The Annual General Meeting of the Society was held at 2pm on Saturday 4 June 2016, in the Chancellor's Hall, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU. The President, Professor Catharine Edwards, was in the chair and welcomed members and non-members.
The President reported on the Society's activities over the previous year, starting with its publication programme. She thanked the Publications Secretary, Dr Lynn Pitts, the current Editors, Professor Catherine Steel (JRS) and Professor Barry Burnham (Britannia), and the Review Editors, Dr Christopher Kelly (JRS) and Dr Hella Eckardt (Britannia). The Society published one Britannia monograph in 2015: No. 27, The Towns of Roman Britain. The Contribution of Commercial Archaeology since 1990, edited by Michael Fulford and Neil Holbrook. Two monographs will be published later in the year: No. 28, Silchester: Changing Visions of a Roman Town. Integrating Geophysics and Archaeology: the Results of the Silchester Mapping Project 2005–2010 by John Creighton with Robert Fry, and No. 29, New Visions of the Countryside of Roman Britain. Volume 1: The Rural Settlement of Roman Britain by Alexander Smith, Martyn Allen, Tom Brindle and Michael Fulford. Finally, the President noted that two further issues of Epistula had been published online, and she thanked the Editors, Dr Ben Croxford and Dr Louise Revell who were now stepping down, and the two commissioning editors for history and literature, Professor Neville Morley and Dr Emma Buckley.
The President then turned to the programme of events and lectures. In the session 2015–2016, the usual programme of lectures held in London at Senate House featured Tom Holland; Professor Jean-Louis Ferrary, who delivered the M.V. Taylor lecture; and Professor Pierre Leriche and Dr Jen Baird, who delivered a pair of lectures on the threatened Syrian site of Dura Europos. Last July, over four hundred attended a conference at Senate House on Greek and Roman armour, held in collaboration with the Hellenic Society (and generously sponsored by Christian Levett). In September, for the first time, we held a joint lecture at the British Academy with the British Institute at Ankara: Tim Mitford: East of Asia Minor. Rome's Hidden Frontier. Our usual joint conference with the Association for Roman Archaeology was held at the British Museum in November on the theme: Recent Archaeology in Roman Britain. Out of London, we also held our annual conference in Yorkshire with the Roman Antiquities Section (Yorkshire Archaeological Society), this year on Rural Settlement in Roman Yorkshire. We also held the second of our Biennial Roman Britain Day Conferences in the UK. This event was hosted by the University of Southampton and explored the topic, Talking to the Gods. New Research from Roman Britain. Lastly, in September, fifty members and guests enjoyed a walk around Roman London, including the rarely accessible Billingsgate bath-house, and a hands-on session at the Museum of London Archaeological Archive looking at the finds from the Bloomberg excavations.
The President also drew attention to a number of forthcoming events, including the first joint lecture with the Friends of the British School at Athens; an open day at the Ippleplen excavations; this year's conference in Yorkshire (Romans and Natives in Central Britain); a lecture and viewing of the British Museum exhibition, Sunken Cities. Egypt's Lost Cities; the annual conference with the Association for Roman Archaeology at the British Museum (The Roman Empire off Limits); and the Joan Pye Lecture hosted with the Roman Research Trust.
Many of these events have been co-ordinated by the Archaeology Committee and the President thanked its members, especially the Chair, Dr Peter Guest, and Secretary, Dr Andrew Birley. Much of the Committee's energy had been focused on the organisation of the Roman Archaeology Conference (RAC) which had been held in March at La Sapienza in Rome, in collaboration with the British School at Rome. The conference attracted over 700 delegates from 34 countries, and 277 papers were presented in 44 sessions. The President thanked the Archaeology Committee, the Director of the British School, Professor Christopher Smith, and the team at La Sapienza, led by Professor Enzo Lippolis, for their efforts in bringing together such a successful event. At the opening ceremony, the Society's dissertation prize was awarded to Alasdair Gilmour (University of Exeter) for his thesis on Authority and Influence in Late Iron Age Inscribed Kentish Coinage.
