The 2025 business meeting of the William Gilmore Simms Society was held at 6pm on Friday, 18 July 2025, in the Kendall Room of the South Caroliniana Library.
Society President Jeff Rogers called us to order. Rogers formally stepped down as per the end of his two-year term and president-elect Kevin Kerr took over as Society president, beginning his two-year term. Mr. Kerr presided.
American Literature Association Report: Dr. John Miller reported on the success of the Society’s two panels at the American Literature Association meeting held in Boston in May of this year. Miller and Society member Dr. Matt Harrington (University of TN-Southern) both presented at the meeting, as did three graduate students: Mei Xioahan (Fudan University, China), Angelique Bassard (UNC-Chapel Hill), and Gabriel Davaeau (Université de Lille, France), all of whom were able to attend because of the support of the Ron Plunkett Fellowship in Simms Studies. Dr. Miller said that Simms Review editor emeritus Todd Hagstette was collecting these papers to print in an upcoming “proceedings” edition of the Review.
Secretary-Treasurer’s Report: Secretary-Treasurer Matt Simmons reported on the need to further grow the Society and to correct its rolls. He was encouraged to remove any annual members who are not paid up on dues and to work with life members, many of whom were present at the meeting, on identifying deceased life members to remove them from the rolls. A discussion on attracting new members naturally flowed out of this, with President Kerr’s suggestion of using the 250th as a way of attracting new members to the Society generally regarded as a good idea.
Dr. Simmons informed us that we have approximately $17,500 in cash reserves at this time. He reminded us that our institutional home, the Institute for Southern Studies at USC, generously covers our web hosting costs, though we will need to renew our domain name next year at a fairly minimal cost. The only expenses this year have been the Wigwam itself and printing costs for The Simms Review, which were high: a bit over $1300.
Next, Simmons noted that long-time Simms Review editor Todd Hagstette has resigned his position, citing increasingly onerous professional obligations at USC-Aiken. This led to a significant discussion of the future of the Review.
The Simms Review: Simmons noted that conversations with Hagstette had revealed difficulty in publishing the Review in recent years, citing the challenges of getting scholars to submit articles and in getting peer review done. Simmons also shared the findings of Society life member Dr. Matt Brennan (Indiana State University), who noted that the journal has not been indexed in the MLA International Bibliography since 2013 and is not listed as a peer-reviewed publication. Simmons reiterated the high cost of publishing the journal and the frustrations of getting so many back as “return to sender” in recent years.
Simmons proposed that the next editor and secretary-treasurer explore shifting the Review to a digital-only publication, utilizing the Open Journal Systems software created by Simon Fraser University (British Columbia). This open-source system is used by more than 44,000 journals around the world to publish their scholarship; it would allow for a streamlined submission, peer review, and publication process, and also includes automated tools to index our scholarship into the major academic databases.
A motion and second was made to investigate this move to digital-only publication; it was carried unanimously.
Finally, Dr. David Newton suggested that the next editor consider transitioning the journal away from a Simms-exclusive journal and look at re-positioning it as a journal of 19th century intellectual history and culture, with a primary focus on Simms and Simms-related topics. Simmons agreed to share this suggestion with the next editor.
Elections: With Dr. Hagstette’s resignation, the positions of president-elect, secretary-treasurer, two at-large members, and editor of the Review were all up for election.
- President-Elect: A nomination and second were made for Dr. Carey Roberts, Liberty University
- Secretary-Treasurer: A nomination and second were made for Dr. Matthew Simmons, University of South Carolina, to continue in this role.
- At-Large Members: A nomination and second were made for Drs. John Miller, Longwood University, and Sam Lackey, Great Basin College, to continue in this role.
- Editor of the Review: A nomination and a second were made for Dr. Manuel Correoso, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain).
Mr. Kerr called for a vote on this slate of officers, which was elected unanimously. As Dr. Correoso was elected in abstentia, his election is provisional upon his acceptance. As such, the editorship is currently listed as vacant, pending Dr. Correoso’s acceptance.
New Business: Mr. Kerr suggested we look into integrating Simms–and the Society–into the events going on in South Carolina next year for the 250th, as Simms and the Revolution is an easy fit. The Society expressed gratitude to Mr. Nathan Saunders and the staff of the South Caroliniana for hosting us.
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded; the motion carried unanimously.