Committees & Publications

SWCW Committees & Publications

SWCW’s committees and publications form the backbone of the Society’s operations and are critical to its success. They provide all of our members opportunities to play important roles in fulfillment of the Society’s mission. With the sole exception of the Executive Committee, all SWCW members are welcomed and encouraged to serve on the committees of the Society and contribute to its publications.

Committees – Standing & Special
All committees are appointed by the President and Board of Directors. While, in some specifically-identified instances, the committee chairs are appointed from within the Board of Directors, other committee chairs may be appointed from within the membership at large. Board membership is not a requirement for serving as a committee member.
Standing committees are established within, and required by, the Society’s Bylaws. A special committee is established as an issue or project is identified which so merits it.
Each committee chair submits a monthly written formal committee report to the board, which is orally summarized by the chair at the board meeting. Each committee chair also presents an orally delivered annual report at the Society’s annual meeting, held during the annual conference.
To volunteer to serve on a committee, make enquiries or suggestions to committees, or to otherwise contact the committee chairs, please send an eMail to [email protected], with the identification of the committee entered into the subject line.

Author Support (Special Committee)
                        This committee coordinates mentoring support to SWCW members who are first-time authors as they draft their works, conduct fact-checks and enter the publishing process. The committee connects these authors with SWCW members and associates who are already successfully published authors. At this point, the committee can generally assist one author at a time.
                       All authors of works – non-fiction and fiction – related to Civil War-era women, whether members or not, and whether first-time or not, are invited to register to attend SWCW conferences at which they can set up and sell their books. SWCW does not charge a fee to authors selling books at its conferences.

Conference (Standing Committee)
                        Per the SWCW Bylaws, “The Conference Committee will include the President who will appoint members as necessary. It will maintain a resource folder of past and on-going conferences, speakers, information. It shall develop, edit and maintain templates for ‘Save the Date’ leaflet/rack card, conference program brochure, registration form, Excel spreadsheet for registration, notebook cover and inserts and any other needed items. The committee will report its expenses to the Finance Committee monthly and attempt to keep within the budget.”
                       The Conference Committee also has several sub-committees, to include those addressing issues such as the auction, the conference and lodging site (incl. meals), finance, hospitality, memorabilia sales, publicity (incl. brochures), registration, speakers, swag (goodie) bags, transportation, workshops and site visits, and other sub-committees as required.

Education (Standing Committee)
                        Per the SWCW Bylaws, “The Education committee shall set the criteria for any scholarship awards, issue the call for applications, select and announce the scholarship awards annually.”

Email Communications (Special Committee)
                        In coordination with the Membership and Publicity Committees, and with input from Regents, this committee develops and maintains the address lists which support distribution of publications and announcements. Working with the Publicity Committee, it leads placement of Society messaging in social media. It specifically works with the editor of The Calling Card to assist in formatting and in placement of the publication in social media. This committee also records, analyzes and reports data regarding the effectiveness of the Society’s social media activity.

Executive (Standing Committee)
                        Per the SWCW Bylaws, “The Executive Committee shall be composed of the elected officers of the board and shall perform those duties assigned to it by the President.”

Finance (Standing Committee)
                        Per the SWCW Bylaws, “The Finance Committee shall be chaired by the Treasurer with assistance from the President of the SWCW. The Committee shall examine carefully the financial condition of the SWCW at least quarterly. It shall consider and recommend for approval of the Board a budget for each fiscal year as well as ways and means of raising funds sufficient to meet such budget. The Committee shall be responsible for delivery of the SWCW’s financial statements monthly and prepare the Tax Forms for submittal to the IRS.”

Historical Markers (Special Committee)
                        This committee supports a major program of the Society. Its mission is to identify appropriate locations for historical markers and memorials commemorating the service of women during the Civil War, to design the markers and memorials, to undertake the process for obtaining approval for placement, to oversee production and placement of the markers and memorials, and see to their maintenance. This program benefits from private funding from members of the Society.

