Table of Contents:
Operations Vice
President Report
Archivist Report
Audio-Visual Committee
(Slides) Report
Audio-Visual Committee
(Video) Report
Cave Files Committee Report
Headquarters
Facilities Committee Report
Internal Organizations
Committee Report
Information
Technology Committee Report
Office Automation Division (IT
Committee) Report
Market Analysis Committee
Report
NSS Library Committee Report
NSS Operations Manager Report
Photo Archives Committee
Report
Speleo-Museum Committee Report
Operations Vice President Report:
Scott Fee
2501 Gable Blvd
Birmingham, AL 35215
(205) 854-7487
scottfee@pipeline.com
The Department of the Operations Vice President consists of 11 committees, plus the NSS Operations Manager and the NSS headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama. In this report, I provide the name, address, phone number, and e-mail address of the chair of each committee or organization, followed by their report. The committee and sub-committee chairs have provided the information in this report, although I’ve made some spelling, formatting, and minor editorial adjustments. If necessary, my comments are provided in Italics following the committee’s report.
Plans:
There is to be a satellite library established at the
University of Puerto Rico. In August I received a signed MOU back
from UPR Geology Department. I scanned it and submitted it to the
NSS Legal Committee who indicated the following … "They
have made serious and material changes from the offer we
transmitted to them." If a Board Member would like to see
the Legal Committee’s aforementioned comments in their
entirety, or the UPR proposed MOU, please email me accordingly. I
am requesting this issue be discussed during closed session.
The NSF is expected to meet at the NSS Headquarters the week following the October NSS Board of Governors meeting. Both Stephanie and myself plan to attend.
Progress:
IT Committee: We have continued the process of redesigning the
NSS Web Site. Electronic Postcards are available from the Fun
Stuff page (Charlie Williams). Cave Art offers Cave Ballads to
Download (Paul Stevens). The What's New page was updated (Chad
Lagos).
The second payment from the unique arrangement with the Carlsbad National Park Bookstore has resulted in payment of $215.00. The previous quarterly check that we received was for $310.00. ($525 Year to date)
Problems:
I will continue to attempt to resolve the UPR
Satellite Library situation once I have been provided direction
from the Board.
J. Reynolds Duncan, Jr.
153 Atria Drive
Toney, AL 35773-9515
(256) 852-4522
jrdandlld@aol.com
Plans:
Continue with the reorganizing and filing of the Archives
material to facilitate the location and retrieval of material.
Progress:
Responded to a few requests for information.
Problems:
None.
Audio-Visual Committee (Slides):
Colin Gatland
1151 Crestwood Hills Drive
Vandalia, OH 45377-2714
(937) 890-0339
cgatland@core.com
Progress:
Since the last report things have been very quiet. The NSS 60th
Anniversary Slide Show went off OK at the NSS 60th birthday
celebration at the 2001 Convention. It appeared to be well
received and I had many good comments about the image choices,
music, etc.
I delivered three copies of the NSS 60th Anniversary slide show in VHS format to Dave Sockey at Convention. These are now available for checkout by members. We also made a digital 8-mm master copy for Dave's video files.
I delivered the donated slide trays to Avis at Convention.
Plans:
As of right now there are no immediate plans for any upcoming
slide shows to
be produced.
Problems:
I am currently not aware of any problems with the slide show
library end of the AV Committee. Avis has not indicated any
problems with maintenance, etc. Avis continues to take care of
the AV Library in her usual (very good) manner.
Audio-Visual Committee (Video):
David Socky
6572 Woodbrook Drive SW
Roanoke, VA 24018-5402
(703) 989-7693
sockydr@home.com
Plans:
NSS 2002, Maine, Pre-convention video
I taped the 10-minute skit that Peter Jones and Emily Davis
put on after the 2001 NSS Photo Salon. I agreed to produce a
short video of the skit along with slides of the Convention site.
