Electronic Newsletter, March, 2008
TO MEMBERS AND FRIENDS OF THE NATIONAL SOCIETY MAGNA CHARTA DAMES AND BARONS, POTENTIAL MEMBERS AND THOSE WHO SHARE OUR INTEREST IN THE PRINCIPLES OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY
FROM LEWIS L. NEILSON JR., CHANCELLOR
DATE: MARCH 29, 2008
If this is the first Electronic Newsletter that you have received from our Society, please read the paragraph OUR E-MAIL LIST below. The link to the Newsletter on the Website is:
http://www.magnacharta.org/enews032008.htm The link to the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org.Topics:
New Information ***Short Term Goals - Long Term Vision
*** Dinner in Washington, DC- April 12, 2008
*** Lunch in Washington, DC- July 2008
*** Magna Carta To Remain in the United States
*** Views From England
*** Notes Concerning Video
*** Magna Carta/USA Week & Conference – June 2008
*** Magna Carta Trust – 50th Anniversary - October 2008
*** The Magna Carta 1215 U.S. Tours – Overview
*** Our 100th Anniversary
Membership Initiatives
Reissue of Magna Charta in 2015 - 800th Anniversary
Participation in State Divisions
Greetings
I wish all of our Divisions Colonies and Chapters well with your programs and meetings.
We have added a "members only" section of our website. THE MEMBER NAME AND PASSWORD ARE CASE SENSITIVE. We have sent the username and password (which is case sensitive) to all of our members who have been identified as members in our email program. Since that is different from our member database it is necessary to individually identify people as members in the email program so that is in process. If you are a member and did not receive the email with the password, please send us an email with your full name and address with MEMBER and state in the subject line.
Continuing Theme: Short Term Goals - Long Term Vision
We introduced a page on our Website which identifies the short term goals and long term vision for our Society, consistent with our purposes and supporting our mission. This page will be periodically updated and we invite suggestions. Please look at the "What's New" Page on our Web Site for information.
Dinner in Washington DC - Saturday, April 12, 2008
Our Washington DC dinner is scheduled for Saturday, April 12, 2008. There is a reply form on the website. We encourage you to attend. As in prior years we have included a reception portion for those who might have additional activities that evening. You may request a subscription to either the reception alone or both the reception and dinner. We especially welcome patron participation even if you are unable to attend the dinner. Reply Form Link
Lunch in Washington DC in July:
Last year we scheduled an information lunch for members in Washington DC during DAR Week. We found a convenient and attractive restaurant and those participating ordered from the menu. Let us know if you might be interested in a lunch this year for planning purposes.
Magna Carta To Remain In the United States:
On March 24, 2008 I was pleased to have a conversation with David Rubenstein Esquire concerning his vision for his Magna Carta which he purchased in December and has loaned to the National Archives for display in Washington DC. The video is on our website. (requires Microsoft Silverlight which is a free download)
Views From England:
On February 24, 2008 I met with Ashley Mote, Member of the European Parliament, Independent MEP for South-east England, who shared some of his views concerning Magna Carta in a short video clip. The video is on our website. (requires Microsoft Silverlight which is a free download) His website is www.ashleymote.co.uk
Notes Concerning Video:
We are planning to continue and expand this format for sharing individual views on the Magna Charta. We continue to emphasize video from talks presented in a public forum (hopefully with the text), however, we do not wish to wait for a formal talk when there is a message which can be shared using our website.
Magna Carta USA Week June 2008
Lincoln Cathedral is planning for a Magna Carta USA Week with a banquet on Thursday June 19, 2008 and lecture on Friday June 20, 2008. There will also be an International Forum at the University of Lincoln concerning Magna Carta from Wednesday June 25, 2008 to Saturday June 28, 2008.
The Forum will examine what a modern day charter of rights might contain and to debate the issues. Planned participants include British politicians Liam Fox, Lord Falconer, Tony Benn and from the USA by Reg Weaver (President NEA) and Wayne Valis (ex Presidential Aide).Information is attached concerning the Forum which is for young people age 18 to 25.Magna Carta Trust – Celebration October 2, 2008:
The Magna Carta Trust will celebrate its 50th Anniversary with a dinner in London on October 2, 2008. Please let me know if you are interested in attending. Depending on the number of people interested we can plan additional activities for an educational and enjoyable long weekend.
1215 Magna Carta Tour - Overview
The 1215 Lincoln Magna Carta is continuing on tour with individual exhibits for each venue. I am informed that the schedule includes New York City at the historic Fraunces Tavern beginning October 2008, the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley California beginning February 2009, the Gerald Ford Museum in Michigan in the fall of 2009 and the George H. W. Bush Library in College Station Texas in 2010. Wayne Valis, former Presidential Aide, has made an outstanding effort for the tour of the 1215 Magna Carta which has successfully included Virginia Beach and Philadelphia. We have included video from these two exhibits on our website. We are looking forward to recognizing Wayne Valis for his effort at our dinner in Washington DC on April 12, 2008.
There can be a number of additional Exhibit opportunities leading up the the 800th anniversary in 1215 and I would welcome suggestions.
