28^th and 29th. The University of Denver is the host for the conference and the accommodations will be at the Brown Palace/Comfort Inn similar to the past IMCOS and SHD conferences. All the societies present were willing to help with announcements to their members but recommended use of emails rather than post cards.

Tom Sander reported for the SHD. Membership is steady at 300 and about 125 attend the annual conference. This year it will be in Pasadena California from September 27^th through 29^th. 2013 will be at Tampa FL. The journal is now being published twice a year.

Arthur Holzheimer reported that the Chicago MS is holding steady at 150 members. They have been having about 35+ attendees at meetings and recently they’ve had more young members.

Jenny Harvey reported the IMCOS is doing well but they always worry about aging membership. Currently membership is in the 500 to 550 level. The 2012 international symposium will be in Vienna, 2013 in Alaska, and 2014 in South Korea.

It was mentioned that the International Society for the History of the Map was seeking to raise its profile in the academic world.

Recorded by Wes Brown, Secretary