[Lnc-business] Email Ballot 2017-06: Move Archive Records to CO

Fri Mar 24 13:00:49 EDT 2017

Okay I think I answered everyone's post.  I will say the one thing I said
when I was looking at taking five years to get a two year degree because I
waited until I was out on my own to go to school.  Five years will come no
matter what.  The only question is where I will be when they do.
Similarly, the years will pass here.  Do we want a pile of unorganized
stuff in two years or do we want to take advantage of this opportunity
(that may in fact be very low costs because Wes will do a few fundraising
emails for it, and I have committed some money).

- Caryn Ann

On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 10:58 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <carynannharlos at gmail.com
> wrote:

> Wes, I cannot promise we will not need an offsite storage any longer, for
> instance there are a few items to add to the historical collection (Nolan's
> widow has his personal correspondences and some early Party stuff I am
> securing), but it will certainly be compact and lean and useable.  While I
> am passionate about Party history, I am not sentimental to the extent of
> "OMG The Nolan may have this touched This Piece of Paper, it Must Be
> Saved!" but any culling decisions will be brought to the LNC, and you will
> have thorough recommendations.
>
> I also think we can use this project as a means of "touch" to the members
> to garner some excitement.  Whether one thinks my interest is silly (as
> some do), there is no doubt, that I am infectious with it.
>
> - Caryn Ann
>
> On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 10:55 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
> carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Starchild, thank you for your trust in me.  So far I believe I have
>> demonstrated it - I *could* have easily spent up to a thousand dollars
>> already but I have sought volunteers with skills to do professional
>> scanning and as long as I can tap into those (and not burn out their time),
>> I will do so.  I  treat OPP very seriously.  I have also committed to being
>> completely transparent and forthcoming with monetary decisions (and we have
>> a public committee discussion list) and accountable to members.  There have
>> been some minimal costs that I have gotten donated.  And that will be the
>> case whenever I can - and it is in the best interest of the project (i.e.
>> volunteer work has to be of the quality we need - a home scanner will not
>> do when we need a professional scan job, but fortunately I have a volunteer
>> with access to the genealogical scanner used by the LDS church- PRO!).
>>
>> - Caryn Ann
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 10:51 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
>> carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Alicia,
>>>
>>> The issue of common carrier versus U-Haul is something I discussed with
>>> Wes.  In order to pack things up so that it can be transported would take
>>> staff time.  And Wes wants to send the shelving, and just send things "as
>>> is" and let me straighten it up.  With the U-Haul it can just be put in and
>>> sent with no re-packing needed.
>>>
>>> As far as whether or not everything can be organized and scanned before
>>> the end of next term, there are several issues there. First, the committee
>>> itself. While this committee ends at that time, it is my intention to prove
>>> its value, have a good working model, and move for a permanent historical
>>> committee next year.  In any event, LPedia must be maintained, and I expect
>>> the LNC will appoint a new committee- and if I am not on the LNC, I will
>>> apply to be on the committee.  Even if not, I will continue my volunteer
>>> work.  I think Starchild covered this well.  As far as goals, I am very
>>> sober-minded as to our goals.  I absolutely do not expect (nor is there
>>> budget for, though I am doing pretty well at finding no-cost volunteers)
>>> the entire archives to be scanned by the end of this term.  I do
>>> realistically expect it to be organized and inventoried and the most
>>> critical items uploaded. And with the organization, the next committee will
>>> be able to continue to prioritize until it is done.  Without the
>>> organization, I cannot wisely spend the initial budget on the most critical
>>> and most  general interest items. While I might be in rapturous delight
>>> over a handwritten note by Gary Nolan on the back of a memo, our membership
>>> is more interested in news items. training items, press releases, and
>>> minutes.  I am prioritizing to the needs and wants of our members.  And as
>>> Daniel and Wes said, there is a lot of duplicates and items that do not
>>> need to be saved.  I will be able to make culling recommendations to the
>>> LNC and to Wes and to carry those out.
>>>
>>> I expect these records will remain here for at least a few years. And I
>>> have a volunteer that drives cross country often, and I might be able to
>>> find someone to bring them back at little to no cost - the volume will be
>>> less in any event, even if we have to pay.  And they could come back by
>>> common carrier as I will be able to have the volunteers to re-pack as
>>> necessary.
>>>
>>> I went quickly through a representative portion of the offsite storage.
>>> Everything I saw were items to be saved (in general, most certainly there
>>> is redundancy and culling and curating to do).  It is interesting you
>>> mention the "so and so's desk" boxes... that is part of the problem. Who is
>>> ever going to go through that stuff?  Wes thinks there might be minutes and
