Ok, well, it's over, and it was great. I'll write a few thoughts here, and then the idea will be to pull together the best of this blog and make a how-to/reflection document.
The last month was pretty crazy, finalizing plans, sending last emails, and wrangling with the administrators over things like Alcohol, accommodations. Blogging wasn't on the top of the to-do list.
After getting about 100 yes-RSVP's for the Reunion, we got around 200, which we expected. We had way too much food, since people were coming and going, and the greatest number came after lunch was pretty much done. Yay for leftovers for the last remaining week.
The activities were great, too. Storytelling was wonderful and should've happened earlier in the evening, before some of the older folks headed out (for steak.) Having some meat might've been good. We needn't have been so go-with-the-flow about things; people were willing to gather to do stuff when we suggested it.
I'm a bit sad that i dropped the ball on displaying materials from people in-absentia. Pictures, clippings, and words. Just a small collection online, not entirely confirmed before publicized. I feel like i still want to share these materials, but i'm not sure how to do so. Perhaps a dual html-pdf project. If i took this with me, i could do this remotely. (Crunched for time before Commencement and move-out...)
The press coverage was exciting but thankfully isn't needed for every Reunion. 50 is a big deal. Similarly, Vladamir Klimenko, Immy Humes, and Elisabeth Sperling got together at the last minute to produce a documentary of the day's events. This absorbed a lot of storytelling energy and frequently had people missing from other events. For better or worse. It will certainly be a great piece, and people seemed to enjoy the chance to reflect.
I had an idea to plug in a good phone to allow people to call. The existing phone was busted. I forgot to replace the phone, and yet i told people to call.
We sold about 26 copies of Amelia's thesis. The first 21 were disappearing at such a rate in the beginning, i quickly phoned Kinkos and ordered another 30. The last of the 21, though, only went by 8 or so. But another 5 is worth it. And now some current Co-opers will get one if they're interested. This helped bring in a bit of money (people paid 20 though each cost $12-15 to make), and if current Co-opers pay, we'll recoup even more.
Alums gave about $1200, and a few more dollars should straggle in during the next few days. The total budget was about $1100 for food-related stuff, about $150 for miscellaneous stuff, $300 for a 20x30 bad-weather tent in the backyard of 3sac, and about $650 for 51 copies of Amelia's thesis. We had approved $1000 from Co-op savings, but we'll be able to reimburse some of this cost with the copious donations.
Alums were super-ready to engage in current issues, and we're getting plenty of creative ideas for how to address our issues. We're a bit stressed about following up right now. I have a number of other things i want to see happen before i leave, too: 2007-2008 yearbook/scrapbook (must be done before i leave), reunion anthology (must be done before i leave), the "Semester" document of all alumni by semester (can be done remotely with the appropriate stack of papers), writing up instructions for SIG, organize the library one last time and have a book sale, clean up the Co-op @hcs email account (remotely and later) and the website/wiki (remotely and later, Anne-Marie?), and indexing the archives. Oh, and augmenting the store of Co-op articles, not least with the 4 50th articles: Globe, Gazette, Crimson, Harvard Mag.
This blog has turned into a personal freewriting tool for me. Oh well.
But man, if Co-opers aren't the most appreciative group of people i've ever met...every project seems worth it, if people are grateful.
The alcohol situation was fine. The "Beverage Authorization Team" (BAT) showed up after we'd drunk nearly all the booze! The tutors (or at least one) was a bit uneasy about the situation, but it was ok, as it was clearly more important that people have a satisfying Reunion. I saw no irresponsible behavior *at all*, (which i could not have guaranteed.) Also, so few people stayed over, i was shocked. We probably scared them off by making it difficult. So long as that didn't discourage people from coming altogether, this seemed to end up ok.
What a fulfilling project. What a wonderful, maybe life-changing thing.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Emails, Facebook, VIPs
We finally got around to using the Facebook groups, and the responses are pouring in now. My impression at this point is that about many more people know about the Reunion than have responded. A second emailing, and possibly a postal mailing, will be necessary to get them.
Tonight, an alum stopped by to check out the place. Just from one guy, for 1 hour, i learned so much interesting stuff... We've got some great RSVPs, too, from all sorts of people.
Rich is currently attacking the email responses. This weekend, we'll try to flatten the entire mountain of them. We'll also integrate the harvested Facebook info and combine our spreadsheets into one. Tonight, i made a full list of the VIPs and put them into a separate spreadsheet. I'm contacting each in whatever way is appropriate.
Next, we need to, like SJ suggests, decide on some task-roles for the Reunion organizers. We need to have a Boston meeting, with Frisbe, Alex, SJ, Rich, me, Co-opers, and whoever else is nearby and interested. Then set a schedule. Then do another mailing.
Tonight, an alum stopped by to check out the place. Just from one guy, for 1 hour, i learned so much interesting stuff... We've got some great RSVPs, too, from all sorts of people.
