UASC Meeting Minutes for Date

Underwater Archaeological Society of Chicago
Meeting Minutes
30 January 2008

Approximately 20 members met at 6:30 at the 6th floor of the Helix Building, 310 S. Racine at Jackson.
Tonight's meeting was run by our new President, Joan Forsberg, with food provided by Joan and Todd Hitzemann.
The meeting was commenced with a welcome by our new President, followed by an introduction of our new Board and Comittee Heads.
See also the meeting agenda.

Secretary – John Bell reported on the minutes from the Nov 2007 meeting. The membership approved the minutes as read.
Treasury – Joan Forsberg reported on the bank balances in Bob Gadbois' absence. Contact Bob for details.
ICSSD – Joan Claire reported in Claire Gadbois' absence:
- Club Appreciation Night is Thursday Feb 21st at Mr. Beef and Pizza. The time is 8:00 and the speaker is Cris Kohl. All club officers and board members are invited to come network and exchange ideas with other clubs.
- The Underwater Competition will be Sunday March 16th at 11:00 a.m. at the Elk Grove Village Pavilion Center. $40 per team, about 5 or 6 / team. Many fun events such as the underwater tricycle race. Afterwards a mini President's Night style raffle and lots of great prizes for the winning teams. Participants should arrive between 8:00 and 8:30 with their C-cards.
Membership – Roger Brown was not present. Some copies of the roster were available.
Newsletter – Cris Kohl produced a new newsletter.
- 6 Newsletters / year at 4 pages.
- 4 Ads placed to underwrite cost.
- 501 copies printed for distribution at OWU and Maritime Festival.
- 251 copies for normal issue.

Webmaster – John Bell has started talking to a student who is interested in working on the UASC web site. John also passed out copies of the "links" page with requests for comments. Two missing links were identified ( DAN and ICSSD ) and will be added to the new page.
New Commitees:
- Dive Coordinator - John Bell. Looking for a second coordinator. Rounds up divers and arranges dive trips for projects.

Joyce Hayward is very ill. Our thoughts go out to Joyce. Contact Joan if you would like to send a note to Joyce.
Tom Lutz is also seriously ill in the hospital. Our thoughts go out to Tom and his wife.
Chicago Maritime Society booth at Strictly Sail needs help THIS WEEKEND. Contact Craig Cooper at 773 443-6853 if you would like to get FREE ENTRY to this show.
Shows & Surveys - See below
Future Meetings:
- NEXT UASC MEETING: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
  - Open at 6:30 PM, meeting begins at 7 PM
  - Speakers: Past Presidents Cris Kohl and Jim Jarecki, “Tall Ships Chicago--Then and Now” plus other stuff.
- Suggestions are being sought for future speakers. Please contact Joan if you have any good ideas.
- There may be a very special speaker for the April meeting. Details to be worked out.
Don Doherty discussed the possibility of organizing a UASC dive trip to Bonne Terre Mine near Saint Louis, probably in March or April. The group was generally in favor, with details to be worked out.

Surveys / Drawings to be completed & detailed reports to be written on:
- Material Service - Sank on July 29, 1936 in 38’ - Project Leaders: Tony Kiefer, Jim Jarecki, John Loftus
- Barge No. 2 - Sank on Sept. 29, 1906 in 42’ - Project Leader: John & Ruth Loftus
- David Wells - Sank on Oct. 16, 1880 in 33’ - Project Leader:
- Rotarian - Scuttled on Sept. 28, 1931 in 84’ - Project Leader:
- St. Mary - Sank on Sept. 8, 1860 in 105 ‘ - Project Leader:
- The Straits of Mackinac - Scuttled on April 10, 2003 in 78’ - Project Leader:
- Iowa - Sank on Feb. 4, 1915 in 40’ - Project Leader:
- Flora M. Hill - Sank on March 11, 1913 in 37’ - Project Leader: Cris Kohl
- “Mystery Wreck” (Parana?) - Sank on ? in 52’ - Project Leader:
- “Val’s Wreck” - Scuttled? on ? in 68’ - Project Leader:
Write REPORTS on the Tacoma, Illinois/Holly barge, Louisville, Wings of the Wind?

Our World Underwater - Friday - Sunday, February 15-17, 2008.
- Volunteers needed to sign up to work the UASC booth.
- Cris Kohl will be receiving the big award at Saturday night's Film Festival. Dont' miss it!
- Cris Kohl and Joan Forsberg are donating copies of the new edition of the Great Lakes Diving Guide as a membership bonus.
- Chris and Tom Kastle are donating music CDs as a membership bonus.
- Nancy Boucha is donating two pictures, for a prize drawing among new members. The membership agreed that the drawing should be held at the February meeting.
Chicago Maritime Festival - Saturday, February 23, 2008. Volunteers needed. Several UASC members will be presenting - Cris & Joan, Dan Kasberger, Bob Gadbois doing A/V, John & Ruth doing the kid's archaeology project.
Ghost Ships Festival - Milwaukee, Friday-Saturday, March 7-8, 2008. The group discussed putting up a ( largely unmanned ) display booth, and decided to display literature at a general literature table instead.

Fred Neuschel, author of the books August and Herman Schuenemann, Tree Captains of Lake Michigan (1993) and Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships (2007), was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, and lives with his wife in Crystal Lake, IL. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Colgate Rochester Divinity School and has worked for 30 years in mental health chaplaincy and counseling. His historical work has also been published in Inland Seas, Voyageur, Chicago History, and Wisconsin Magazine of History. Fred's very interesting presentation this month was "It was a Hell of a Life - Work in the Lake Michigan Lumber Fleet", a paper originally presented at NASOH, North American Society of Oceanic History, on the life and rigors of the lumber shipping trade on the great lakes in 1860 to 1875.

Many of the UASC membership retired for a post-meeting discussion at Ricobene's.