The President thanked all who serve on the Society's Committees, especially the retiring Council members, Dr Richard Hobbs, Dr Jennifer Ingleheart and Miss Kate Murray (the Meeting sent its congratulations to Miss Murray whose wedding was taking place that day).
The President reported that following the Society's EGM in December, negotiations with the University of London had now been concluded, and the twenty-five year Agreement between HARL and the University of London had been signed on 28 April. The UoL would now be responsible for space costs and HARL for salary costs; other costs would be split between the two entities. Although the Society's contribution would increase, we are now in a stronger position to plan our resources and fundraising, and the HARL Board would be meeting shortly to plan the fundraising campaign. A new Library Management Committee and Collections Development Committee would be operational from the autumn. The President paid tribute to the efforts of the officers of both societies, especially Mrs McKnight who had been responsible for most of the drafting of the Agreement and presented her with flowers. The President also thanked the Hon. Librarian, Professor Crawford, for his dedicated efforts and the Meeting sent its best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to Professor Crawford who had suffered ill health.
The President asked Dr Philip Kay, the Honorary Treasurer, to deliver his report. Dr Kay presented the accounts for 2015, and referred members to MacIntyre Hudson's statement approving the Accounts. The accounts show total net incoming resources, before investment gains, of £100,029 (2014: £76,593) and of £120,180 (2014: £145,671) after investment gains. Net cash inflows to the Society were a very healthy £60,544 in 2015 (£114,451 in 2014). The Society's investment portfolio was valued at £1,480,780 (2014: £1,360,549) at the end of the financial year. The investments continued to be held in the Newton Growth & Income Fund for Charities which was up by 6% on a total return basis in 2015 and outperformed its benchmark by 3.8%. As usual, the two major factors were income from our publishing agreement with Cambridge University Press, and expenditure on the Joint Library. In 2015, total revenue from CUP was up by 9% to £123,874 (2014: £114,032). The Society's payments to the University of London for the Library in 2015 amounted to £48,827 (2014: £51,843). Following the new Agreement, the Society's contribution to the Library will increase by c. £42,000 in 2016.
The President thanked the Treasurer for his work on the accounts during the year. The Report and Accounts for 2015 were approved on the proposal of Dr Helen Cockle and seconded by Professor Kate Cooper. The remuneration of MacIntyre Hudson was proposed by Dr Tim Leary and seconded by Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, and the reappointment of MacIntyre Hudson was proposed by Mr Mark Feeley and seconded by Mr Graham Kentfield.
Dr Christopher Kelly proposed and Ms Hazel Bird seconded the following nominations for Council: as Vice-Presidents for 2016–17: Dr A.M. Burnett, CBE, FBA, FSA, Professor M.G. Fulford, CBE, FBA, FSA, Professor D.W. Rathbone; as Hon. Treasurer and Hon. Secretary for 2016–17: Dr P.B. Kay, FSA and Mrs E.S. McKnight, respectively; and as Council members for 2016–19: Professor S. James, FSA, Dr C. Kuhn, Dr J. Mairat, Ms C. McDonald, Dr R. Tomber, FSA and Professor A. Wallace-Hadrill, OBE, FBA, FSA. All the above Resolutions were passed nem. con.
Dr Kay noted that subscription rates had last been raised in 2007 and that given it was necessary to organise a fundraising campaign for the Library, it was now an appropriate time to review subscriptions. He proposed raising rates by 6.5% as follows: the rate for full membership (one journal) should be increased from £46/$92 to £49/$98 (£48 for direct debit payers) and the rate for full membership (two journals) should be increased from £69/$138 to £73/$147 (£71 for direct debit payers). All student rates would remain unchanged. The Resolution was proposed by Professor Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, seconded by Mr Graham Kentfield and passed nem. con.
The AGM was followed by a colloquium: Families and the Law in Rome. The speakers were Dr Valentina Arena, Roman Family Between Private and Public, Professor Alison Cooley, Roman Families in the Ashmolean and Dr Margaret Mountford, The Apion Family Archive.