Expected length will be about 10 minutes. This video will be
distributed to local grottos in order to advertise the 2002
convention.
Online AV catalog
The online AV catalog really needs to be upgraded. I have
been planning, and thinking about how a new set of pages will
look and operate. I have the tools in place to do it. This will
be a project that is going to get a higher priority in regards to
my NSS tasks.
Finish the stuff in the ‘Progress’ section
This should be self-explanatory.
Progress:
National Park Service Educational for children
This project was finished, with the master tape sent to Mike
Adams near the end of August. The national Park Service is going
to make 100 copies and send them out with the other educational
material in time for training and education sessions this fall.
I am working with Cheryl Jones and Mike Adams (NPS out of Mammoth Cave) on a video that will be used as part of an NPS educational program for children. The video will be essentially a power point show narrated by a young student giving a report on National Park Caves and the results of web searches about National Park caves. I will convert the Power Point program to video, and overlay the narration, music, and add titles and credits. The schedule called for a completed video by the end of June 2001, but because of delays, the schedule may have to be pushed out until after the convention.
Video about Floyd Collins
I was able to take photos of Gordon Smith’s material at the 2001 convention so there is nothing stopping me from working on this project. Since the NPS project is finished and the NSS 2002 pre-convention video is nearly done, the Floyd Collins video will be my next project.
A video about collecting memorabilia about Floyd Collins based on 16-mm newsreel clips from the 1920s from Bill Halliday. The video should be about 10 to 15 minutes will be an NSS production, to be used in the AV Library and sold through the NSS bookstore. During the 2000 NSS Convention, I interviewed Bill Halliday, Gordon Smith, and John Benton for this video project. Gordon has not been able to get the photos to me, so after the convention (2001), I will write the script and then edit the video.
Purchase of a new Video/Computer Projector
Nothing done yet
Money was set aside for a new projector. Since then I discovered that the InFocus LP350 DLP video projector does NOT have ‘keystone’ correction for the video inputs. This is a must, so I will find another suitable projector and arrange for the purchase before the year 2002 convention.
Rental feedback cards
Nothing done yet
Borrowers of the AV video programs are encouraged to send in a 3x5 survey card which asks about the quality of the show, whether we should keep it in the library or not, suggestions for improvement, and so forth. So far, I have received 100’s of these cards. I need to compile all the comments, and suggestions. From this data, we should be able to see how the AV library is doing from the perspective of cavers, but more important, we can find ways to improve the AV Library and the administration of the Library.
Started a database for compiling data, and have entered about 10 percent of the cards.
New AV Catalog
Nothing done
NSS AV Catalog
The on-line catalog has been updated to reflect the new
entries from the Video Salon this year. I wrote an article for
the NSS News announcing these new entries. The article should be
in the November Convention issue. The print AV catalog has been
updated for the videos. Colin Gatland will be sending me update
for the slide portion soon. When those are received, the online
and print catalog will be updated, and the print catalog will be
released for the NSS Office to publish.
Problems:
Time & Appendicitis
I never seem to have enough time to do all the things I would
like to do.
Richard Blenz
8070 W Eller Road
Bloomington, IN 47403
(812) 825-2345
rblenz@indiana.edu
Progress:
The Cave Files are running as usual.
Problems:
None.
Plans and Projects:
I inquired of all the state surveys that I know of to disclose
the county for various caves for which I had no county
information. Gerald Moni shocked me by e-mailing me a full list
of Tennessee caves by county. Total as of June 1st is 8099 caves
in 77 counties. I am trying to determine how many caves that I
have more than a cave/county reference for. Then maybe I can
prevail on some people to send me descriptions without precision
locations (unless they want to). I now have names of about 33,000
caves, many without descriptions. This is a job for winter when
you can curl up with a warm computer and discover where the
highest cave densities are in the country and other similar data.