Rich is currently attacking the email responses. This weekend, we'll try to flatten the entire mountain of them. We'll also integrate the harvested Facebook info and combine our spreadsheets into one. Tonight, i made a full list of the VIPs and put them into a separate spreadsheet. I'm contacting each in whatever way is appropriate.
Next, we need to, like SJ suggests, decide on some task-roles for the Reunion organizers. We need to have a Boston meeting, with Frisbe, Alex, SJ, Rich, me, Co-opers, and whoever else is nearby and interested. Then set a schedule. Then do another mailing.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Responses rolling in, focusing on 3 cities, and misc
Quite a few things have happened since the last post, but the main point is that we have been following up on responses to the mass mailing and email. Just tonight, SJ and i met and reasoned that it'd be good to bring some more Co-opers in on the project, perhaps in the context of a small dinner at the Co-op with Boston alumni. Time to start thinking about logistics. It looks like we may top 200 people at the main event, and people are certainly excited for the minor events. So far, volunteers for food, one for accomodation... but when we need to push for more and specific help, i'm rather confident we'll get a good response. We just need to know what to ask for.
Emma Katz dropped by the other day, by chance, and we talked for a while. She's good folk, will be heading up the effort in NYC. I added a column in our spreadsheet indicating when an alum is in the Boston, NYC, or San Francisco areas (350 alums in those places alone). SJ will be heading up Boston. We're working on getting a contact for San Francisco.
We will be mass emailing the entire Dudley Alumni population, it seems. This to reinforce our message as well as catch any people we've missed. There might be a Dudley or two, as well, who wasn't a Co-oper but who really would like to come.
Amelia Kaplan sent a color copy of her thesis for purposes of scanning, duplicating, and binding into nice copies for alums and residents. Research is commencing on pricing and options. Scanning it is a project in itself. This reminds me of how much i'd like to get into the archives... and i'll need to sooner or later, if i want to produce a document for the Reunion.
Anne-Marie ZB and i are working on cleaning up the dudcoop@hcs account. It has a lot of unanswered emails, some possibly regarding the 50th, but several more which can indicate which Co-opers have been active in keeping in touch in the past. Some cross-checking with the Alumni spreadsheet would be profitable. It is probably also worth it to print out some of the better of these emails (if not all of them) and put them in the archive. There are many mail folders to dig through, though.
I also need to get on connecting to people like Tom Dingman, Margaret Handy, James Maslach, Amy Goodman, and so on... i always seem to feel like there's something more pressing at hand, but these connections are really important! Plus, it'll be fun to put Thompson's "Voices of the Past" book on oral histories into practice.
Also, perhaps time to start on publicity. Hmm, lots to do.
Emma Katz dropped by the other day, by chance, and we talked for a while. She's good folk, will be heading up the effort in NYC. I added a column in our spreadsheet indicating when an alum is in the Boston, NYC, or San Francisco areas (350 alums in those places alone). SJ will be heading up Boston. We're working on getting a contact for San Francisco.
We will be mass emailing the entire Dudley Alumni population, it seems. This to reinforce our message as well as catch any people we've missed. There might be a Dudley or two, as well, who wasn't a Co-oper but who really would like to come.
Amelia Kaplan sent a color copy of her thesis for purposes of scanning, duplicating, and binding into nice copies for alums and residents. Research is commencing on pricing and options. Scanning it is a project in itself. This reminds me of how much i'd like to get into the archives... and i'll need to sooner or later, if i want to produce a document for the Reunion.
Anne-Marie ZB and i are working on cleaning up the dudcoop@hcs account. It has a lot of unanswered emails, some possibly regarding the 50th, but several more which can indicate which Co-opers have been active in keeping in touch in the past. Some cross-checking with the Alumni spreadsheet would be profitable. It is probably also worth it to print out some of the better of these emails (if not all of them) and put them in the archive. There are many mail folders to dig through, though.
I also need to get on connecting to people like Tom Dingman, Margaret Handy, James Maslach, Amy Goodman, and so on... i always seem to feel like there's something more pressing at hand, but these connections are really important! Plus, it'll be fun to put Thompson's "Voices of the Past" book on oral histories into practice.
Also, perhaps time to start on publicity. Hmm, lots to do.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Mailing in progress
Lot to catch up on:
2/29: Co-opers got together over dinner to brainstorm for the invite letter. We confirmed the major points, came up with a "through the ages" theme, and teased out what to ask for in an RSVP.
3/2-3: put the letter together in Word. It takes time to edit images and get the formatting correct. Meanwhile, alumni are writing back, due to some early networking. They're getting excited about the event, about seeing each other, but also about the possible threats to the Co-op. Vocal are Elisabeth Sperling, Mitsu Hadeishi, Eva Thaddeus, and Vlad.
3/4: the letter goes to Paul McCloughin (student groups guy) for approval. He quickly does so. There is also some correspondance with Jim Hogle, precipitated by alumni comments, regarding the possibility of other events than the main Saturday one, and even the possibility of moving the day. However, because the Co-op June 6th moveout is rigid, the event stays. But people have expressed interest in coming to secondary events.
