The Executive Board of The Norman Mailer Society (‘NMS”) met in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on October 12, 2014, with President J. Michael Lennon presiding. Also in attendance were Barry Leeds, Vice President, David Light, Treasurer, Phillip Sipiora, Editor of The Mailer Review, Marc Triplett, Secretary, Barbara Wasserman, Gerald Lucas, Bonnie Culver, and John Buffalo Mailer. Two matters were on the agenda: the scheduling and location of the 2015 NMS conference and financial matters.
The potential locations discussed for the 2015 conference are Atlanta, Boston, Wilkes-Barre, Sarasota, and Provincetown. Michael Lennon appointed a committee for determination of the dates and site for the conference. The committee members will be Jason Mosser, Albert LaFarge, Gerald Lucas, Phil Sipiora, Bonnie Culver, Nicole DePolo, David Light, and Mike Lennon. If the conference is held in Provincetown in late September or early October, the ferry from Boston will still be in operation, making travel easier for members flying into Boston. The decision for next year’s conference site and dates will have to be made before the end of this year.
The finances of the Society were discussed. Treasurer Light prepared a “Summary of Accounts’ Balances,” reflecting that the ending balance of funds in the accounts of the NMS has declined from $95,291.63 in 2008 to $49,484.62 in 2014. The largest expense responsible for the decline is the Society’s share of the expense of publication of The Mailer Review. This expense amounts to approximately $11,000 annually. President Lennon expressed concern for the Society’s future financial viability given the annual decline and proposed that consideration be given to digitizing The Mailer Review in order to eliminate the printing and shipping costs. Review editor Phil Sipiora expressed his concern that digitizing would be the death of the publication, noting that the number of copies produced already has been cut to 800. Editor Sipiora also expressed concerns that respect for the Review would suffer and that the University of South Florida would not continue to fund a digitized journal. Michael Lennon stated his willingness to meet with the decision-makers at USF to help assure continuation of support from the University if necessary. The ensuing discussion included the prospect of digitizing the Review while continuing to publish occasional printed special volumes.
At the conclusion of the discussion, David Light moved that The Mailer Review continue publication in its present format for 2015, with the understanding that its continued printed form for the years following would require that new and sufficient funding be found to pay for printing and shipping the Review. (The Society would continue to contribute $10 for Review costs from each non-life and non-student membership fee.) The motion further included the understanding that if adequate funding is not secured for editions following 2015 The Mailer Review would have to convert to a digitized format. The motion was seconded by Bonnie Culver and was passed by the Executive Board by a vote of 8-1.
There being no other business to come before the Executive Board, the meeting was adjourned.
Respectfully submitted,
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Marc S. Triplett, Secretary