If ever you can detect the impending demise of some old caver who collected Speleo Digests for a hobby, I have all copies except 1956, 1958, 1959, 1960 and would like to complete the series. I managed to pick up a 1961 edition at the OTR a couple of weeks ago in our auction. Not much else ‘til next time.
Headquarters Facilities Committee:
Jim Hall
623 Larry Place
Madison, AL 35758-1118
(256) 772-9829
jimehall@compuserve.com
Problems:
I am having trouble finding any one to paint the White house, I
may have to do it myself.
Progress:
I have replaced some of the wood that need replacing and put
primer on the new wood and on some other wood that was bare. To
date I have spent about $60 on materials and paint. A tree
overhanging the NSS office that was on the neighbors property has
been removed at a cost of about $200.
Plans:
In the next week if I can't find a painter I will purchase paint
and paint the house myself.
Internal Organization Committee:
Evelyn Bradshaw, Co-Chariman
10826 Leavells Road
Fredericksburg, VA 22407-1261
(703) 898-9288
ebradshw@staffnet.com
Keith D Wheeland, Co-Chariman
2191 Mountain View Ave.
State College PA 16801-7214
(home) (814) 238-2057
(e-mail) kwheeland@home.com
Progress:
I/O Roundtable.
The I/O Roundtable discussion was held at the NSS Convention.
There was a lively discussion and good ideas were presented to
the committee Co-Chairmen.
I/O Manual.
Keith Wheeland placed a draft paper copy of the I/O Manual near
the information desk at the NSS Convention. Comments and
suggestions were encouraged. Some changes were made as a result
of the comments. The I/O Manual, prepared by the Co-Chairmen, has
been placed online. It is available for viewing at http://members.home.net./kwheeland/
On-Line Annual Reporting.
A beta version of the system is being tested. It will allow I/O's
(Grottos) to go online to submit their annual report. Since the
report will be in a database, the person submitting the report
will need only make changes to the existing data. The requirement
for I/O's to submit a membership roster will not be changed. They
will still have to submit a roster to Co-Chairman, Wheeland.
Grottos without online access will be able to submit their
reports on paper.
Plans:
Those few grottos without online access will be sent a paper copy
of the I/O Manual. We plan to implement the online submission of
the Grotto annual reports for the upcoming reporting period. We
are converting the I/O Computer software for the official I/O
database from dBase under DOS to Access databases using Visual
Basic under Windows. We will continue to maintain the I/O
Listserv which now contains 250+ addresses.
We will prepare a job description and detailed list of duties
(with schedule dates) for the Co-Chairs of the I/O Committee.
Initiate a Newsletter Exchange –
Address Change Service for I/Os. This would allow grottos that
produce newsletters to notify the I/O Committee when there is a
change of address of the recipient of exchange newsletters. The
I/O Committee would notify all grottos of the change via the I/O
Listserv. A notice will soon be sent to all I/O's notifying them
of the Newsletter Exchange address change service.
General –
We will be sending a U.S. postal mailing to each I/O to explain
I/O Committee plans for 2001-2002 and set a schedule for the
collection of annual reports. It will also include other advice
and news that may be helpful to the I/Os. Gary Bush continues to
update the NSS web page with changes to I/O information.
Problems and Issues:
Congress of Grottos
The Chairman of the Congress of Grottos was authorized to appoint
a committee to review the current voting allocations for I/O's at
the Congress of Grottos.
The recommendations and subsequent vote on the recommendations may have an impact on the need for grottos to submit a membership roster to the I/O Committee as part of their annual report. Whatever happens with this issue, the I/O Committee is prepared to change its procedures to accomodate the requirements of the Congress of Grottos.