3/5: final instructions come from Lauren Brodsky regarding turning our list of names into email and snail-mail addresses. Major correspondance happening between alumni, and i'm getting plenty of names/emails i didn't have before.
3/6: we send Lauren Brodsky the email text.
3/10: the email goes out to 591 alumni @post addresses. over the next few days, i cajole Lauren into revealing the names of people who did not receive the email and those who are deceased. Included is degree information, which requires some decoding, but will be very useful. The mailing labels are now ready. We schedule a session at the College Fund (Cara's workplace) for stuffing and affixing labels to envelopes, since all such work is required to be done on premises.
3/11-12: email to Jim Hogle announcing the impending mailing. The last time he confirmed help from Dudley was 2/22, and little was said in between. Now, though, the costs seem too great for Dudley to do alone. He recommends looking into Kinkos, Pitney Bowes, etc.
3/13-14: research on Kinkos, USPS, Pitney Bowes, HAA. Since Friday 3/14 is when we have the space at the College Fund, we pull out the stops to do it today, assuming that costs will be covered by Co-op Savings + Dudley + alumni. Friday night, Jim sends a number of emails, revealing that he has been working behind the scene to make things easier/less expensive. In the haste to get the letters out as soon as possible, though, the Friday hustle costs 487.06 (and will probably cost $50 more for the rest of the letter printing, unless HAA lets us do it for free.) Jim, meanwhile, has been investigating using the Harvard Mail Center (hadn't considered that before) and is talking with Dudley folks about providing funds. Basically, the bureaucracy, kind as it may be, was getting to be too slow. Or maybe i was just impatient. (But some of the letters have to go c/o parents before they'll get to the alumni... just a bit frustrating, all of this...) Jim will hopefully write back today to let me know whether he thinks we can still save some money, and i need to know so i can tell Cara whether we'll go in tomorrow to finish the stuffing.
Another issue in my mind is a disconnect between Dudley and the Co-op about "proper" ways to communicate with alumni. They express a desire that the invites be "nice." Meanwhile, i'm fairly self-conscious/embarassed about how they turned out, (having put in much of the content.) Jim also thought it was one sheet, instead of two. Overall, it's really hard to keep so many busy people on the same page. So now, there may be some confusion/disappointment, but i think the Co-opers and alumni will be fine, and that's important.
2/29: Co-opers got together over dinner to brainstorm for the invite letter. We confirmed the major points, came up with a "through the ages" theme, and teased out what to ask for in an RSVP.
3/2-3: put the letter together in Word. It takes time to edit images and get the formatting correct. Meanwhile, alumni are writing back, due to some early networking. They're getting excited about the event, about seeing each other, but also about the possible threats to the Co-op. Vocal are Elisabeth Sperling, Mitsu Hadeishi, Eva Thaddeus, and Vlad.
3/4: the letter goes to Paul McCloughin (student groups guy) for approval. He quickly does so. There is also some correspondance with Jim Hogle, precipitated by alumni comments, regarding the possibility of other events than the main Saturday one, and even the possibility of moving the day. However, because the Co-op June 6th moveout is rigid, the event stays. But people have expressed interest in coming to secondary events.
3/5: final instructions come from Lauren Brodsky regarding turning our list of names into email and snail-mail addresses. Major correspondance happening between alumni, and i'm getting plenty of names/emails i didn't have before.
3/6: we send Lauren Brodsky the email text.
3/10: the email goes out to 591 alumni @post addresses. over the next few days, i cajole Lauren into revealing the names of people who did not receive the email and those who are deceased. Included is degree information, which requires some decoding, but will be very useful. The mailing labels are now ready. We schedule a session at the College Fund (Cara's workplace) for stuffing and affixing labels to envelopes, since all such work is required to be done on premises.
3/11-12: email to Jim Hogle announcing the impending mailing. The last time he confirmed help from Dudley was 2/22, and little was said in between. Now, though, the costs seem too great for Dudley to do alone. He recommends looking into Kinkos, Pitney Bowes, etc.
3/13-14: research on Kinkos, USPS, Pitney Bowes, HAA. Since Friday 3/14 is when we have the space at the College Fund, we pull out the stops to do it today, assuming that costs will be covered by Co-op Savings + Dudley + alumni. Friday night, Jim sends a number of emails, revealing that he has been working behind the scene to make things easier/less expensive. In the haste to get the letters out as soon as possible, though, the Friday hustle costs 487.06 (and will probably cost $50 more for the rest of the letter printing, unless HAA lets us do it for free.) Jim, meanwhile, has been investigating using the Harvard Mail Center (hadn't considered that before) and is talking with Dudley folks about providing funds. Basically, the bureaucracy, kind as it may be, was getting to be too slow. Or maybe i was just impatient. (But some of the letters have to go c/o parents before they'll get to the alumni... just a bit frustrating, all of this...) Jim will hopefully write back today to let me know whether he thinks we can still save some money, and i need to know so i can tell Cara whether we'll go in tomorrow to finish the stuffing.
