David Gatley wrote
>
>
> Also I wonder how well local historians are organised. I'm a solitary
> chap myself but I guess most local historians are interested only in
> small communities and therefore don't mix. Although most do a really
> great job.
>
> Organisation may not be that easy. Or, am I wrong.
The problem for local history (local) societies is not organisation, it's
finding volunteers to do the necessary work. I am a member of several groups
interested in local history. The national ones seem to manage OK but in my
experience (and I once researched and published a book on a Society going
back to 1895) a large majority of members refuse to take an active part in
the running of the Society. If the Society can find a keen secretary and a
treasurer, it will probably get along nicely, despite the apathy of many
members.
An interesting insight into the way a society was run in the early part of
the 20th century came when I discovered that the Secretary, who was a London
civil servant, used the clerks in his Whitehall office to address the
envelopes to about 300 members by hand. His successor in the 1920s was an
official for a large oil company. He too used his employer's resources for I
noticed that all the carbon copies of his correspondence was an paper
watermarked with the company's logo! I doubt whether he had pinched the
paper and taken it home to do the work. Perhaps he was using the firm's
typists and dictating the correspondence in the firm's time. (In those days
few executives would soil their fingers by using a keyboard).
I think the problem probably boils down to the fact that many people refuse
to pay more than a relatively small annual subscription to a local society.
They expect others to do the work without payment. A solution would be to
offer a secretary and treasurer an honorarium (sometimes a euphemism for a
small salary).
We see an example of the way a small organisation can be managed in the way
parish councils are run. A small rural parish will pay its clerk a few
hundred pounds.
Brian Read
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