Dear Daniel
I am very concerned about your presumed relationship with the Salisbury Association. You are neither a Trustee nor an employee of our organization, yet you have made requests for information, communication, budgets, and computer access for which you are not entitled.
The Historical Society is one of three major committees under the Salisbury Association. All major decisions, budgetary costs, and staffing are decided by our Officers and our Board of Trustees. As President of the Salisbury Association, I have never met you nor spoken with you. However in your recent emails you write as if you are part of our organization, which is definitely not the case.
For many years the Salisbury Association has had an excellent relationship with Jean McMillen, who was neither a Trustee nor an employee. Out of her interest in the town’s history she conducted hundreds of interviews to add to the previous collection. In the interest of preserving the town’s history, the Salisbury Association agreed to post the histories on our website, published several booklets containing some of the histories, and invited Jean to attend one meeting a year to report on her activities.
The bio you included in your July 11 email as provided to the July 15 -19 symposium on AI states that you “oversee collection of 400+ Oral History Interviews.” This is a misrepresentation on your part. You have no oversight of the existing collection.
In addition, we have reviewed your website and found that the language may lead the reader to believe that the oral histories on the Salisbury Association website are now part of your website in spite of the disclaimer at the end.
To correct this misinterpretation, we insist that the following corrections be made:
1. The first heading states: “About Our Collection.” This must be changed to “About the Collection.”
2. Second paragraph, first sentence states: “...our collection features…” This must be changed to “...the collection features…”
3. Second paragraph, second sentence states: “Our mission is to...provide public access to all the interviews in the collection.” This sentence must be deleted as it contradicts your statement in your July 4 email which says: "...I am not housing oral histories. I have multiple copies on multiple servers for redundancy, but they are not, nor ever be accessible by the public.”
4. Fourth paragraph, first sentence states: “...McMullen who is streamlining public access to the interviews with a new website…” A new website has never been approved by the Salisbury Association for the existing collection and access to the existing collection will remain through the Association website. This statement is inaccurate and must be deleted. If you wish to provide a link on your website to the existing collection on the Association’s website you are welcome to do so.
5. Under ROAD MAP it states that the oral history project is “going through a transformation.” This is inaccurate as it relates to the existing collection. No changes to the existing collection have been discussed or approved by our Board of Trustees and this reference must be changed.
6. Under ROAD MAP it lists a “New Website” having a new design, etc. This statement is inaccurate as the oral histories are remaining on our website with the same design. Please change.
If you wish to interview people for new oral histories, you may do so and post on your new website. If you develop software that would be advantageous for indexing the existing collection on our website, then we can discuss that at a later date. Meanwhile, do not represent yourself as part of the Salisbury Association at the upcoming symposium or elsewhere. Also do not lead people to believe that the existing oral history collection is under your direction because it is not.
If you would like to meet with us, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Jeanette
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| @DiamondThumb - Jul 12, 2024 Hello Jeanette, I will make the corrections to the website as you outlined. Thank you. I appreciate your attention to details and solid feedback. As for the Oral History Project of Salisbury, I, like Jean, have no aspiration to become an employee or trustee of the Salisbury Association. Rest assured, I have made no such claim. I am merely taking on Jean McMillen's responsibilities as Director of the collection. I have been training under Jean for the last 10 months. It was my understanding that we would continue to enjoy the support of the Salisbury Association and its website. In addition, The Historical Society encouraged me to attend a Regional Oral History event at the Red Lion Inn a few months ago "as new Director, representing the collection". Seems odd no one said anything to you. I seem to be getting mixed messages from your organization. You said: "do not lead people to believe that the existing oral history collection is under your direction because it is not" It is I who have been led to believe I am the Director of the Oral History Project of Salisbury CT by everyone, but you. Please explain. At the last Historical Society meeting I attended, certainly there is full acknowledgement of my progress, desire for images, interviews and my software featured at the symposium. I believe you were there at the same meeting! on screen. Am I wrong? I was introduced as taking over the Oral History Project from Jean. Jean attended that very same meeting. Am I wrong? I thought the meetings were the opportunity for you to hear more about our progress. Meetings should be longer. I did not know you were expecting me to do anything different. How would I know? I thought I was doing all the right things. I constantly checked in with Jean as I made progress to be able to transcribe and index, in a consistent manner, all new interviews. There seems to be nothing in writing (as I have already requested several times to fully understand your frustration with me) that certainly would have prevented all of this confusion in the first place. An internal memo board might be a great idea to avoid surprises. Like a permanent ongoing meeting as a reference tool for so many projects to keep track of. Just a thought. I am horrified to learn that you had no idea of our progress. It is my hope that future meetings be transcribed and indexed! There is much for us to talk about. I hope we are on the same team! Let's get it on paper. May I suggest we all get together Wednesday the 24th ? I will suggest 10am ? Thank you for responding, Daniel McMullan : 2 : 0
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