Newsletters - A Guided Tour
by Paul Johnston
After all the dive club members have graduated and moved on with their lives, the newsletters (and now, the email messages if stored) are the remaining proof that the dive club existed as a long term entity at the University of Texas of Austin. The printed word of these newsletters recorded facts, events, dates, and people's names connected with the club. The newsletters remain as a permanent record for our fuzzy memories. It is unclear exactly when the first newsletter came out. From the interview with Jim McAfee, the first club President, the first newsletter may have come out as early as 1966. It is fortunate that an incomplete collection of newsletters does exist from late 1967 to early 1998. The earliest existing newsletter found so far dates Oct. 1967. The last published newsletter (mailed) was for May 1998. Since then, no other newsletters have been mailed. Brief email notices seem to have taken the place of the traditional newsletter. I encourage members that have past newsletters to contact me and tell me what issues you have. Copies of missing issues can be collected to help preserve the club's complete history.
As this collection of newsletters sits in front of me, a span of more than 30 years unfolds its details. Not only the historical facts themselves are entertaining, but the actual structure of the newsletter itself is fun to observe. Here are some of the things that jump out to the newsletter detective:
The Print
Until the mid eighties, newsletters were typed on real typewriters. Words were composed on paper by hand and then a stencil was cut on the typewriter. Stencils were placed on a printing machine and copies ran. From Oct. 1967 to Nov. 1968 the ink was black. Starting with the fall roster of 1969 through Feb. 1976, a purplish-blue "ink" was used. This "ink" was a product of the mimeographing process. In the early years after an newsletter stencil was cut, arrangements would be made to use the mimeograph machine of the Student Union Office and copies run. Afterwards, someone, generally the secretary would have to fold, staple, stamp, hand address, and mail the newsletter hopefully before the meeting. Getting out the newsletters is probably the most time consuming job the dive club has to do. If this task fell on to only one individual, the frustration level would reach a high pitch as we will see later.
From Mar. 1976 to the present, black ink has been the ink of choice.
Paper Color
The majority of the paper used for the newsletters has been white in color. The first introduction of colored paper was in Oct. 1975 through Feb. 1976. The paper color was yellow with the purplish-blue ink from the mimeograph machine. From Mar. 1976 to July 1988, the paper color used was white with one exception. The Sept. 1977 issue used blue paper. From Sept. 1988 through April 1992, a multitude of colors (blue, green, yellow, pink, and hot pink colors) were used to print on. From May 1992 to April 1998, white paper has been used.
Paper Size
As one would expect, three sizes of papers have been used, 8.5" x 11" , 8.5" x 14", and 11" x 17." Probably the 8.5" x 14" has been used the most. When this size was used, the print ran down the whole vertical length. However, from Sept. 1988 through Sept. 1996, this size paper was folded into booklet form to give handling dimensions of 7" x 8.5." The 11" x 17" size paper has been used from Oct. 1996 through April 1998. When folded into a booklet format, the handling size is 8.5" x 11."
The standard paper size of 8.5" x 11" was used from Oct. 1967 through May 1972. From June 1972 through Oct. 1983 the 8.5" x 14" size was used in the vertical format. The dive club switched back to the standard 8.5" x 11" paper from Dec. 1983 through July 1988 until, as mentioned above, the 8.5" x 14" booklet style appeared in Sept. 1988.
Newsletter Addresses
From Oct. 1967 to March 1986, the newsletters were hand addressed with a one time period exception. From Feb. 1980 through April 1981 address labels were used. From April 1986 through April 1998 the newsletters have had address labels.
Return Address
From Oct. 1967 to June 1983 and from June 1986 to July 1988, some type of rubber return address stamp has been used, with the exception of a few hand written return addresses during this period. Starting in July 1983 to April 1986 and from Sept. 1988 to April 1998, the return address has been printed on the newsletter during the printing process. Return address which were not printed on the newsletters were created by three different styles of rubber return address stamps.
