BPG Column from the May 1997 AIC Newsletter
Annual Meeting in San Diego
The Archives Discussion group will hold a session on surface cleaning, Thursday June 12, 7:30–9:30.
We're hoping to see all of you at the BPG reception, which will be held Saturday evening, June 14, at the new Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art. You'll need to buy a ticket, so remember to sign up for this when you register for the conference.
There will be a "tips" session on Friday morning before the BPG luncheon. Tips are informal and should be less than five minutes long. There will be a sign-up sheet and a group carousel near the projectors.
Also on Friday, don't miss Roy Perkinson's BPG luncheon talk, "Drawn to Blue: Investigations of the History of Artists' Blue Paper." Some of us were lucky enough to hear him give this talk a while ago, and it's really something quite special. Even if you don't plan to eat, do come to hear the talk (you don't need a ticket for the talk, just for the meal).
The business meeting (breakfast) will be a busy one this year. We'll try to bypass the routine reports as much as possible and spend most of the time on substantive discussions. For most of this year the executive council has been wrestling with two related issues: what direction to take our publications program and how best to use your money. Among other things, we have been approached about co-sponsoring a conference on paper evidence and about publishing (or supporting publication) of a technical work. Examining these possibilities has proven a tough challenge and we're going to ask for your help in resolving these issues. The bulk of the meeting will be devoted to this discussion. In addition, we'll have brief presentations by the AIC Ethics committee and the new Newsletter editor.
Betty Fiske reminds us all that it is not too soon to start thinking about giving a paper at the 1998 meeting. There were so many good papers submitted this year that we had to be make some hard choices among them and if your paper was not among those accepted, please consider resubmitting it for next year.
Commentaries
It is time to start preparing for our contribution to the next set of Commentaries. One or two people are urgently needed to take the lead in this work, which promises to be rather easier than other sections have been. If you're interested, please get in touch with Walter Henry (415-723-9381) soon. This year, we will work on #4 Practice (b. Security; c. Contracts; d. Fees; e. Advertising); #16 Justification; #17 Sampling and Testing; #18 Interpretation; and #19 Scientific Investigation. To help make our discussions of these topics more productive, CIPP will prepare an outline for #4(b-e) and RATS will do one for #16–19. We expect to have these outlines in in hand before the meeting, and there wll be a brief presentation at our business meeting.
A note of appreciation is due to several people (many BPG members) who prepared educational publications for AIC. Susan Barger, Nora Kennedy, and Carol Turchin wrote "Caring for Your Photographs" and Debbie Hess Norris, Peter Adelstein, Diedre Boyle, Connie Brooks, Alan Lewis, Jim Lindner, and Paul Messier wrote "Caring for Your Videotape."
I'd like to take a moment to thank the BPG members who applied for PA/Fellow during this last round and to encourage those of you who are still putting it off to get off your bums and do it.
Finally, by now you have received your ballots, so vote early and often.
Walter Henry, Chair