Information Technology Committee:
IT Team Chairman:
Joseph G. "Tray" Murphy
101 Sioux Court
Summerville, SC 29483-9264
843-832-6688 (home)
843-402-5660 (work)
jgmurphy@bigfoot.com
Plans:
The shopping cart is still under construction. Due to
Patrick Merry’s workload, he has had to slow down a bit, but
it is still being programmed. I have directed a member to him to
help with the graphics and repairing some of the broken graphics
we have now. Due to some overwhelming circumstances that have
pulled time from me unexpectedly, I have not finished the online
application for webspace, and I am still planning on compiling a
policy manual for the website. We are working on a page for
Grants that the Society offers, and are trying to compile a Links
page to hold URLs of other caving-related organizations and
resources.
Progress:
Chad Lagos has the search engine back online. The
postcard page by Charlie Thompson is up and running. The
"What's New" page is getting brought up to date, and is
now current thru August, 2001.
Problems:
We have had problems with our secure server supplier
going out of business, and we are now on Cart32’s service
and server until Patrick finishes the custom bookstore program.
This is costing us a bit more than we planned for, but is
necessary to take orders on the internet, and is a temporary
expense. (Fee: The additional cost is $25 per month; however,
since the NSS Office has not implemented the DSL line, the
overall Internet Expense category is under budget.)
Information Technology Committee:
Office Automation Division
Phil Winkler
816 N Washington Street
Wilmington, DE 19801-1510
(302) 571-1156
pwinkler@plmconsulting.com
Progress:
1. A long standing problem with Avis' PC has been resolved by
modifying the properties of the Dialup Networking (DUN) objects
on her PC. The incorrect setting resulted in frequent disconnects
from the network whenever she went online with DUN. Solution was
to remove IPX (Novell) as a protocol and only use TCP/IP.
2. Tables were created in NSSTrak to accommodate the new General Membership type. To date we have signed up only 11 members in this new category. Time expended so far on this capability has been about 8 hours. I have no idea how much time the office has had to expend for these 11 memberships.
3. Minor modifications made to the renewal code to correctly assign GL numbers for rarely occurring renewal situations. You really don't want to read the conditions under which this occurred as it would certainly give you a headache just like it did me.
4. The NSS Forums website went live on March 20, 2001. We currently have 489 registered users. Here is a breakdown of what is there: Note that Topics are individual threads within a Section. Posts is the total number of postings to that Section.
Section Topics Posts Moderator
Questions 120 290 Amy Bern
Conservation 22 85 Bill Addington
Exploration 8 19 Martha Hendrix
Science 13 32 Briana Greer
Equipment 18 109 Amy Bern
Vertical Section 20 112 Tim White
Safety & Techniques 12 46 Ken Wigger
NSS Business 26 108 Phil Winkler
Grottos, I/Os 17 34 Michael Harper
Open Talk 68 201 Martha Hendrix
Humor 16 22 Phyllis Ferranto
Vendors 6 36 Phil Winkler
For Sale/Wanted 18 39 Bill Addington
Plans:
Provide formal training to the Office Manager on our databases.
This training will be performed over two days at our offices in
Wilmington, DE and will increase Stephanie's abilities to perform
databases maintenance, create ad hoc queries as well as make
minor changes to tables to accommodate business rules changes.
Investigate cost and availability of high speed internet access for the office. This would provide a basis for the eventual hosting of our web site as well as provide high speed, low cost access to the databases for maintenance and modifications.
Huge marketing and lobbying effort to urge the BOG to repeal the General membership type. The time required to program this into our existing systems would exceed 100 hours. If we had to pay for these modifications at present database consultant rates the cost would exceed $10,000 (my rates would put it at $15,000). Certainly the BOG wouldn't spend $10,000 of NSS funds to accommodate this membership type so why would it squander a volunteer's time?
Problems:
Finding the time to accommodate studying the Stash Your Cash
program and its effects on the database systems used in the
office. To my knowledge no study has been done to determine the
effect of this program on cash flow, budgeting, database
programming requirements, or the effect on office operations.
Scott A. Parvin, Chairman
8019 Riverbend Rd
Morris Al 35116-1259
(home) (205) 647-1936
(office) (205) 631-4246
(cell) (205) 563-CAVE
(e-mail) sparvin@mindspring.com
Progress:
No activity since last report.