Another issue in my mind is a disconnect between Dudley and the Co-op about "proper" ways to communicate with alumni. They express a desire that the invites be "nice." Meanwhile, i'm fairly self-conscious/embarassed about how they turned out, (having put in much of the content.) Jim also thought it was one sheet, instead of two. Overall, it's really hard to keep so many busy people on the same page. So now, there may be some confusion/disappointment, but i think the Co-opers and alumni will be fine, and that's important.
Friday, February 29, 2008
HAA numbers as of now
After talking with Cara A. (HAA) on the phone today, we now know the following pieces of the puzzle:
HAA has about 690 Co-op-tagged alums in their records. I don't know if this includes deceased people yet... Of the 690, about 620 are "active", meaning that there are addresses for those people. The rest are considered "lost". With the list of names through 2007 given them just a few days ago, they know that there will be something like 400 additional people, who are mostly anticipated to be "active." Good stuff!
Cara will look into returning to us correct names, graduation years, and alive/deceased status, but she can't guarantee. At worst, we'll just be patient
until October when we can complete the SIG process and get full access. I hope we can implement a system by which the SIG is in fact completed and thereafter maintained...
HAA has about 690 Co-op-tagged alums in their records. I don't know if this includes deceased people yet... Of the 690, about 620 are "active", meaning that there are addresses for those people. The rest are considered "lost". With the list of names through 2007 given them just a few days ago, they know that there will be something like 400 additional people, who are mostly anticipated to be "active." Good stuff!
Cara will look into returning to us correct names, graduation years, and alive/deceased status, but she can't guarantee. At worst, we'll just be patient
until October when we can complete the SIG process and get full access. I hope we can implement a system by which the SIG is in fact completed and thereafter maintained...
Monday, February 25, 2008
Setting a date...
After conferring with the records and with Tyler last night, we're thinking that the reunion will be held Saturday, May 31st, 2008. It seems that all reunions of the past have been held on Saturdays, and we don't see any big reason to break that tradition. The most convenient one for alums who also want to go to their class reunions would be Saturday the 7th, post-commencement, but that won't work since all us seniors will be kicked out on Friday the 6th. So the Saturday before it is, tentatively...
Now working on the invitation...
-Rich
Now working on the invitation...
-Rich
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Good references, optimism for making contact
Jim Hogle summarized major staff/faculty people to track down from the most recent decades of the Co-op, which was wonderful. Of particular note is Margaret Handy, house administrator from 1971 - 2000 (!!). (I misinterpreted the sugar maple in the front yard of 05 dedicated to her to mean she had passed. She has not! She's in town and excited to talk with me...)
Most important: HAA is really going to help us out. When i give them the names on the Alumni Master, (with whatever graduation/Co-op year info i can manage,) they will generate and give to us mailing labels for as many as they can manage. Also in this process, they'll update their database with "lived in the Co-op" tags, making up for the slack on this since ~1995. Sweet. In October, when we hopefully complete the Shared Interest Group (SIG) application process, this will have been necessary work for getting full access to our alumni's contact info. Since we should only need to do one big mailing for the Reunion, we shouldn't need the addresses again before October. So when we get the mailing labels, we should make photocopies/scans of the sheets, just in case, but we should hopefully be able to avoid needing to back enter the addresses into a spreadsheet. Good news.
ALSO, HAA is willing to send out an email on our behalf urging alumni to get in contact (with the dudley.coop gmail account or in writing) and to respond if they're interested in forming the Co-op Shared Interest Group. We need 50 alum signatures (virtual ok). Although we can't get specific info for specific people, i'm going to see if we can't be clever and learn plenty of other useful things from these actions they'll take on our behalf:
Spreadsheet action: i compared the names of people i'd looked up in yearbooks going back to 1991 (on the Semester Master list) against those already in the Alumni Master list; we don't want repeats. Then i added unique new ones. Then i cleaned up middle names and nicknames. There are still plenty of class lists i could type in, but i'll wait on that; i think for the short term, the "1958-1993 alumni" packet from the archive (who did this?) will be enough to corroborate/add graduation year info for Cara's purposes. Later, because of lower priority, we could use the complete class lists (of which we don't have them all and for which the Harvard Archives or the Yearbook Office might be necessary) to complete the Semester Master list.
The Alumni Master list is now up to about 1150, from 1000 before. Hooray!
Most important: HAA is really going to help us out. When i give them the names on the Alumni Master, (with whatever graduation/Co-op year info i can manage,) they will generate and give to us mailing labels for as many as they can manage. Also in this process, they'll update their database with "lived in the Co-op" tags, making up for the slack on this since ~1995. Sweet. In October, when we hopefully complete the Shared Interest Group (SIG) application process, this will have been necessary work for getting full access to our alumni's contact info. Since we should only need to do one big mailing for the Reunion, we shouldn't need the addresses again before October. So when we get the mailing labels, we should make photocopies/scans of the sheets, just in case, but we should hopefully be able to avoid needing to back enter the addresses into a spreadsheet. Good news.
ALSO, HAA is willing to send out an email on our behalf urging alumni to get in contact (with the dudley.coop gmail account or in writing) and to respond if they're interested in forming the Co-op Shared Interest Group. We need 50 alum signatures (virtual ok). Although we can't get specific info for specific people, i'm going to see if we can't be clever and learn plenty of other useful things from these actions they'll take on our behalf:
- Which people are dead? (Most likely to be told.)
- Which people don't have HAA records? (Partially evident by lack of a mailing label...)
- Do some living people have HAA records but no mailing address? (We'd need to receive a list of names detailing this.)
- Does everyone with an HAA record have an @post address? If not, which don't have one? (Again, would need a list. We may need to resend the email using all of our non-@post addresses, possibly resulting in some overlap.)
- May we know who receives the email, if not their particular addresses?
- (Can't an alumnus use the post@harvard site to look up individuals one at a time?)
- Which names had spelling mistakes?
- May we know degree information for the people for whom we'll receive mailing addresses or who will receive the email? (Least likely.)
Spreadsheet action: i compared the names of people i'd looked up in yearbooks going back to 1991 (on the Semester Master list) against those already in the Alumni Master list; we don't want repeats. Then i added unique new ones. Then i cleaned up middle names and nicknames. There are still plenty of class lists i could type in, but i'll wait on that; i think for the short term, the "1958-1993 alumni" packet from the archive (who did this?) will be enough to corroborate/add graduation year info for Cara's purposes. Later, because of lower priority, we could use the complete class lists (of which we don't have them all and for which the Harvard Archives or the Yearbook Office might be necessary) to complete the Semester Master list.
The Alumni Master list is now up to about 1150, from 1000 before. Hooray!
Friday, February 22, 2008
Working towards a mailing
We've set a target of Sunday, March 2 for the bulk mailing. I've sent another email to Jim Hogle to follow up on our meeting. He offered to ask The Registrar himself for lists of alums, pay for the mailing, put us in touch with two people knowledgeable about Co-op history, and turn up Dudley employee records (tutors, masters, administrators, etc.) I'll wait to hear how much of this he can follow through on.
The plan is to call Cara Angelopolus and Lauren Brodsky at HAA today to see about mailing labels and mass emailing, respectively. Again, they won't give us open access to data until we're a Shared Interest Group (earliest could be October 2008), but they're willing to produce one-time batches of mailing addresses, which we can then back enter into our spreadsheets like Frisbay did 10 years ago. It would be wonderful to get all @post email addresses, (which we might be able to do by hand using the @post directory and an alum's username and password,) but if HAA can send the email from behind closed doors, we'll at least harvest accurate email address of those who respond, which could yield a significant amount of data.
Mmm, data.
Yesterday, i met with a History of Science TF, Jeremiah James, who is Co-op-minded, (applied to be a tutor many years ago!) and who is willing to help me tackle the general historical project that is our archive. Historical methods, ways of interpreting... this has basically become my thesis. And i'm thrilled to commit to learning as much as possible about my dear Co-op. Sweet. He'll come over for dinner next week to talk and see our materials, and he's actually my TF, so i'll have regular face-to-face contact with him. Seems like a wonderful and brilliant guy. Oh! In one fell swoop, i began talking with Jeremiah about this, got great advice for a paper from the professor of the class Jeremiah TFs for, and then got introduced to Everett Mendelsohn, History of Science Professor Emeritus, former Dudley House Master, and a also wonderful, interesting, and interested (in our Reunion) person! I've set up a meeting with him for next week. What a day.
Also, between yesterday and today, i scrounged up all the Communication Stewards' contact sheets i could find, for the purpose of expanding the "Semester Master" list. Meaning: i back-entered all the Co-oper data from the lists into a spreadsheet. I got the follwing done: Fall97-Spring00, Fall01-Spring03, Spring04-Spring08. Intend to do the rest using the paper records Frisbay found in the Harvard Archive 10 years ago, and by supplementing with whatever else i can find. This should suffice for about 2/3 of all years. (Some of the Frisbay paper records seem to be missing...) As i said in the email this morning to Jim Hogle, (now CC'ing Rich Cozzens, SJ Klein, Alex Kaufman, Frisbay, and Amelia Kaplan,) i'm rather confident that we at least have a near-complete list of at least names, probably above 90%. The uncertainty lies in not knowing exactly what holes Frisbay was not able to fill. But i'll have a better idea of this soon enough. (The Semester List is ambitious, also looking at house-rooms-lived-in and graduation year. From this, too, we'll obviously get complete data on semesters-in-Co-op)
I'll post again after calling HAA today.
The plan is to call Cara Angelopolus and Lauren Brodsky at HAA today to see about mailing labels and mass emailing, respectively. Again, they won't give us open access to data until we're a Shared Interest Group (earliest could be October 2008), but they're willing to produce one-time batches of mailing addresses, which we can then back enter into our spreadsheets like Frisbay did 10 years ago. It would be wonderful to get all @post email addresses, (which we might be able to do by hand using the @post directory and an alum's username and password,) but if HAA can send the email from behind closed doors, we'll at least harvest accurate email address of those who respond, which could yield a significant amount of data.
Mmm, data.
Yesterday, i met with a History of Science TF, Jeremiah James, who is Co-op-minded, (applied to be a tutor many years ago!) and who is willing to help me tackle the general historical project that is our archive. Historical methods, ways of interpreting... this has basically become my thesis. And i'm thrilled to commit to learning as much as possible about my dear Co-op. Sweet. He'll come over for dinner next week to talk and see our materials, and he's actually my TF, so i'll have regular face-to-face contact with him. Seems like a wonderful and brilliant guy. Oh! In one fell swoop, i began talking with Jeremiah about this, got great advice for a paper from the professor of the class Jeremiah TFs for, and then got introduced to Everett Mendelsohn, History of Science Professor Emeritus, former Dudley House Master, and a also wonderful, interesting, and interested (in our Reunion) person! I've set up a meeting with him for next week. What a day.
Also, between yesterday and today, i scrounged up all the Communication Stewards' contact sheets i could find, for the purpose of expanding the "Semester Master" list. Meaning: i back-entered all the Co-oper data from the lists into a spreadsheet. I got the follwing done: Fall97-Spring00, Fall01-Spring03, Spring04-Spring08. Intend to do the rest using the paper records Frisbay found in the Harvard Archive 10 years ago, and by supplementing with whatever else i can find. This should suffice for about 2/3 of all years. (Some of the Frisbay paper records seem to be missing...) As i said in the email this morning to Jim Hogle, (now CC'ing Rich Cozzens, SJ Klein, Alex Kaufman, Frisbay, and Amelia Kaplan,) i'm rather confident that we at least have a near-complete list of at least names, probably above 90%. The uncertainty lies in not knowing exactly what holes Frisbay was not able to fill. But i'll have a better idea of this soon enough. (The Semester List is ambitious, also looking at house-rooms-lived-in and graduation year. From this, too, we'll obviously get complete data on semesters-in-Co-op)
I'll post again after calling HAA today.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Focusing on alumni: names, then contact info
Here are the current priorities:
I'll seek to create a second master spreadsheet that lists, flat out, every single person who lived at each house each semester. If you lived here for 4 semesters, you'd show up 4 times on this list, rather than just once on the contact info master list. This semester master list will be
I wrote back to some alums today. Responses to the initial email sent from dudley.coop@gmail.com were few, but they've now been addressed. There is also the dudcoop@hcs.harvard.edu address that's been languishing in neglect for over a year now. A few proactive alums anticipated the 50th Reunion event and wrote to us at the latter address expressing a willingness to help, MONTHS ago, and we weren't there to listen!! Argh. They're wonderful though, and i'm working on reestablishing contact, hoping they're still excited to help.
Co-op superstars Frisbay and Alex Kaufman turn out to be in the Boston area and willing to help in various degrees! Perhaps they'll come to a dinner meeting next week, along with SJ. Amelia Kaplan has not responded yet, but in theory she is receiving our email conversations.
Another thing that occurred to me today is: publicity. Co-oper Eva Rosenberg's father edits Harvard Alumni Magazine. In addition to him, we should get the Gazette and Crimson to write stuff. And Alexandra Monti is supposed to put a note about our event in the Reunion Week bulletin that will detail the schedule to alumni. But who else? We should milk this opportunity for all it's worth to the Co-op's long-term security.
More tomorrow...
- Complete an exhaustive list of Co-opers through the years, contact info aside.
- Then, contact HAA and start grapevining to get the contact info.
- At the same time, prepare the bulk-mail invitation. Let's say we have this in the mail box by Sunday, March 2.
- All the while, keep digging deeper into the archives for perspective, abstract familiarity with these people, and tips.
I'll seek to create a second master spreadsheet that lists, flat out, every single person who lived at each house each semester. If you lived here for 4 semesters, you'd show up 4 times on this list, rather than just once on the contact info master list. This semester master list will be
- overkill-exhaustive with regard to accounting for each person,
- a good model for how future communication stewards should begin to append info to the database, (to be supplemented by also updating the master contact list and then seeking out ever-more current contact info from all alums,) and
- a useful tool for networking (with a few button presses, one can generate a list of something like 40 people in temporal proximity to any given Co-oper, which can help to jog one's memory or produce a list of names someone can be responsible for helping track down through the grapevine.)
I wrote back to some alums today. Responses to the initial email sent from dudley.coop@gmail.com were few, but they've now been addressed. There is also the dudcoop@hcs.harvard.edu address that's been languishing in neglect for over a year now. A few proactive alums anticipated the 50th Reunion event and wrote to us at the latter address expressing a willingness to help, MONTHS ago, and we weren't there to listen!! Argh. They're wonderful though, and i'm working on reestablishing contact, hoping they're still excited to help.
Co-op superstars Frisbay and Alex Kaufman turn out to be in the Boston area and willing to help in various degrees! Perhaps they'll come to a dinner meeting next week, along with SJ. Amelia Kaplan has not responded yet, but in theory she is receiving our email conversations.
Another thing that occurred to me today is: publicity. Co-oper Eva Rosenberg's father edits Harvard Alumni Magazine. In addition to him, we should get the Gazette and Crimson to write stuff. And Alexandra Monti is supposed to put a note about our event in the Reunion Week bulletin that will detail the schedule to alumni. But who else? We should milk this opportunity for all it's worth to the Co-op's long-term security.
More tomorrow...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
What's been done so far...
Ok, co-planner Tyler Neill ('08) here. Sam (SJ) Klein has also kicked in plenty of effort as well, bringing his experience planning the 46th Reunion. We began writing a few things down as we did them, but the Co-op's record-keeping habits are not what they used to be, what with the ephemeral nature of electronic communication. (Heck, we don't use the message board or the physical Sutra anymore!) So, the hard-copy log didn't quite happen. Anyhow, here's a rough timeline of what we've done to date on getting this event together.
Early November 2007
Early November 2007
- A group of Co-opers attend the NASCO conference in Ann Arbor and stir up their forward-thinking juices for the Co-op. 50th Reunion event is mentioned, in association with reestablishing ties with alumni.
- I happen to notice a small note from SJ about planning the Reunion pinned to a bulletin board in the dining room. Current Co-opers are not conditioned to look there for mundane messages, (mostly jokes or curiosities,) so luck lends a hand here. I email SJ, and the ball begins to roll. Begin to think about a newsletter/invite and getting snail mail addresses in order. (Co-opers alums have not been tracked for some years, so this is uncharted territory for us here.) Mention of postage costs.
- An email goes out to the Co-op list to recruit volunteer help. (The email list is our main way of communicating.) A number speak up, but I don't have anything to delegate yet, so it's a bit like a false alarm.
- SJ and i meet over dinner. We exchange pleasantries, talk about changes in the Co-op, and toss out initial ideas. We decide to meet again soon, hopefully with more people.
- An email goes out to a small number of very recent Co-op alums suspected of being within a reasonable radius of Boston, inviting them to dinner to talk about the event. Proportionally small response.
- The Reunion is brought up at a Co-op meeting. Awareness is officially raised. (Note: i'm on leave from Harvard during this semester, which makes me feel somewhat like an outsider presenting at the meeting, as if i'm bringing in this idea 'from the outside'.) With little details, that's about all that happens.
- The second planning dinner happens: just me and SJ again. We delve into the Reunion planning binders and scrapbooks, from the 30th, 35th, and 40th events. They're wonderful for perspective. We brainstorm about how what tasks there are and will be to be done, how many people we'll need to pitch in, and what needs to get done sooner rather than later. Contacting alumni is the clear priority. (SJ possibly hints at a spreadsheet of alum info...) We decide that getting in touch with Dudley House and the Harvard Alumni Association asap would be good.
- Another Co-op meeting. Armed with the preliminary task-list that came out of SJ and my talks, the scope of the project is made more apparent to Co-opers. Another request for help; more of a response.
- SJ reveals the spreadsheet, which contains nearly 1000 people, most of whom seem to be Co-op. The info has many holes, and the affiliations of people on the list are not always clear, although it's a great start. At first glance, only about 140 have email addresses, which are especially outdated. (Note: there are actually a few more email address in the spreadsheet at this point in time, somewhat hidden in unexpected columns, but we don't inspect carefully enough to realize it.) SJ says its info is for people through circa year 2000.
- We decide that sending a mass email before Christmas would be good.
- We collaboratively draft the newsletter/invite through the Co-op "Wiki". Holidays interfere...
- At another Co-op meeting, we tentatively decide that Reunion tasks can perhaps best be spearheaded by a Stewardship position temporary for this spring semester. The Reunion Steward.
- ...and the email editing drags awfully...
- Initial contact is made with Dudley House: Carvina Williams, Undergraduate Coordinator. (Note: Dudley House has only an interim Resident Dean at this time, and she does not seem especially equipped to help us with this issue at this time. So, we go to Carvina first.) She is not optimistic about Dudley House having records of its students, much less those particular students who lived at the Co-op. Not just talking contact info—I mean NO records. Not completely deterred, i plan on meeting with House Masters. (Unbeknownst to me until later, SJ talks with Carvina sometime within the next few weeks and gets more encouragement than i did about Dudley financial support for the event.)
- Initial contact is made with HAA: Lauren Brodsky, "Assistant Director, Clubs & Shared Interest Groups (SIGs)". She explains that the HAA has a huge amount of info on alumni, including records of WHO lived in the Co-op, at least until 1995. (HAA relies on the Co-op to give it lists of its residents, and then HAA simply makes a note on alumni database entries "tagging" them as having been Co-opers. This apparently ceased in 1995, for reasons unknown. We are currently making a concerted effort to explore the archives, perhaps to be able to reconstruct a more complete. This is what i fall asleep fantasizing about these days...) HOWEVER, HAA will not necessarily GIVE us this info automatically. We (the Co-op) must first incorporate ourselves into a "Shared Interest Group", a many-month process, and then we will have free access to the Co-op-tagged entries as well as any people we can convince them were Co-opers since 1995. Until then, the best we are offered is a one-time printing of mailing labels, produced with a combination of the HAA's tagged-records and whatever list we can construct ourselves, (starting with the 1000-person spreadsheet SJ provided.) Overall, though, Lauren seems genuinely excited to help us connect to alumni.
- A third call goes out to the Co-op email list (sent while i'm in Missouri) asking for help in reconstructing a list of former Co-opers. Responses are encouraging, but still, concrete tasks are in short supply. (Retrospective note: perhaps it would have been better to delegate even fuzzy tasks, like "figure out who lived here within the past ten years?") (Personal note: i hate delegating.) From Missouri, i begin reconstructing a list of recent years' Co-op alums. Tutor Allison Kuklok offers the resident lists from the years she was around.
- I created a Gmail email address: dudley.coop@gmail.com. This will be used for Reunion correspondence and perhaps more in the future. (Note: the dudcoop@fas.harvard.edu address still exists but it horribly neglected. And Google provides so many other abilities.)
- The email/newsletter FINALLY goes out! (More difficult than expected to convert from Wiki to email format. Ugh, the Luddite in me says.) Ominously, a huge number of the emails bounce, seemingly because of broken email addresses. One actual email response right away...(two more come later, by the time of this post.)
- The Co-op cleanup and all-day meeting happens. We elect Rich the Reunion Steward. He is charged with the vague duty of coordinating Reunion planning activity.
- I'm elected "Historian," a reconceived Scribe. (Scribes as of late have been minutes-takers, and not necessarily diligent ones. They have occasionally produced yearbooks. There exists no familiarity in the current Co-op with the archive material. Also, for example, we have long moved past the hard-copy Sutra; in it's place, the WikiSutra has weakly served stripped-down purposes.)
- Rich and I make it our mission to have a complete list of alumni by the end of the year, to be gathered in the process of inviting folks to the Reunion. We'll also need a system to maintain the spreadsheet, as that seems to be the way to do it efficiently in the future.
- Rich, slipping right into his role, discovers the forwarding-address binders in the computer lab desks. We eventually figure out that one, (the red one,) was an exact printout of info in the spreadsheet we have from SJ, but that it also has handwritten additions from alums who have stopped by and been kind enough to update their info. Amazing Communication Steward Paul's binder also has plenty of additional info.
- We contact Dudley House Master Jim Hogle to set up a meeting.
- For the purpose of quick and collaborative access, Rich makes the alumni spreadsheet into a Google spreadsheet Document. The binders' info is plugged into the spreadsheet.
- Richa and i meet with Jim Hogle. He has such a good number of suggestions, i've attached a document debriefing the meeting [[ATTACH FILE]]. The main points:
- He will help us contact the Registrar for House lists. He will check Dudley records for Co-opers and tutors/masters' info.
- He will have Dudley kick in $ for mailing postage.
- Dudley has 20,000 alumni, so we should stay Co-op-focused.
- He recommends we get grapevining.
- Rich and i follow up on contacts Lauren Brodsky (HAA) had suggested.
- Alexandra Monti (HAA): possibly can help us advertise for the event in the alumni bulletin. (NOTE: Current Co-oper Eva Rosenberg's father edits the Harvard Alumni Magazine and is willing to help, too! Whoa.)
- Cara Angelopulos (HAA): possibly can get us the one-time mailing labels (see above).
- SJ makes an effort to involve past super-Co-opers Amelia Kaplan (writer of the tremendous "Don't Spit in the Soup" Hist&Lit thesis on the Co-op), Frisbe Thomasson, and Alex Kaufman.
- I find out from the Harvard Yearbook people that we can get access to all old yearbooks and that the books distinguish graduating seniors, which might come in handy for placing Co-op alumni in their respective moments in time.
- Rich implements the Google Blog. Here it is. That catches us up to the present.
- As i write, Alex Kaufman writes back and will soon come to visit!...
Monday, February 18, 2008
A first post...
We have now been planning for the upcoming 50th reunion for a few weeks, but without recording our process of planning...
We are in awe of the amazing hard-copy records from past reunions here in the file cabinet, so in imitation here is a blog to record what it takes to throw a party for the "golden jubilee" of the Dudley Co-op here at 3 Sacramento St. and 1705 Mass. Ave.
Here goes...
Richard Cozzens '08
Reunion Steward
We are in awe of the amazing hard-copy records from past reunions here in the file cabinet, so in imitation here is a blog to record what it takes to throw a party for the "golden jubilee" of the Dudley Co-op here at 3 Sacramento St. and 1705 Mass. Ave.
Here goes...
Richard Cozzens '08
Reunion Steward
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