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Northern California Vice-President Mike Newland and Past President Shelly Davis-King are owed thanks for organizing the Northern meetings at scenic Columbia College outside Sonora. This session was a model of the informal presentations and lively discussion that are goals of data sharing meetings. I am always struck by how there always seem to be two simultaneous data sharing meetings: one in the auditorium and another, just as lively, outside by the coffee pot.
Southern California Vice-President Jennifer Perry organized an outstanding session with great presentations and posters at Borrego Springs, hosted by the Borrego Springs Resort. I, and the rest of the Executive Board, would like to thank Anza Borrego Desert State Park for providing space for our Board Meeting, and Joan Schneider in particular for coordinating the Board Meeting and hosting the field trips and a reception at the Begole Archaeological Research Center. Thanks also go to the guides for the field trips: Chuck and Mary Bennett led a hike out to the Clark Valley petroglyphs, Hank Barber took a group out to the Native American site in Mine Wash, and Astrid and Sam Webb took a group to the Kumeyaay village site at the Morteros Trail in Blair Valley.
The political boundary of the State of California poses fewer and fewer limitations on the scope and activities of the Society. As a case in point, the SCA co-sponsored and participated in the recent 8th annual binational “Balances and Perspectives” meeting, hosted in Mexicali by the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia’s Centro Baja California office. SCA member contributors included Eric Ritter, Matt Des Lauriers, Jon Harman, Kent Lightfoot, Don Laylander, Lee Panich, Glenn Farris, and Lynn Gamble. A number of other Alta California specialists attended as well, including President-Elect Mark Allen, and Past Presidents Ken Wilson and Sannie Osborne. BLM was well represented with El Centro archaeologists Carrie Simmons and Tom Zale, and State Director Mike Pool. The meeting clearly shows the strong commitment that archaeologists and historians on both sides of the border have made to work together to better understand and protect the past. Special appreciation is extended to Julia Bendimez Patterson, Ken Wilson, and Elinor Topete for their leadership in binational cooperation. Check out the next Newsletter for a detailed report on the binational conference by Ken and Sannie.
The Executive Board has been busy. At the fall Board Meeting a number of decisions were made that will bring changes that will affect SCA membership. Foremost among these is the decision to move the Business Office.
For quite some time there has been concern over a lack of fit between the needs of SCA and the requirements and procedures of the CSU, Chico Research Foundation, which holds our current contract for the Business Office. It has become increasingly difficult to continuously staff the Business Office through the Foundation and such seemingly mundane accounting issues as processing credit card charges have become problematic. And so the SCA Business Office finds itself propelled from the unresponsive embrace of academia and into the world of private industry. The Society is contracting with Pacific Legacy to share space and hire an administrative assistant—and Greg White will reprise his stellar role as Business Office Manager and Newsletter Editor. Treasurer Leigh Jordan is SCA’s lead negotiator for the new contract, which we expect to be completed in the near future.
Another decision has to do with an excess of success. This year the SCA received a bounty of submissions to the Proceedings, possibly more than can be published using the traditional model. If all submissions were published the Proceedings would exceed 500 pages and trash the budget. So the Board has prudently decided to publish this year’s Proceedings in two parts. First, all effort will be made to published all contributed papers in a bound issue of the Proceedings as they always have been. Second, if space and budget constraints do not allow us to print all contributions in the Proceedings, then the balance of submissions will be published in the next Newsletter. Beginning with Volume 22 (Proceedings of the 2008 Annual Meeting) future Proceedings will be published electronically within SCAHome.org, the Society’s web site. This was a difficult decision for the Board to make. It marches against tradition and no one wanted to deprive our contributors of the great feeling of seeing their papers on the printed page. This single issue, more than anything else the Board has encountered this year, reflects precisely just how big and how significant the SCA and its professional meetings have become. The Board recognizes the important role fulfilled by the Proceedings and, mindful of that importance, is pursuing additional avenues for dissemination of research and for communication among members, including the possibility of a refereed journal.
The growth and evolution of SCA reflects changes in the profession and changes in the legal protections afforded cultural resources in California. The Society is continuing to ensure that the history of our Society is preserved and so the Board has voted to continue funding and to complete the process of incorporating the documents of past Executive Boards and Officers into the archives.
Speaking of documents, why not look through your own personal libraries and consider donating salable items to the Silent Auction for the upcoming Annual Meeting? Watch this Newsletter and other missives from the Society concerning how those items can be submitted.
Dustin McKenzie, Program Chair, and Matt Des Lauriers, Local Arrangements Chair, are bearing down on arrangements for the April 2008 Annual Meeting at the Marriott Burbank Hotel and Convention Center. The plenary session will provide an opportunity to see the results of new directions in research, for thinking outside the normative box. The banquet will feature a talk by renowned astronomer and Director of the Griffith Observatory, Dr. E. C. Krupp, who last visited us as Banquet Speaker at Santa Rosa in 1986. The Silent Auction and wine-tasting event will be at the famed Autry National Center (www.autrynationalcenter.org).
While on the subject of the Annual Meeting, it is important to thank the Committee for Advance Annual Meeting Planning (CAAMP) and Tom Origer and Michael Sampson, in particular, for helping to secure this great Annual Meeting venue. Tom Origer, who has been so instrumental in the past successes of our annual meetings, will be stepping down as Chair and Donna Gillette will be taking over. Mike Sampson is also leaving the Committee after having secured three separate contracts for the Riverside Annual Meeting. I would like to thank Tom and Mike for their CAAMP service and to welcome Donna into this most important role. Before leaving the topic of annual meetings, I would also like to note that the SCA’s Native American Programs Committee has received a strong slate of candidates for the 2008 Annual Meeting California Indian Sponsorship Program.
Elections and award nominations are in the air. Candidate statements for three Executive Board positions (President-elect, Northern Vice President, and Secretary) were included in a holiday mailer. I would like to thank Pat Mikkelsen, Nominations Committee Chair, for her efforts in finding just the right candidates for these positions.
I would also like to thank the membership for forwarding excellent candidates for 2008 award nominations. This year, the Lifetime Achievement Award, Thomas F. King Award (cultural resources management), Mark Raymond Harrington Award (archaeological conservation), Martin Baumhoff Special Achievement Award, Helen C. Smith Avocational Society Award, and the California Indian Heritage Award will all be represented by exceptionally worthy candidates.
In closing I would like to revisit a point that I, and others, have made repeatedly. SCA is a volunteer organization. It succeeds only through the myriad efforts of our volunteer members. To those who carry the load, I would like to offer the most sincere appreciation of the Executive Board. And I would like to remind everyone that the SCA now has a Volunteer Coordinator, Sherri Andrews, whose primary role is to match potential volunteers to existing opportunities. It’s a good time to give her a call.
Stephen Horne
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