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01.03.02 October 2013 Southern Historians Newsletter

The Society of Independent Southern Historians

Your October 2013 Newsletter

Although Clyde Wilson and I had hoped for more, progress was made during September in the expansion of the structure and content of our web-site, www.southernhistorians.org , and we are excited about telling you about them.  Let us do them by the numbers:

  1. We again want to remind you that the addition of indices to our web-site structure has become a valuable tool.  Now      anyone can inquire by an author’s name, a book title or an individual’s name and immediately learn if and where that item is listed among the recommended reading items in our bibliography.  You are encouraged to start your search there when contemplating a book, an author or an individual which interests you.
  2. It was announced last month that the Society would begin publishing brief membership essays on our web-site, but very little has been posted to date (for an example, see “How to Study History” at https://southernhistorians.org/login/20-interpretations-and-commentary-by-members/20-07-commentary-concerning-how-to-study-history/20-07-01/ ).  So give this opportunity some thought.  Not sure of the maximum length essay for which we can allocate space (words take far less computer storage space than pictures), but a few pages is fine.  Even 25 pages might fit into our capabilities.  Do not think space will allow books.  If you have a book that needs to be published, go to amazon.com and self-publish it as a Kindle e-book.  That will cost you nothing and will earn you a little money.  Then, if your book fits within the Society’s mission, we will post your book review and include a “click-on-it” URL that takes our viewer to you Kindle e-book on the amazon.com web-site, making it easy for him or her to view the book and make a purchase decision.  “Click-on-it” service will not be provided for print books because many purchase options are available for used print books.
  3. Speaking of “click-on-it” ability, during October it was customary to include that convenience in the “Availability of this Book” section of book reviews for books where we find an e-book version exists (Kindle, Google or Library; scanned as well as OCR-converted-to-text).  In this effort of tracking down e-book versions, we encourage help from the membership.  Send an e-mail to howardraywhite@gmail.com with the URL and we will post the link.
  4. We are frankly behind schedule in adding key words to the front-line website pages that will best direct web search engines, such as Google, to present our web-site high up on the list in response to many pertinent individual inquiries.  A huge amount of information is presented on the web, the most helpful being Wikipedia.  We want to be high on the list, getting attention when we can be helpful to web users.  Our web-site was built using WordPress, a popular programing      tool.  Persons familiar with web-site design are encouraged to help us make ours better and better.  Let me know if you can help.
  5. We did configure, during September, our home page button 01 so it is now our “Top 150 Recommendations.”  There are      numerous, but limited categories so that for each subject covered in our bibliography structure, there will be a top Recommended Reading Reference.  We expect to also present a few “Top Selections of the Month,” giving visitors something new twelve times a year.  We anticipated also setting up “This Month’s Selected Member Essays,” allowing us to feature a few each month.  We were hopeful that these added features would encourage greater Member contributions to our      content, including, of course helping us make our web-site the best bibliography of truthful Southern history available on the internet.  But, overall, we have set up the structure in the web-site to present these features, but Clyde and I really, really need you all to step up and help us fill out this category.
  6. We are thankful for Jim Kibler’s efforts in September to submit many book titles for us to consider adding to our bibliography, and many do merit addition.  His knowledge is very helpful.  We also want to thank Karen Stokes for contributions she made in September.  We have strong support in South Carolina.  Need to see some momentum coming out of Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Texas and other great regions of our beloved southland.
  7. Clyde and I anticipate a face-to-face meeting of a few Members before the end of the year to handle some business matters for our nonprofit corporation (The Society of Independent Southern Historians, Inc.).  Need to agree on Society by-laws and organization rules.  Would meet in Charlotte, NC.  Would only take one day, like noon to 4 pm, lunch included.  Let me know if you would like to be present.  I need to set a date.  Anticipate a day between mid-November and mid-December.

So, friends, applicants and members, please step forward and increase your participation by:

  • If not yet an applicant, fill out and mail in the application form on the website.  Copy and paste the address below to print off an application.  https://southernhistorians.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Membership-application.pdf
  • If an applicant, not yet a member, upgrade you application to a membership by submitting a book review for us to post to the web-site, or send us a check for $25.00 or more to help cover expenses (we are all-volunteer, but have expenses for professional web-site services; we are a non-profit so you get a tax deduction; our annual budget is $5,000, a huge bang for your buck).
  • Recruit.  Recruit.  Recruit.  Yes help us add informed, contributing members who give of their time or their money toward our mission.
  • Advertise.  Advertise.  Advertise.  Forward this newsletter to your friends.  Tell about us in other newsletters, such as your SCV camp newsletter or your history group newsletter.  In your Facebook, web-site or blog, link to our web-site with an encouraging comment.

Look forward to hearing from you.

Clyde N. Wilson, Director of Historical Review

Howard Ray White, Director of Operations