From the Executive Director

Louis A. Ferleger assistant national director increased my time commitment by twenty to thirty hours per week. Like my predecessor. I initially worked out of my own office. But during the next two months, one of mv main tasks was to equip the office recently leased troni Boston University. I could not transfer mv work to our Kenmore Square office until three minimum requirements were fulfilled: the acquisition of the minimum desk, chair, computer, printer, and basic office supplies; the installation of phone lines; and the installation of ethernet connections Io the Universitys server m lieu of a modem connection). A fourth immediate task was the establishment ot a separate e-mail address, because I very much wanted, and professional standards mandated, that the growing volume of correspondence shift away from my personal address. Other office acquisitions would follow, and still do. I acquired more furniture, like the initial set all obtained gratis troni Boston University's surplus storage. A fax machine and a photocopier followed, requiring an unpleasant shopping and negotiating experience. The open office space was then divided by pncls, available at sharply discounted used prices troni the University, into separate workstations and a conference room, with the reception and kitchen areas remaining in the open space. During the next winter and spring 1999, we acquired two additional computers. I he additional equipment was necessary because we were gradually employing a small group of very helpful undergraduate and graduate students lrom Boston University and I larvard. most of them on a workstudy basis. TIu- extraordinary skill and responsibility of these part-time student workers allowed THS to cxpnd its opcrations with a minimum of complications. Wc frequently had recourse to the very valuable advice ol our neighbors at the Archaeological Institute of America. The AIA is one of several other academic associations like ours that have similar association agreements with lsoston University. 1 Mrector Mark Meister and his staff have been very generous with their time and friendly in helping us settle into our new office. Lor example, since our first academic year in operation did not include full-time staffing, we were often absent for mail and other deliveries; the AIA gave us a mailbox in their spec for approximately six months until we had a mail slot installed in our own space. Perhaps the most complex office task was the administration of the membership database and related data processing. To ensure flexibility. Francis Gavin had adopted very advanced database software with a very steep learning curve. The effort has paid oft in a variety of ways, not least in allowing us to generate a myriad ot mailing labels and e-mail lists for specific subgroups of our membership. This flexibility will Ix- particularly helpful once our journal subscriptions start this war. Another skilled task, this one carried out almost exclusively bv our student assistants , is bulk mailing. As in other cases, our nonprofit status had to be confirmed with a separate application and a copy ol the letter from the 1RS with our nonprofit authorization. Then we had to negotiate our way through a maze of zip code groups not all in numerical order), special stamps, various labels, more forms, and the proper delivery at the proper location. One of the first items we mailed in this way was the brochure printed in October 1998. I or the design and printing of the brochure, we were alile to rely on the University's resources. Comparison shopping revealed that the Boston University Office of Publications Production would lx)th move more quickly on the project and complete it at a lower cost than outside printing firms. continued on page 12 -11From the Executive Director by Louis A. Ferleger, Executive Director I would like to introduce The Historical Society membership to our new associate director, Kirse G. May. Kirse grew up in Medford, Oregon, a bucolic spot in the southern part of the state. She received her BA from Smith College in Northampton, Mass., in 1994 and completed her PhD in American history at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City in May 1999. Her dissertation, "Suburban Eden: California Youth Images in Popular Culture, 1955-1966" is...