Study Group Vision
The Augustan Society, Inc., bills itself as an "association of scholars". The Society also emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to the field. Indeed, it is our ability to span conventional topics that is one of the Society's great strengths. As such, there are many activities which do not fall neatly into one of the topical Departments. For this reason, and because they don't need discipline-specific oversight, it is appropriate to create these projects as Study Groups under separate administration.
Proposal: The Society should organized interdisciplinary projects, and some discipline-specific projects, as Study Groups without attachment to a specific topical department, rather than as Committees.
Proposal: The Society should name an Officer to have general supervision of Study Groups.
The Vice-President should be considered for this position, as it will serve them as preparation for their succession to the presidency, but it may prove prudent to simply name a Dean of Studies that could be an off-Board position.
Descents from Antiquity
This a project to propose and prove or disprove descents from antiquity. This will involve publishing proposed lineages as a tool to generate discussion and consensus. A final report on each link will be published in The Augustan Omnibus.
Proposal: The Society should more clearly specify and publish the purpose and scope of the Descents from Antiquity project.
Proposal: The Society should more clearly identify the individual lines that it attempts to prove or disprove with the Descents from Antiquity project.
Proposal: The Society should produce reports on each of the lines studied by the Descents from Antiquity project on a regular basis until each is proven or disproven, with the final reports on each published in the Augustan Omnibus.
Family of Augustans
The objective of this project is to computerize lineages of Augustans whose genealogies are stored at Headquarters or have appeared in various Society publications with the intent to demonstrate our interrelatedness, and to identify common ancestors, both for the sake of fraternity and to assist one another with genealogical research.
Proposal: The Society should document and publish the process by which the Family of Augustans project is to be pursued.
Proposal: The Society should place the combined lineages included in the Family of Augustans project online for use by members and possibly others. This should take the form of a useful web site, not just a collection of GED files.
