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Archiver > APG > 2007-07 > 1184165116


From: "Melinde Sanborn" <>
Subject: Re: [APG] Why do genealogists disenfranchise themselves?
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 10:45:16 -0400
In-Reply-To: <468E5307.1030107@ancestralmanor.com>


On July 19th at a special meeting NYG&BS members will vote whether to amend
their by-laws to eliminate members. My attempt to see the membership list to
find someone I know who would be there to vote by proxy for me (yes, many of
you privately said you never use Society-supplied proxy forms), will not
churn through the legal cogs fast enough to succeed. Under New York law
members can see membership records, but the NYG&BS attorney Pamela Mann asks
that I prove I'm a member (being on the membership rolls for the last four
years is apparently insufficient, as are the checks I've written - all in
their records), before scheduling a "mutually convenient" visit. By the time
that is accomplished, and I get an attorney to look at the list, and, and,
and....

Of all the people who wrote here and privately, not one indicated he or she
would attend the July 19th meeting. I guess I'll use my yellow proxy sheet
and have Mr. George H. McNeely IV cast my vote AGAINST the amendment to
disenfranchise me. Yes, several of you have said privately that you simply
threw this out without reading it.

It is a terrible building, easily the worst I've ever seen for a
genealogical library. In 1991 Eric Clapton's young son fell to his death on
the NYG&BS roof, inspiring the song "Tears in Heaven," and marring the sleep
of a valued genealogical editor I know who went up to see about the noise.
There may be other ghosts there I don't know about.

Even so, it was the first place I thought to look for Richard Conniff's
great-grandfather when the Smithsonian article calling genealogy bunk
appeared. The tiny sum accomplished in the sale will not go far and I do not
envy NYG&BS trustees the challenge they will face on their watch - whatever
their decisions may be.

I thank the dozens of you who wrote. If even one NYG&BS member took a second
look at their yellow proxy or downloaded it from the G&B website as a result
of this thread, our time and effort was well spent.

Melinde







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