Underwater Archaeological Society Of Chicago

Meeting Minutes

September 27, 2017

President Dean Nolan welcomed about 30 members and two guests.  Mike found UASC on Facebook and Ed had done a Google search. The short presentation was of videos of the “Mystery Wreck” taken by Don Smith.

Corrections to the minutes were that Jim Jarecki will do the November short presentation and the presentations by Dave Truitt and Harvey Moshman, and by Greg Borzo is for the third Fridays at Chicago Maritime Museum, not UASC.

The treasurer’s report was given, including the fact that the booth for Our World Underwater will cost over $1,000 which means 25 new members must sign up to break even. Discussion followed, including the fact that having to pay full price means we can request a better booth location (already done by Dean) and that a more condensed space would be better for people to see. Tom added that the booth should be treated like public relations, not a business.  Sales of publications do not bring a lot of money in.  Ideas are needed for new member incentives.  One mentioned is a charter to raffle off-- for example a raffle for a dive charter.  Keith mentioned that the Double Action charter rate is half-off for our survey dives, and that is also an incentive.  A sign about the raffle should be made for the booth so that people will see it even if booth volunteers are talking to someone else. Volunteers were asked to sign up and the following did so:

Booth Redesign – Steve A., Paul E., Tom W., Jim J.

Pre-Show Marketing – Tom P., Jorge P., Steve A., Natty C., Keith P., Jim J.

Working at Show – Don, Steve, Natty, Sam, Tom, Colin, Jim

Illinois Council of Skin and Scuba Divers – Next Sunday, October first, is the pumpkin dive at Haigh Quarry with prizes for the best carving.  One should arrive between 8:30 and 9 am.  The Presidents’ Night dinner is at Mack’s Golden Pheasant in Elmhurst at 6 pm on October 21.  There will be raffle prizes and awards for the diver of the year, dive club of the year and humanitarian of the year. Tickets are $35 and available for purchase.

Chicago Maritime Museum – On October 14-15, it will be open for Open House Chicago.  There were 700 guests last year and a thousand are expected.  The third Friday in October will have Dave Truitt comment on Heroes on Deck.

General Announcements - The Mudwater Archeological Society in Peoria is working on the Columbia project.

Volunteers are needed at Crowley’s to help identify ship artifacts. The canoe collection has been identified.

On October 21, Joan Forsberg will talk about Shipwrecks and Scuba in Sandusky, Ohio.

Contact Jim Jarecki about the Illinois Association of Museums National Conference on October 20-21 and the Illinois Association of History on October 5-6.

On October 28, there is a WUAA conference in Green Bay with several presentations.  There is a $20 registration.

There is a possibility of our being part of a joint venture with WUAA and the Mudwater Archaeological Society which could receive a $50,000 grant from National Geographic.  This would mean that we would be able to use shared equipment.

Film Festivals – Since there no longer is one scheduled at Our World Underwater, Keith suggested that we need to do one for freshwater diving.  We have wonderful resources and used to fill the auditorium at the Shedd Aquarium.  It could be done here at CMM using old photos (pre-zebra mussels) and what we are doing currently.  It could be the first festival of the year and we would invite people who attend the other shows.  He volunteered to help organize it, and screens could be in both rooms.

Chicago Maritime Festival – It is not known if it will come back. The last year’s attendance was 250 people. The Bridgeport Arts Center wants $5,000 to rent out the upstairs space since renting out spaces is their main source of income.  To have a festival, a big evening concert venue and three rooms that are the size that UASC meets in are needed.  Jim and Tom will discuss this later.

Non-profit status – A committee needs to be set up.  Carol Sommers said that her husband had set one up for a Chicago Park District Advisory Council and it is not necessary to hire a lawyer to do it.  Our income is too small for it to be more complicated than filling out a tax form each year.

Jim Jarecki introduced Paul Ehorn who gave a presentation about hunting for shipwrecks in the Great Lakes.  

The meeting was adjourned around 9:30

Minutes respectfully submitted by Carol Sommers