Our 100th Anniversary
We are planning a dinner is Washington DC next Spring 2009 to celebrate our 100th Anniversary. We also invite our Divisions Chapters and Colonies to have celebrations throughout the year and, perhaps, continuing into 2010. For each there are likely to be some excellent and educational programs and perspectives on Magna Charta. This is a good time to plan for recording the events for presentation and sharing.
Membership Initiatives
We are pleased that many of our members have appointed their successors. On the first page of the website there is a tab for Successor Information which will explain succession in our Society.
If you are a member of our Society you may Propose your children for membership using the Proposal Form for our Society. Your signature on the form will be accepted as primary proof of descent and no additional documentation will be necessary. If you propose another relative then descent would need to be established from your common ancestor on your qualifying line.
Reissue of Magna Charta in 2015 - 800th Anniversary - Reminder
We are continuing with planning for the Reissue and welcome interest in a Committee to be established for this purpose.
Our March Newsletter provided information concerning the Reissue Project and I encourage you to review that information.
Participation in State Divisions and New Divisions
We will be sending lists of new members to most of the State Division Regents or local Regents. If you are a member and wish to participate at the State or local level, please let us know. The "members only" section of our website includes contact information for our State Divisions. Please be reminded that it is necessary to first be a member of the National Society in order to participate in State Divisions or Chapters of Colonies.
Several of our members have expressed interest in forming new Divisions. Thank you for your interest and we look forward to assisting with this effort.
Greetings
On behalf of the Officers and Council of the Society, I bring greetings with this Newsletter. We continue to develop awareness of Magna Charta and its message. We ask each of you to participate with us in continuing the long tradition of friendship and fellowship which has continued over many years. We need to increase the number of members and friends on our email listing. Please ask your relatives or friends to send us their E-mail address. Please also send us the E-mail addresses of friends who are interested either in lineage societies or in memorializing Magna Charta. For the future, please propose new members for our Society. Please also attend your local meetings and include your children and grandchildren. We have a very special organization and I hope that you will help us to maintain its traditions.
Thank You
We continue to be pleased with the response from our members to update addresses and provide new addresses for those who have been lost. Many members who were eligible to do so have appointed successors. Updated address lists will be sent to the State Divisions. I am, however, saddened to learn when our members are deceased. I and the Society are grateful for the time, dedicated effort and financial contributions that many of those members have given to our Society. As I update the deceased role with members who I have worked with and known during the past nineteen years, I am reminded that we need to express appreciation on an ongoing basis to all of those who are helping to make our Society a wonderful organization. Thank You!
Potential Members
If you are not a member of our Society and are eligible, I hope that you will join. If you are not eligible but share our interest in history and genealogy, we encourage you to remain on our Email list. We also welcome your participation in our ongoing genealogical research projects and our Tours. We welcome and encourage new members and remind those submitting lineage information to include copies of referenced material.
As mentioned in prior E-Newsletters, membership continues to be of vital importance to our Society. If you wish to speed up or facilitate the membership process, please include with the Proposal Form a well-documented lineage (including copies of the documentation) to either a known ancestor or to one of the qualifying Barons. If you have sent lineage information without the copies, you may also speed up the process by sending copies of the documentation. Lineage Forms are provided on the Website.
Contributions
We rely on member contributions for our Society operations and we plan to build our endowment in connection with the 100th Anniversary of the founding our Society in 1909. We hope you will consider contributions, including contributions of appreciated securities. Our Society is a public charity under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
Enhancement of our E-Mail list
Our email list is a separate list from the roster of the Society. Initially we used Outlook for the list and we did not indicate who was a member or which state they lived in. If you are a member of our Society, please send an email message to
Chancellor@magnacharta.org and write MEMBER in the Subject field followed by a space and then the abbreviation for your state.OUR E-MAIL LIST
We continue to significantly increase our e-mail list. To those of you who are new to our list we welcome you to receive our Electronic Newsletter and hope that you will find our Society and our mission to be interesting. Since a primary mission of our Society is to develop awareness of Magna Charta we wish to expand the circulation of our Electronic Newsletter by increasing our e-mail address list particularly including those who are members of lineage societies and/or those who share our interest in the principles of Constitutional Liberty. I would like to thank those who have shared their email lists since our last Electronic Newsletter.
We encourage you to check our Website regularly for new developments and information. The link to the Newsletter on the Website is:
http://www.magnacharta.org/enews032008.htm The link to the Website is: http://www.magnacharta.org.Our E-mail list is made up of those who have sent us e-mail, of members and friends of the Society who have responded to our Newsletter request for E-mail addresses and others who we believe might be interested in our Society or mission. If you would prefer not to receive future Electronic Newsletters, however, please let us know. If you have friends who you believe might be interested in our Society, please forward this e-mail. If you have received this as a forwarded e-mail, please visit our Website at for more information about our Society. You may also contact our Society Office at 215-836-5022.
Do not hesitate to contact me with questions or suggestions. Chancellor@magnacharta.org
Sincerely,
Lewis L. "Ted" Neilson, Jr.
Chancellor
National Society Magna Charta Dames and Barons
Email: