INFORMATION ON THE SPECIAL BUSINESS MEETING
In place of the second session of papers at the MLA the Society will hold an extraordinary special business meeting: Saturday, 30 December 2000 The purpose of the meeting, which is open to all members, is to put the William Morris Society in the U.S. on a proper organizational basis as we enter the next century. This will be done by ratifying a new set of by-laws and the simultaneous election of a Governing Committee. Some background: As long-time members may dimly recall, the William Morris Society in the United States in 1983 adopted a set of by-laws. The Society did this in part to secure allied organization status with the Modern Language Association, status which, in turn, allows the Society to host events at the MLA annual convention. These by-laws provided&emdash;after a transition period&emdash;for a Governing Committee of four members, elected by the membership for four-year terms (starting on 24 March, Morris's birthday), and for a single officer, a Corresponding Secretary. It is clear from our records that while the membership approved the by-laws, no elections have taken place since the mid-1980s. During the last decade, the Society has been administered on an ad hoc basis by whoever served as Newsletter editor (later called president), first Gary Aho, then Mark Samuels Lasner, assisted by a Secretary-Treasurer, Hartley Spatt, and by a few others, some of whom served on the original Governing Committee. In 1994 the Society applied for, and received, a renewal of allied organization status from the MLA. At the time, the MLA requested that we run the Society on a more formal basis and alter our by-laws to conform more closely with those of other affiliated groups. The next renewal occurs in 2001, so if we want to put a workable structure into place, one which will satisfy the MLA and, more important, ensure the future of the Society, the time to do so is now. This is also the appropriate moment for the current "president," Mark Samuels Lasner, to announce that he will be stepping down on 1 January 2001. His successor&emdash;if there is even to be the position of "president"&emdash;will be an elected member of the new Governing Committee, and his duties divided among several officers. Under the old by-laws, proposed amendments to the by-laws are to be announced in the Newsletter and then approved by two-thirds of the membership within a month of the Newsletter's appearance. We propose to follow this procedure by publishing the new by-laws and a slate of candidates for the Governing Committee in a notice sent to members of the William Morris Society in the U.S. on 1 December 2000. Members will then vote for both approval of the by-laws and the election of the Governing Committee by return of post or by e-mail. The result tallied at the special business meeting to take place at the MLA convention. The following slate of candidates has been approved by the current Governing Committee: Florence Boos 
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