WITH: Women in Technological History

2001 Annual Meeting

WITH Progress in 2001

At least 53 Withies gathered for lunch at the annual SHOT meeting in San Jose, California. We had the highest SIG attendance of any of the other SIGs.

The meeting was called to order by Molly Berger and Nina Lerman. Debbie Douglas, who, despite having stepped down as the third co-leader, was indispensable in organizing logistics. Unfortunately, Dave Morton, our newsletter editor, was unable to attend. Special thanks, too, to Ruth Oldenziel, who continues as our European liaison. We began with customary introductions around the room and were happy to welcome many new members. Dues of $5 were collected. Anyone not attending the meeting who would like to pay his or her dues is welcome to send a check made out to WITH/SHOT to Molly Berger at 2695 Rocklyn Road, Shaker Heights, Ohio, 44122. Dues helped underwrite the luncheon and also help to pay newsletter production costs.

The newsletter was handed out. Many thanks to Dave Morton for compiling the newsletter and getting it to us for the meeting. It was a difficult task, one made more challenging this year by national events. We are happy to announce that Gabriella Petrick will be building a web site for WITH so that we can post syllabi to be shared by all members. Details will be forthcoming.

The main discussion was about whether or not to archive the WITH listerv. Members voiced concerns that archiving the discussions might alter the character of the discussion, which up until now have been open to a wide range of intellectual, scholarly, and emotional issues. Some feared that people might not be as spontaneous or open with their contributions. Ultimately, the group voted to archive unedited list discussion. We then discussed whether there should be a delay on archiving the discussions. The more nimble-minded among us pointed out that there is already a de facto delay, in that we never get anything done with much alacrity and there is already a four year delay in getting the first list discussions archived. Next we discussed whether or not the archive should be just open to members or the public. It was duly noted that joining the list does not require any sort of screening and that, once again, there is a de facto public nature to it. The group voted that no delay of access or membership requirements be imposed.

Finally, we debated what sort of storage medium and ultimately decided on both burning a CD/ROM, which Debbie Douglas graciously volunteered to do, with back up of archival paper records that will be eventually stored with the WITH archive once it is moved from Molly’s closet to the Smithsonian. The group agreed that paper endured, while technological systems become obsolete. The meeting was adjourned.

A good time was had by all. We must, however, take note of WITH’s presence at the banquet. Daryl performed her duties as President with presidential grace. Gabrielle Hecht was awarded the newly named Edelstein Prize (formerly the Dexter Prize) for her book, The Radiance of France: Nuclear Power and National Identity after World War II (MIT Press, 1998). Heartfelt congratulations to Gabrielle. And finally, Nina and Molly received “Big SHOT” t-shirts for their superb organizational abilities in planning the WITH meeting.