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elcome
to the Association for Gravestone Studies. We are an organization of
approximately 1000 members, with about half in the Northeast. The
rest are distributed around the country and in some foreign
countries, including Canada, Japan, Germany, England, and
Australia. Our office is located in Greenfield, Massachusetts.
Each year in June we hold a week-long annual conference that is held
at a different college. Motor coach tours to cemeteries, workshops
on conservation of gravestones, making foil impressions and
rubbings, and photographic instruction are but some of the things
that we do at these conferences. This June over 100 members and
non-members attended the conference at Union College in Schenectady,
NY. The Conservation Committee presented a day-long series of
presentations and roundtable discussions, as well as “hands on”
instruction in a local cemetery. Twelve scholarly lectures were
given during the evenings, and a day of participation sessions
offered classroom presentations on various topics. Our highest
award, the Harriette Merrifield Forbes Award, was conferred on David
Watters and three other individuals received the prestigious Oakley
Certificate of Merit.
We encourage you to participate in our conferences and
publishing efforts. The recent issue of Markers, our annual
journal, included articles by seven authors, while the last four
issues of the AGS Quarterly had fifteen major articles and
fourteen book reviews. AGS members contribute many of these
works. In addition, we encourage work in local areas to ensure that
your cemeteries are mapped, recorded, and cared for, not only for
the benefit of current genealogists and historians, but for all
future generations as well.
If you share any of these interests—art, history, art history,
genealogy, archaeology, anthropology, conservation, or material
culture, please join us and support our work. There is much to do
and we eagerly solicit your participation. We would enjoy meeting
you, learning of your interests, and including you in our
activities.
Ian W. Brown
President

From the President
Ian W. Brown
Summer Quarterly, Vol. 33:3
This is my first “from the president” message, so let me start off
by saying how honored I am to occupy this role. I have been a member
of the AGS since 1987, but because I lived far from its center for
most of that time (Alabama), I did not start attending annual
conferences until the Savannah meeting in 2002. It was then that I
discovered just how incredible these conferences are, and I also
came to admire the skills, dedication, and wonderful personalities
of its many eclectic members.
During these past two years, as a board member, I learned much about
what goes on behind the scenes. Two dozen, hard-working trustees run
the organization, a number that is matched by other AGS members who
serve on editorial boards. Until one is actually involved as a board
member, it is hard to gain an appreciation of all that is involved
in running the AGS, both in terms of bringing its annual conference
to fruition and in its publications. I highly recommend the
experience and encourage anyone who wishes to get involved as a
board member to let me know.
I am especially indebted to Rosalee Oakley, our immediate past
president, in helping me learn the ropes this past year when I
assumed the role of Vice President. She has performed yeoman’s
service to the AGS throughout its history, and I for one am grateful
to have had her as my guide and model.
In the years ahead I would like to continue to build upon what the
AGS has already done, following the adage that “if it works, don’t
fix it.” At the same time, I believe there are things that we can do
to expand our influence both nationally and internationally. The
Northeast has been our base, and will continue to be so because that
is where the bulk of our membership lives. With that said, there is
no reason why we cannot grow elsewhere. No area has a monopoly on
cemeteries after all!
There are several ways in which this “reach out” can occur. One way
is to hold our conferences in diverse parts of the country (and even
in another country?!). We have done so to some extent in the past,
but I believe we can make this an even more common practice in the
future. Second, no matter where we hold our conferences, we need to
find effective ways to generate new membership in those areas.
Third, in order to establish ties between AGS members of the same
region, we have to find ways to bring them together. Establishing
state chapters is one way to do that, so I have created a new
committee to look into how they might be formed. Another new
committee is the Marketing Committee, which is exploring ways to get
our name out there to enhance membership numbers. Right now we are
hovering between 900 and 1,000, which is certainly a decent amount,
but if we are ever to get beyond relying on the annual conference to
make our budget, we must continue to develop membership, which is
one of my major goals.
As a teacher, I am also dedicated to finding ways to increase
student involvement in the AGS. Youth is the future for most
organizations, and my philosophy is that if we can get students to
our conferences we will have them forever. Thus, increasing
scholarship is another critical goal for my administration. Enough
said. I look forward to the months ahead in leading the AGS and I
thank you, the membership, for your trust.

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