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.
While the leader of each Study Group is presently appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the President, it is proposed elsewhere that a Dean of Studies be appointed by the President to oversee and make appointments of Study Group leaders.
Proposal: The Society should organized interdisciplinary projects, and some discipline-specific projects, as Study Groups under the direction of the Dean of Studies, rather than as Committees attached to the various Departments.
Proposal: The Society should permit Members to join such Study Groups as they wish without charge.
Proposal: The Society should limit Coordinators of Study Groups to being in charge of only one such group at a time; membership in additional Study Groups would not be constrained.
Contents
Active Study Groups
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 the Descents from Antiquity project 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.
First Peoples
Proposal: The Society should oblige the First Peoples Study Group to create a statement of purpose.
Photo Collection Study Group
The objective of this project is to identify the individuals and locations shown in the Society's collection of photographic prints. The plan is to scan and upload the images to a public site, then ask members to assist in the identification. There is some sense of urgency in this, as members pass and memory fade.
Proposal: The Society should work to identify the individuals and locations (and to the extent possible, the dates) of the prints in the Society's photo collection.
Inactive Study Groups
Note that all the Study Groups listed below were active at one point in time; thus this is not a speculative list, but an historical one.
- Age of Augustus Study Group
- Ancient Genealogy Study Group
- Ancient History Study Group
- Anthropology Study Group
- Archaeology Study Group
- Armenian Genealogy Study Group
- Arms and Armor Study Group
- BE-NE-LUX Genealogy Study Group
- Brythonic & Cymric Genealogy Study Group
- Byzantine Study Group
- Cartography Study Group
- Celtic/Arthurian Study Group
- Chivalric Philosophy Study Group
- Chivalry Study Group
- Colonial Genealogy Study Group
- Colonial Witches Study Group
- Crusades Study Group
- Descents from Charlemagne Study Group
- Descents from the Conquest Study Group
- Descents from the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem Study Group
- East Asian Genealogy Study Group
- Eastern & Central European Genealogy Study Group
- Egyptology Study Group
- English Genealogy Study Group
- French Genealogy Study Group
- Genealogy Study Group
- Genetic Genealogy Study Group
- Germanic Genealogy Study Group
- Habsburg Dynasty Study Group
- Heraldry Study Group
- Historiography Study Group
- Irish Genealogy Study Group
- Italian Genealogy Study Group
- Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem Study Group
- Lineage Chart Study Group
- Medals & Decorations Study Group
- Medieval Genealogy Study Group
- Medieval History Study Group
- Merovingian Dynasty Study Group
- Numismatic Study Group
- Philatelic Study Group
- Plymouth Colony Genealogy Study Group
- Roman Study Group
- Royal & Noble Genealogy Study Group
- Royalty & Nobility Study Group
- Scandinavian Study Group
- Scottish Genealogy Study Group
- Ships Passenger Lists Index Study Group
- Spanish Genealogy Study Group
Proposal: The Society should, on a rotating basis, advertise the potential of the inactive Study Groups to the membership in an effort to reactivate as many as may have support.
Proposal: The Society should, through the office of Dean of Studies and guided by the Member Interest Survey, invite specific members to reactivate particular Study Groups, and to create more for new topics.