Plans:
To provide information as requested.
Problems:
None.
Richard Downey
380 N 600 East
Orem, UT 84097-4843
(801) 224-6678
cavediva@uswest.net
Progress:
At present we are looking at a real committment to building a
modern NSS library with complete archival and research
capabilities. There was a meeting held during convention to
explore the waters and see what we felt we were about in this
thing. There has been established an ad hoc committee with Dave
Luckins as the chairman to begin examining different wishes which
may become proposals and finally options. I feel there are
several members of the NSS with the necessary expertise in the
various related fields that can be of great value to this
process. We will be doing an ad in the NSS NEWS looking
for additional volunteers.
On the other front, the establishment of the University of Puerto Rico Satellite Library is creaking along. They have countered our MOU with a counter proposal in which several changes have been made.
Plans:
We will keep in the loop as the New Library project gets under
way. We are also waiting to hear from the board as to the
direction we should take regarding the UPR Satellite Libary. Joel
Stevenson has written an analysis on their counter proposal that
will need some discussion.
Problems:
The Big problem at present appears to be with the UPR Library.
With nothing to go on other than past communications and the tone
of the letter sent to us, it feels like there is a personal
agenda that is trying to be fulfilled. My biggest concern is
having the library as a part of the Geology Department rather
than as part of the greater UPR Library as a whole. Maybe I am
misunderstanding the plan here, but I think it needs a broader
application than to serve just one department. Then again maybe
that's how their system is set up. At any rate, wherever it ends
up, there needs to be a special consideration for protecting
sensitive materials from misuse.
Stephanie Cothron
National Speleological Society, Inc.
2813 Cave Avenue
Huntsville, AL 35810
(256) 852-1300
manager@caves.org
Progress
I had to hire a new lawn maintenance company – All
Season's. Our previous lawn care company, Tim Francis was not
dependable. He would not call or show-up to cut the grass for
weeks. I would call him and he wouldn’t return my calls. I
wasn’t going to beg him to take our money. The landscaping
was really suffering. All Season's started on 7/3/01. So far,
they’ve done a great job maintaining the lawn. Their lawn
care schedule has been every two weeks, and they’ve only
missed once due to bad weather. The owner, Jerry, always calls if
they will be unable to meet their scheduled service. They are
professional and the guys are clean-cut. After each mowing,
I’m asked to critique their work.
Here’s an update on the flyer promotion that’s mailed with the membership renewal notices (Renew your membership and save $10 on the following pubs - Cave Minerals of the World, Speleogenesis, On Rope or Caving Basics):
Cave Minerals of the World – 4 sold in July at $55, 3 sold in August, and 1 sold in September – so far. Speleogenesis – 1 sold in August at $55.
July was a busy month. Most of it had to do with preparing for Convention 2001 in Kentucky. Camille came by the office on Thursday, July 19th, to help me load the database from the H:\ drive onto the C:\ drive. This means we make the C:\ drive the "live database"; therefore, when we return from Convention, we load the C:\ drive onto the H:\ drive. We don’t have to retype info into the H:\ drive/network. We worked until 9:00 pm to insure everything was ready for the upcoming week.
Avis’ computer was used for NSSTrak/memberships and Mark’s computer was used for LedgerMaster/book orders. The week before convention, Mark did an excellent job in preparing a staging area for bookstore inventory. Richard Blenz stopped by the office to deliver material for the library and he helped pack for convention. He was a big help. Thanks, Richard.
On Saturday, 7/21/01, we were up bright and early to set-up the bookstore. We worked from 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Avis did an awesome job decorating the bookstore by hanging her bats from the ceiling. Mark and I worked as a team unpacking and setting-up the bookstore merchandise on the display tables. The convention staff was very helpful and friendly. They worked hard helping us unload and when convention was over, packing up the truck. We worked hard and had a great time at Convention. We made $19,611 in bookstore sales plus $2,757 in membership sales = $22,368 total sales. This has to be a record year for convention bookstore sales.. Is it?