>>> other important items there, if not, I will straighten it out and solve
>>> that problem.  And when I say "I" I don't mean I am super woman to do it
>>> all myself, but with a home base in CO, the birthplace, of the Party, and
>>> my volunteer connections in neighboring states, I can manage this properly,
>>> as a Chair should.
>>>
>>> In any event, it will be cheaper to come back after several years, in
>>> great shape with professional organization and of use to the Party and its
>>> members.
>>>
>>> -Caryn Ann
>>>
>>> On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 10:40 AM, Caryn Ann Harlos <
>>> carynannharlos at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have a bunch of commentary to add that I will take one at a time.
>>>>
>>>> Daniel, that is exactly what I was thinking.  I think this Committee
>>>> may find some auction items and may be able to put together a nice
>>>> historical interest display, and you might want to consider having one of
>>>> us speak.
>>>>
>>>> -Caryn Ann
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Mar 24, 2017 at 10:24 AM, Daniel Hayes <danielehayes at icloud.com
>>>> > wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Us finally throwing away a bunch of sacred invoices and other magical
>>>>> papers and stuff we don't need was my motivation to sponsor .  It might
>>>>> take 5 years to recoup but it is money we can save.
>>>>>
>>>>> Also, keep in mind that if we can monetize some of this stuff, even
>>>>> better.  As Sam and a couple of others know, we are looking to hold a
>>>>> silent auction at convention in NOLA.  Caryn Ann may find some things that
>>>>> we don't want to throw away but don't have space to display that a member
>>>>> might have interest in.  I'd rather see us put some cash to the use this
>>>>> party exists for and allow a member to have some enjoyment instead of
>>>>> sticking it in a box on a shelf.  One person's junk is another person's
>>>>> treasure.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Daniel Hayes
>>>>> LNC At Large Member
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mar 24, 2017, at 11:07 AM, Wes Benedict <wes.benedict at lp.org>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Actually, if Caryn Ann does a good enough job, we should no longer
>>>>> need an off-site storage unit. The unit we're in now just went up to $248
>>>>> per month starting in March 2018 (up about $20 from February).
>>>>>
>>>>> William Redpath, can you calculate the Prevent Value of the saving of
>>>>> $248 per month in perpetuity?
>>>>>
>>>>> And if you can do that, can you then get a bit more precise by making
>>>>> the assumption the $248 per month spending won't stop for 2 years?
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks Bill, that'd be great.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
>>>>> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
>>>>> 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314(202) 333-0008 ext. 232 <(202)%20333-0008>, wes.benedict at lp.orgfacebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
>>>>> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>>>>>
>>>>> On 3/24/2017 11:43 AM, Wes Benedict wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Around 300 boxes with the miscellaneous "slips of paper" have been
>>>>> shredded since 2013. I spent many days on that work myself doing a first
>>>>> and second pass through the mountain of junk in the cool, damp,
>>>>> rat-infested dungeon storage underneath the Watergate complex, and then
>>>>> doing 3rd and 4th passes at our storage units after moving the stuff to
>>>>> Alexandria. (I did not shred the stuff myself--just identified the boxes
>>>>> and then had a professional service handle it).
>>>>>
>>>>> I am not exaggerating about the rats. I do not recall finding dead
>>>>> rats in any boxes and did not necessarily see rats inside our particular
>>>>> unit, but there were dead dried out rat carcasses less than 20 feet outside
>>>>> the door to our unit and in the hallway leading up to our unit and inside
>>>>> adjacent units.
>>>>>
>>>>> In addition to things that have been shredded, I did not count the
>>>>> number of boxes of stuff that I threw away that did not need to be
>>>>> shredded. I also personally tore apart, dismantled, and sawed when
>>>>> necessary (with my personal Bosch circular saws and drill), large painted
>>>>> plywood structures that I think were used in the 2000 and 2004 national
>>>>> conventions (along with the wooden pallets).
>>>>>
>>>>> For a decade, it seemed, no one was willing to throw things away. I
>>>>> can't blame them. Who wants to throw something away when someone might
>>>>> complain later? Plus, it's easier to just box up an old employees stuff and
>>>>> push it aside rather than go through it and sort it all out.  The result
>>>>> was valuable things were getting buried by old broken furniture and useless
>>>>> pieces of returned mail slips that had no value. Boxes of potentially
>>>>> valuable documents were getting crushed and split and were spilling in the
>>>>> damp basement of the Watergate. The basement of the Watergate obviously
>>>>> wasn't climate controlled and the storage facilities were down an
>>>>> underground hallway from the dumpsters for CVS and the grocery store
>>>>> Safeway, and just 200 yard crawl for rats from the shores of the Potomac.
>>>>> Grocery stores generate a lot of smelly garbage that attracts rats.
>>>>>
>>>>> For the most part, I did not go through many individual boxes and sort
>>>>> through individual pieces of stuff. I either kept the whole box, or through
>>>>> the whole box out (or shredded if necessary).
>>>>>
>>>>> We still have over a dozen 4-drawer file cabinets and maybe 100 boxes