Membership (Standing Committee)
                        Per the SWCW Bylaws, “The Membership Committee shall be chaired by a member of the board and shall establish the membership levels and dues; establish, review and execute recruitment tools, including a membership brochure; determine member benefits, maintain submitted information on individual members and on organizational membership demographics, and establish and review retention policies.”

                       The Membership Committee works closely with the Email Communications, Publicity and Regents Committees in a coordinated campaign to identify, recruit, support and maintain membership.

National Registry of Women’s Service in the Civil War (NRWSCW) (The Registry) (Special Committee)
                        This committee supports a major program of the Society. Its mission is to identify women who served their nations during the Civil War, maintain their identities in a searchable database, and support that database with files of documentation.

Nominating (Standing Committee)
                        Per the SWCW Bylaws, “The Nominating Committee shall nominate one or more persons for each position to be filled on the Board of Directors. The Committee shall also recommend a slate of officers whose term of office is expiring to stand for election each year at the Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors.”

Publicity (Special Committee)
                        This committee develops and places announcements, articles and other communications with media and other organizations. It supports the efforts of the Conference Committee’s sub-committee for conference publicity.

Regents (Standing Committee)
                        Per the SWCW Bylaws, “The Regents Committee shall be chaired by a member of the board and shall select, supervise and support regional Regents in their duties. Within their regions the Regents shall actively participate in membership recruitment and retention; report to the chairman on activities, events and conditions; support the planning and conduct of SWCW conferences held within their regions; liaise with and promote SWCW with other organizations and programs; provide publicity support; and perform other duties as assigned. Regional boundaries shall be adjusted as necessary by the committee chair.”

Publications

At Home and in the Field (AHaitF)
                        The Society’s scholarly journal is published quarterly and posted on the Member’s Only portal of the SWCW website. It is a primary benefit of membership.
                       AHaitF is managed by a dedicated staff, composed of an editor, an art director/formatter, and assistant editors/staff writers. The staff searches for and solicits original articles, requests from publishers and bloggers the permission to reprint articles, artwork and graphics, from other media, and other submissions from inside and outside the Society’s membership. The staff vets all submissions for accuracy. The staff also writes original articles for the publication.
                       Regular columns include the following:
The Reticule – General information for the context of Civil War-era women's lives.

The Nineteenth Century Arts – Articles on the fine arts during the period.

The Civil War Song Book – Lyrics to popular songs of the era, with introductory commentary about context and meaning.

The Hearth – Articles about hearth cooking and open fire cooking, to include equipment, techniques and “receipts” (the period word for “recipes”) with historical and contemporary instructions.
                        Other content includes Civil War-era poetry and contemporary poetry addressing Civil War-era topics; period and contemporary articles pertinent to women during the era; interviews with persons who are noted scholars, living historians, reenactors, guides, trainers, educators and subject matter experts; support to scholars, educators, living historians, reenactors; and other topics as identified.
                       All SWCW members and interested persons are welcomed to submit articles and other submissions for consideration for publication in AHaitF. Writing for AHaitF is a great way for authors to publicize works which are about to be released by publishers. Please send submissions to AHaitF or otherwise contact its editor by sending eMail to [email protected] with “AHaitF” in the subject line.

The Calling Card (TCC)
                        The Society’s newsletter is published monthly and sent via eMail to members and interested persons. It is managed by an editor who is supported by regularly contributing writers.
                        Recurring content includes the following:
News of Note. A roundup of notices of interest to our members and friends. This includes news from other organizations, activities, museums and historic sites.
Society Notices. This addresses notices specifically relating to our members, such as publication of members’ books, news from the Board of Directors, etc.

Woman of the Month. This is a short biography of a woman who is included in the Society’s National Registry of Women’s Service in the Civil War (NRWSCW).

The Conference on Women and the Civil War. Updates on the upcoming annual national conference.

Suggested Reading. Topical bibliographies.

All SWCW members and interested persons are welcomed to submit notices and other submissions for consideration for publication in TCC. Please send submissions to TCC or otherwise contact its editor by sending eMail to [email protected] with “TCC” in the subject line. To be included in the distribution list for TCC, please send eMail to [email protected] with “Email Communications” in the subject line.