The
Rawlin(g)s Rollin(g)s Family History Association
Volume 1 No. 2 June
1988
Dear Rawlin(g)s/Rollin(g)s
Cousins:
To say the reception
of the idea
of a RAWLIN(G)S/ROLLIN(G)S FAMILY HISTORY ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER is enthusiastic
is putting it mildly!
It has been heart-warming to
receive not only subscriptions but reams
of material from your own files,
plus many
more names to add to our mailing
list. For those of us who agonized over the possibility of success for our enterprise,
it has been very exciting,
and we hope we can continue
to satisfy the interest you've shown.
We feel like matchmakers
because our Newsletter has already helped a number of you exchange information.
That, after all, is the object of the Association and because
of the information we are receiving from you, we will be able to provide a lot of background data in the next issues.
One
question came up about the Coat of Arms suggested for the masthead. It was our
original intention to place it there until research revealed there are about
eight versions of the RAWLIN(G)S Coat of Arms issued by English monarchs and
other nobility. We'll do an article explaining that in a future issue.
We feel
we should also make clear our intended policy of supplying all four issues to
the subscriber signing up for any given year regardless of when he or she
subscribes.
In the
Editor's letter to you in the March issue it was explained the Association
could do four mailers per year per person for half your subscription fee, the
remaining half to be used for incidental expenses like the "freebies"
to institutions, start-up costs like the Return Mail Stamp, graphics, setting
up the bank account, and paper supplies, typewriter ribbons, etc. There is
also, we are surprised to discover, a lot of correspondence requiring
additional postage.
The
original mailing in March was to 65 persons, beginning with a membership of 6.
As of June 1st, our mailing list numbers 203, with membership now standing at
73. We have not yet mailed to the societies, libraries and other genealogical
institutions since it was decided to wait until it was certain the project
would be a success. This success, however, has caused a problem which must be
addressed if we are to stay solvent. When only about one-third of the mailing
list are subscribers and these are bearing the burden of the postage and
printing costs not only for themselves but for the other two-thirds, there is
bound to be a deficit. As you can see by the Financial Report on P.8 we seem to
have a lot of money in the bank, but if we mail the September and December
issues to 200+ persons ($50 postage plus $100 printing costs per mailer), it
will just about clear out our account should we acquire no additional
subscribers.
Here are
two solutions: First, those who have not subscribed by August 31st will not
receive the Newsletter after that date, meaning no September or December
Newsletter. This will bring our costs per mailing down to what our March letter
proposed. We are very uncomfortable with that since we want all RAWLIN(G)S and
ROLLIN(G)S to be in touch with us, but it seems the only solution. We do not
want to raise the subscription rate, unless the subscribers want bi-monthly
Newsletters, a suggestion made by about a quarter of those signing up.
(continued
on back page)