On Wednesday night, 7/25, Avis and I worked hard at the Auction. $5,353 was raised at the 2001 Convention Auction. On Thursday night, 7/26, The Photo Salon Program was breath taking. The NSS really has talented members. On Friday night, 7/27, The Banquet and Awards Ceremony were nice. The food was tasty. I would like to thank everyone who applauded for me when I was introduced. I feel very welcomed.
Cheryl Kayes and Bill Stringfellow worked hard on the "Stash Your Cash" fund-raising program. They raised $7580 in revenue. They signed up 17 new "Once a month" donors, 6 new "Once Every 6 months" donors, and 5 new "Quarterly" donors.
I would like to thank everyone who stopped by the bookstore to meet me and to give me an ego boast by telling me what a wonderful job I’m doing. Of course, I couldn’t be a success without my wonderful staff, Scott’s help and guidance, Camille’s terrific training, Dave Irving’s patience and accounting knowledge, Phil’s willingness to help me with database issues and everyone else who helps me when I have questions and or problems.
Avis and Jim Hall left for SERA on Thursday, 6/21/01 and stayed until Sunday, 6/24/01. Bill and I drove up on Saturday morning. SERA 2001 Sales: Memberships - $915 (includes 1 Life Membership = $600) Bookstore Sales - $1180 Total - $2095.
SERA Sales consist mostly of Symbolic Items (t-shirts, stickers, pins, patches, car tags, etc).
We’ve been having problems with the Ascom Mailing/Folder/Inserter machine. It’s to the point where Bill would have the repair guy out to fix it every month. We have to have dependable equipment so we can get the renewals mailed each month in a timely manner, as well as, mail the acknowledgment letters. We got the lease on the equipment in 1996 for 63 months. The lease is about to expire. I talked with, David Roper, the owner of North Alabama Mailing and Office Systems. We were able to negotiate another 63 months lease on new equipment at the same price that we’re currently paying. By next week, we should have a new 3900 FP Folder/Inserter mailing machine and postal equipment.
We have 15 back orders for Cave Conservation and Restoration and 5 back orders for On Call.
Plans:
Prepare for TAG (October 4 – 7). Avis and Jim Hall are
leaving on Thursday, October 4th. I’m still
debating whether I’m going to TAG or will stay behind and
work on the 2002 NSS Catalog. Also, I need to work on the
Fund-Raising Program with Ted Kayes. This project involves
mailing Donation Cards, Stash Your Cash Forms and letters to
Regular, Life and Honorary members. These are 2 very big projects
that must be in the member’s hands before Thanksgiving.
Prepare for the NSF meeting in Huntsville, October 26th & 27th.
This summer has been really busy. I haven’t had time to get quotes on DSL Lines. I’m going to work on that after I finish the catalog and fund raising projects. Also, I would like to have Phil give me some database training. I need to schedule an HTML class.
These items are still on my agenda.
Scott, Paul, Dave and I need to decide if we’re going to switch credit card processing companies from SouthTrust to Universal Merchant Services.
Problems:
We are receiving calls from members wanting to know when the
2001 Member’s Manual will be available. We are in the dark
in this area. The Member’s Manual Data was Win Zipped and
emailed to Maureen Handler on 6/14/01. We’ve sent email
correspondences to Maureen, but haven’t received a response
or an update. I’m not trying to be critical because I know
the manual is a huge project. Maureen has done a wonderful job in
the past. All we ask is to be kept abreast of any delays so we
can keep our members updated.
Camille and I were unable to load LedgerMaster onto the laptop for convention. This was due to technical problems with the outdated laptop. We need to purchase a new laptop. It would be so much easier and convenient to take a laptop to convention instead of two computers. This would be especially helpful when we have conventions where we are unable to drive and have to take a plane to our destination.
