Stockholm, 2008
Women and Film History International Business Meeting
Women and the Silent Screen V
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
June 13, 2008
Minutes recorded by Mark Cooper and Jennifer Horne
Presentation of Minutes
New/Old Business
Astrid Söderbergh Widding, Rosanna Maule, and Christine Gledhill have each submitted proposals on behalf of our organization in Sweden, Canada, and the U.K., respectively.
Steering Committee formed. Oversight parameters to be determined. Currently comprise all who have organized past Women and the Silent Screen conferences, along with those who will organize upcoming conferences, or their designees. Jane Gaines (Columbia/Duke), Amalie Hastie (UC Santa Cruz), Rosanna Maule (Concordia), Catherine Russell (Concordia) Shelley Stamp (UC Santa Cruz), Patricia Torres San Martin (Universidad de Guadalajara), Astrid Söderberg Widding (Stockholm University), Joanne Hershfield (UNC Chapel Hill), Monika Dall’Asta (Università di Bologna), Antonia Lant (NYU).
Executive Secretaries: Mark Cooper (University of South Carolina) and Jennifer Horne (Catholic) to jointly hold the office for a two-year term. Duties to be discussed with Steering Committee.
Dues/Membership issue revisited. Proposals ranged from sliding scale membership system to fixed rates. Proposed uses of dues include: conference subsidy, staff (graduate student) support, web site development/hosting. Discussion inconclusive.
Communication. Discussion of the benefits/drawbacks of websites, blogs, listservs. Resolved: A central website for the organization will be developed by the members of the Steering Committee and the Executive Secretaries. It is desired that the website have institutional affiliation and support. Several present (Dall’Asta, Maule, Cooper) agreed to check with their universities to see whether hosting is possible. It was agreed that web hosting outside the US would be preferable. Also Resolved: A more dynamic interface, perhaps a blog, would be developed with assistance from Vicky Callahan and Michele Torres. Blog would contain the following features: a) blog; b) priority list for restoration; c) news/announcements. General discussion about how such media could be used to archive conference websites and establish continuity and “branding” opportunities. Monica Dall’Asta reiterated that her institution might be persuaded to host a website.
Expansion beyond the silent era. Discussion of whether the organization ought to move beyond silent film. Gledhill and Maule spoke in favor of the proposal. Kay Armatage (University of Toronto) spoke about the increased risk to even very recent women’s film history. Annette Förster offered a reminder that the initial idea for the organization was to stimulate more discussion rather than to limit to a single era. Richard Abel (Michigan) proposed the question be a theme for the Bologna conference. Tricia Welsch (Bowdoin) expressed a concern for the size and intimate feel of the conference.