Present:

A. Introductions - Those present introduced themselves and gave their institutional affiliation.

B. Approval of Minutes 1999 Meeting (Boston)

The minutes of the 1999 meeting of the Southeast Asia Microforms Project were approved unanimously by the members.

C. Election of Replacement for Vacant Position on Executive Committee

Jeff Ferrier from Ohio University was elected unanimously by the members of SEAM to serve on the SEAM Executive Committee for the position vacated by Yati Barnard. He will serve for the term 2000-2003. Congratulations to Jeff Ferrier! SEAM also approved an amendment to the by-laws which will extend the service of the ex-chair. He/she will now serve as ex-officio on the Executive Committee for a one year term after finishing his/her term as chair. Judith Henchy from the University of Washington will serve as this ex-officio member for 2000.

D. Financial Report & CRL Update

James Simon reported that the SEAM budget was healthy with funds sufficient to support new projects. James provided a review of past and current SEAM financial commitments. James Simon also gave a report of the several titles received by the Southeast Asia Microforms Project during the past year. They include:
     - Business World (Philippines)
     - Khmer Rouge Top Secret (S-21) Santebal Archives
     - Republic of the Philippine Commission on Elections (Lande Collection)
     - 16 Newspaper titles from the Cornell University collection
     - 18 Titles from the Luce sponsored preservation project in Vietnam

E. Other Reports and Updates

1) Report on the Preservation Meeting in Chiang Mai

Judith Henchy reported on the Preservation Meeting held in Chiang Mai. The meeting took place over 4 days from February 21-24, 2000 in Chiang Mai, Thailand. There were 68 attendees at the meeting. Funding for the conference came from the Ford Foundation offices in Jakarta and the Toyota Foundation in Japan. There were approximately 5 participants from each of the Southeast Asian countries. The group attending the conference included government officials as well as academicians, scholars and librarians. Several people in attendance at the SEAM meeting had also attended the Chiang Mai Preservation Conference. These include; Roget Tol from KITLV, Mel Thatcher from the Genealogical Society of Utah, and Fe Susan Go from the University of Michigan.

Determined to come up with a draft document on preservation by the end of the conference, attendees created the "Chiang Mai Declaration." This declaration was then further edited into its final form by Alan Feinstein. The attendees agreed to form a consortium with the acronym SEACAP, as a collaborative effort to preserve and make available historical material held in Southeast Asia. A 10 person committee was set up to coordinate the efforts of SEACAP. The group agreed to continue to use microfilming as the medium of choice for preservation. The group will continue to work on other projects such as copyright issues, and training programs for preservation efforts. An ultimate goal will be to improve the infrastructure for preservation efforts within the Southeast Asian region.

Judith Henchy reported that after the conference she traveled on to Burma (Myanmar). She reported that after a visit to the U.S. Embassy, the embassy offered to help fund some of the training efforts in Burma for preservation work.

As a follow up project to the preservation meeting in Chiang Mai, Roger Tol reported that in evaluating the films made by the Ford Foundation in Jakarta, Indonesia, he found that many reels were in almost immediate danger of deteriorating beyond use. The Ford Foundation has come up with the funding to rewash, and hermetically seal the film to try to preserve the film for at least 10 more years. During this 10 year period, there will hopefully be alternatives found to refilm or replace these films.

Mel Thatcher added that he thought it was a productive meeting that came up with some sound resolutions. SEAM thanked Judith for her participation at the conference and for her report on its results. Members also thanked Alan Feinstein for the Toyota Foundation's support of the conference.

2) Ford Indonesia Projects

Judith Henchy reported that even though SEAM had lost some of its contacts at the Ford Foundation sponsored project in Jakarta, there still were funds committed to film newspapers. SEAM currently does not have a contact in Indonesia for this project. According to Will Tuchrello, challenges in continuing the microfilming project arise because complete runs of current newspapers are difficult to locate. It was also noted that there is one Dutch newspaper at the National Library of the Netherlands that would be a logical extension of this project. The issue was raised whether microfilming had to be done in Southeast Asian regional centers, or if filming could take place outside of the region. There wasn't clear perception among the SEAM members present at the meeting whether the National Archives or the National Library of Indonesia would be willing to allow positive copies of microfilm to leave the country. Perhaps the National Library would be willing to exchange positive copies of film for raw film stock or other filming supplies. It was suggested that this idea be pursued with the National Library. Will Tuchrello, Rebecca Aiken and Allen Riedy all agreed to look further into resuming filming projects in Indonesia to film regional newspapers, Arabic language newspapers and Indonesian newspapers held in the U.S. but not yet filmed.

Helen Poe recommended that the Library of Congress pursue a project with Cornell to work with Cornell to collate and film Cornell's Indonesian newspapers. SEAM members were supportive of this cooperative effort between the two institutions. Allen Riedy from Cornell also mentioned that a newspaper from Kalimantan will be purchased by Cornell and it will be sent to the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. for filming.