>>>>> of stuff that needs to be gone through more carefully. That takes a lot of
>>>>> time. When it's time to bring the stuff back from Colorado, I expect the
>>>>> content to be 15% of it's original size. That's because there is still
>>>>> stuff to throw away, and also, for things like fundraising letters that
>>>>> were sent in 1992--there are probably 5 or 10 copies of each.
>>>>>
>>>>> That stuff is getting older every day, but at least we now have it
>>>>> stored in a climate controlled storage unit in Alexandria, instead of the
>>>>> basement of the Watergate.
>>>>>
>>>>> I probably inadvertently  threw some things out that we wished I
>>>>> hadn't, but I feel like my actions to jettison some garbage even if there
>>>>> was some collateral damage, was urgent, and necessary for the greater good
>>>>> of the documents that were saved, and because we needed space for our more
>>>>> recent documents.
>>>>>
>>>>> A few photos attached.
>>>>>
>>>>> Wes Benedict, Executive Director
>>>>> Libertarian National Committee, Inc.
>>>>> 1444 Duke St., Alexandria, VA 22314
>>>>> (202) 333-0008 ext. 232 <(202)%20333-0008>, wes.benedict at lp.org
>>>>> facebook.com/libertarians @LPNational
>>>>> Join the Libertarian Party at: http://lp.org/membership
>>>>>
>>>>> On 3/24/2017 4:43 AM, Alicia Mattson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> Having spent some time digging through these materials a few years
>>>>> ago, I know there are a LOT of boxes of old membership forms with
>>>>> hand-written signatures on the membership certification.  I don't imagine
>>>>> those going online for the world to see, so why ship 50 boxes to Colorado
>>>>> and back?
>>>>>
>>>>> I don't recall a terribly high percentage of those files being things
>>>>> that are of historical value that would belong in an online archive.  Some
>>>>> of it was, but much was not.  Old invoices and vendor contracts.
>>>>> Miscellaneous contents of the desk drawers of former employees.  Is there
>>>>> really enough historical material to fill a UHaul?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Lnc-business mailing listLnc-business at hq.lp.orghttp://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Lnc-business mailing list
>>>>> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
>>>>> http://hq.lp.org/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business_hq.lp.org
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> *In Liberty,*
>>>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>>>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>>>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>>>> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
>>>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>>>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
>>>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>>>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>>>> Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee
>>>>
>>>> A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
>>>> *We defend your rights*
>>>> *And oppose the use of force*
>>>> *Taxation is theft*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> *In Liberty,*
>>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>>> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
>>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
>>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>>> Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee
>>>
>>> A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
>>> *We defend your rights*
>>> *And oppose the use of force*
>>> *Taxation is theft*
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> *In Liberty,*
>> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
>> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska,
>> Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
>> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
>> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
>> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
>> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
>> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
>> Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee
>>
>> A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
>> *We defend your rights*
>> *And oppose the use of force*
>> *Taxation is theft*
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
> --
> *In Liberty,*
> *Caryn Ann Harlos*
> Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
> Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
> Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
> Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
> <http://www.lpcolorado.org>
> Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
> <http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
> Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee
>
> A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
> *We defend your rights*
> *And oppose the use of force*
> *Taxation is theft*
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
*In Liberty,*
*Caryn Ann Harlos*
Region 1 Representative, Libertarian National Committee (Alaska, Arizona,
Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Washington) - Caryn.Ann.
Harlos at LP.org <Caryn.Ann.Harlos at LP.org>
Communications Director, Libertarian Party of Colorado
<http://www.lpcolorado.org>
Colorado State Coordinator, Libertarian Party Radical Caucus
<http://www.lpradicalcaucus.org>
Chair, LP Historical Preservation Committee

A haiku to the Statement of Principles:
*We defend your rights*
*And oppose the use of force*
*Taxation is theft*
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