Avis has to lock NSSTrak whenever she is entering memberships. This is the only effective and efficient way she can obtain speed. When the database is not locked, she spends considerable time entering memberships due to slowness. When the database is locked, others cannot obtain information from the database unless we disturb Avis and have her unlock the database. This causes downtime – either we wait for the information we need or we have Avis stop entering memberships and have her look up the information we need. Camille and Phil have stated that their other clients do not have to lock their databases. I have been working with Tammy at DIS on several "test" solutions. First, we tried a new cable wire to Avis’ computer. Tammy thought there might be a problem with Avis’ cable wiring to the network. This did not increase the database speed and after awhile, she would have to lock the database. We tried a new switch to the network and this did not increase the database speed and Avis still ended up locking the database. Tammy Owens at DIS has strongly recommended that we upgrade our server. I have obtained quotes and submitted them to Scott.
Avis has to spend considerable extra time on the General Membership. #1 - The general memberships are in a different file than the other memberships. When a member calls regarding their membership, Avis has to ask what type of membership that person has, so she knows to go to the People File or the General File. #2 – For new General Memberships, Avis has to manually enter the membership cards because the General membership cards do not print automatically. #3 – The General Membership fee does not print on the audit report, Avis has to manually enter the $$ on the Audit Report, so it will balance. #4, A Membership Letter / Acknowledgement Letter does not print for the General Member. Avis has to send a "generic letter" to the member. We currently have 12 General Memberships with total revenue generated of $129.00. The last membership packet received from CDS (August memberships) did NOT have one General Membership.
Karen Kastning
PO Box 148
Radford, VA 24141-0048
(703) 639-4666
karen@skyhopper.net
Plans:
Long-term plans: These plans are the same as previously reported.
Ultimately, the Archives will include a detailed database for
research purposes. This will take many years to accomplish, but
as previously stated, I plan to be involved for many years to
come.
Short-terms plans and activity: I am working with the 2002 NSS Convention staff on several fronts. I plan to have a Photo Archives exhibit at the Convention consisting of photographs from the collection (provided sufficient funds are available). This should give the archives visibility among many of the members at the convention and may lead to future contributions.
Additionally, I am making arrangement to have a special showing of the two Skeets Miller Floyd Collins Television dramas from the 1950s. This will now be possible owing to the cleaning and archival duplication that was completed this spring (the details were listed in my last report).
Progress:
At this year's NSS Convention in Mount Vernon, Kentucky, I
obtained photographs for the collection and gathered historical
details about some materials already in the archives. I spoke
with several potential future donors about the archives and its
mission.
There was a pleasant surprise at the convention. The exhibit stands that were constructed in the early 1990s were thought to be lost (when the NSS trailer was stolen years ago) have surfaced. They were found in Huntsville by Jim Hall who has them in his possession and will be returning them to the Photo Archives Committee.
Problems:
Expenses continue to increase, mainly for archival and display
materials. Also the Photo Archives budget for this year (and last
year) is considerably less than it has been in previous years. It
will be difficult to develop the exhibits for the 2002 Convention
with this shortage, to duplicate slides, and to continue archival
preservation at the level required. Hopefully, this problem will
not be long-term.
Craig Hindman
7600 Pindell School Road
Fulton, MD 20759
(410) 792-0742
ctider@us.ibm.com
Progress:
The museum did an exhibit at the NSS Convention. Twelve new items
were donated during convention and 2 were received shortly after.
It seemed to be well received and provided an opportunity to fill
in some blanks regarding who, when & where.
Plans:
I still plan to take photos of the contents and place them
online. This should be considered a long-term project.
I have been contacted by an ad-hoc committee regarding a wish list for space and exhibits for a standing display at the current office or some other place to be announced later. I am giving thought to this idea and an still formulating ideas about this.
Problems:
No problems at this time.