F. Continuing SEAM Projects

1) SEAM/Luce Vietnam Project

Judith Henchy reported that SEAM had received 50 reels of film during the summer of 1999. The project institution (who is this, the National Library or?) doesn't have very complete runs of serials to film. She suggested that they might be available in longer runs in Paris. The General Sciences Library in Ho Chi Minh City has agreed to film their holdings of newspapers also held in Hanoi. Judith also reported that the authorities in Hanoi (Mrs. Bac and Mr. Hoat?) agreed to do a survey of what is held in Vietnamese libraries and U.S. libraries to try to fill gaps in both locations. The authorities in Ho Chi Minh City also seem very willing to contribute to this effort. Judith reported that she could continue to send film to Vietnam as long as there were projects to support.

2) Steve Heder Cambodian Election Materials Project

Judith Henchy reported that Steve Heder is willing to film this material but he doesn't have possession of it at the current period, since the British Library has recently moved its location.

3) Yale Genocide Project

Rich Richie reported that the Documentation Center of Cambodia was refilming some of the problematic reels of film from the Khmer Rouge Top Secret (S-21) Santebal Collection. When these sections have been refilmed, positive copies of the film will be sent to SEAM and CORNELL to complete the sets sent previously.

4) Cornell Newspaper Filming Projects

Allen Riedy and Helen Poe reported that Cornell University is working together with the Library of Congress to film Vietnamese newspapers held at Cornell. Cornell is collating the newspapers and sending them to the Library of Congress, which is responsible for filming the newspapers. The Library of Congress is currently filming 5 newspapers, and the two institutions have selected an additional 5 newspapers to film once the current newspapers are filmed.

5) Powell Project

Fe Susan Go reported that this prospective project was suggested in cooperation with the British Library. Susan Go sent someone to look at the collection, and this person reported back that the collection was not well organized. Hence, SEAM decided at this meeting to drop the project.

G. New Projects/Under Consideration

1) Continuation of the Genocide Filming Project

Rich Richie proposed a major project to continue collaboration between Cornell University, SEAM, and the Documentation Center to film new collections held at the Documentation Center pertaining to the Cambodian genocide and the Khmer Rouge. The proposal will be balloted and sent via post to SEAM members.

2) Indonesian Tabloid Project

Susan Go reported that the University of Michigan has compiled a newspaper list of what they have received. The list was sent out to every Southeast Asia collection library but only very few libraries had responded. Those that did respond include the University of Oregon (does not have any--please confirm with Robyn); the University of Washington as reflected in the list; and Berkeley which mentioned that they couldn't go through the whole list. The list only reflected what the University of Mich received and there are many more titles available. Cornell University, the University of Hawaii and Ohio University which collect comprehensively would need to complete their lists and submit them to the University of Michigan to reflect these additional titles. When the three libraries can complete these lists, the lists will be given to the Library of Congress Field Office in Jakarta. The Field Office which will notify SEAM of titles that are already in the queue for filming. SEAM will then put to ballot a proposal requesting the appropriate funding for contributions to the filming project.

3) Philippine Free Press Indexes

Judith Henchy offered to check into this collection at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and make a recommendation as to its value for preservation microfilming.

4) Human Rights Documentation

Susan Go reported that a number of non-governmental organizations in the Philippines have been collecting human rights material in print, video and other formats. The University of the Philippines is willing to inventory the collection. Susan Go reported that she had spoken with the University archivist while both were at the Chiang Mai conference. Cornell, Michigan and Wisconsin are all willing to put funding into the archiving and filming of this material. The collection contains interviews done by NGOs with torture victims of the Marcos regime. SEAM decided to follow the progress of this project and contribute funds at a later date, should additional funds be needed.

H. Project Voting - It was decided by SEAM to put projects out for mailed balloting.

I. Other Business

1) Judith Henchy reported that the University Central Library and the National Archives of Burma (Myanmar) have filming equipment but might need training on how to operate the microfilm cameras. These two institutions are very interested in new filming projects and might be willing to exchange microfilms with other institutions. It would be to the benefit of U.S. research institutions to film material in Burma that would help fill gaps U.S. collections. SEAM would probably be particularly interested in the colonial period newspapers held at the University Central Library.

The new SEACAP consortium hopes to promote the exchange of expertise within the region. Judith Henchy and John Dean, Head of Conservation at Cornell, spoke to the American Center (US Embassy, former USIS office) about possibly funding a training and equipment survey visit by Cesar Lacanienta from Ateneo de Manila University, Photoduplication Division. Cesar Lacanienta was willing to offer his expertise. At the time of the SEAM meeting, Judith Henchy hadn't heard back from the US Embassy in Yangon on the possibility of helping to fund this training. The other institution which has materials of interest is Yangon University, Universities Historical Research Centre. The Centre has a new portable camera from Japan Foundation, but staff would also need training. The Centre has large format materials which would need to be filmed on the MRDII or Canon Mircobox at the Universities Central Library. It was reported that the Microbox camera was not currently working.

2) Mel Thatcher from the Genealogical Society of Utah discussed a project to collect ethnic Chinese material in the Philippines. The Genealogical Society is collecting Chinese records and taking cameras into municipalities to film this material. He proposed a cooperative project with interested institutions or SEAM to film this material. He offered to develop a proposal and submit it to SEAM.

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