From Oct. 1967 to Feb. 1968, the red inked stamp that was used said:
University of Texas
Underwater Society
BOX 8372 UNIV. STATION AUSTIN, TEXAS
On Monday, February 5, 1968 a special meeting was held to discuss a point system to be used to encourage club participation for the semester. Also at that meeting we voted to drop "University of Texas" from the club name because of a recent University ruling that would no longer allow "University of Texas" be included in any campus organization name. One member who helped put out the newsletter said it would be no problem to cut out the "University of Texas" part of the rubber address return stamp. Look at the return address on the March 1968 newsletter and you will see that the return address now says:
Underwater Society
BOX 8372 UNIV. STATION AUSTIN, TEXAS
From March 1968 to Nov. 1968 this modified second return address stamp was used. Starting in the fall of 1969 the return address was hand written until March 1972. Starting March 1972 a new black inked rubber return address stamp was used stating:
UNIVERSITY UNDERWATER SOCIETY
P.O. Box 8372
U T Station
Austin, Texas 78712
This third style of return stamp was used starting in March 1972 spanning through July 1988 whenever addresses were not printed on the newsletter . Starting in Sept. 1988 through April 1998, the return address was printed exclusively on the newsletter.
Prepaid Return Postcards
These have been used for voting purposes on two occasions when attendance at club meetings were low. By counting postcard votes along with voting members in attendance, then a better representation of member opinions could be obtained. A use of postcards happened in March 1971 when new equipment was proposed to enable members to dive in a variety of conditions and dues increases were proposed to help finance this equipment. Also, the Parliamentarian form of procedures were proposed to be changed to an informal structure or limiting the business part of the meeting to a maximum of 15 minutes.
A second time the postcards were used was to vote for new officers in Feb. 1972.
Along a similar line, in January 1973 a postcard was used to announce the first meeting of the Spring semester on Thursday, January 25 at 7 PM in the Union Junior Ballroom.
Graphics
The first drawing appeared on the Oct. 13, 1969 newsletter showing two small fish in the upper left hand corner talking to one another saying, "Oh no, here they com!" [referring to the divers going diving at the beginning of the fall semester.]
The second graphic to appear was at the bottom of the August 15, 1972 newsletter showing a cartoon of a professor grabbing a skin diver by the mask and pointing to "School." [again, referring to the beginning of a new school year.]
Starting in Jan. 1976 , the newsletters starting to include more diving graphics. Many examples have been included in the library of past newsletters.
Calendars
The main purpose of a newsletter is to give a listing of upcoming events. If a member cannot make the meeting, the newsletter allows him to attend other events later on in the month. It was not until Sept. 1983 that an actual calendar was presented on a newsletter.
Officer Signatures
Starting in the Aug. 1970 newsletter, the club President signed his name to the bottom of the letter. Since the President had the responsibility for the overall content, the newsletter was signed by him or her. Sometimes other officers would fill in and sign their names. This tradition continued until Sept. 1988 when computers took over producing the newsletter. Even with computer generated letters, officers will "sign" their section of the newsletter.
Rosters
Membership rosters are generally included shortly after beginning of each semester . This lets all the members know how to contact a potential dive buddy or club member for a club event. The general health of the club is reflected by the number of members showing up on the roster. Most names showing up will be dues paid members. However, there will be past members, honorary members, and friends of the club. Still all those names reflect people that are in one way or another associated with the club. Sometimes, the roster may indicate an average number of members, but the club participation can be poor. The content of the newsletter over a period may reflect whether the membership is active or not.
The earliest surviving roster, the Oct. 1967 one, has been included along with others that were included as part of past newsletters. For almost 20 years from Oct. 1967 to Nov. 1988, members names, addresses, and phone numbers were given. Starting in Nov. 1988 through April 1998, only members names and phone numbers appear.
Looking at the Oct. 1967 roster, you will find many people living around or in the University area. In the mid sixties, incoming freshman were required to live in what was known as "University approved housing." Most of this housing was located in and around the immediate University area. Come the early seventies, this "approved housing" idea went away and you will see the membership living further away from the University. The shuttle buses did not exist in 1969. However, in the early seventies, the shuttle bus had come into existence and University students lived over a wide area.
Postal Matters
One of the 1967 newsletters shows that postage at that time was only four cents. In 1968, postage was six cents and upward since that time. No zip codes were used on newsletter addresses until around 1970. In fact, up to 1969, newsletters mailed to be delivered in Austin often had just "City" written in to stand for Austin, Texas. What I found to be interesting was a 1968 summer newsletter mailed to my home address in Longview, Texas. The street was written as "Buller Drive", no zip code, when it should have been "Butler Drive." I received it despite the incorrect address.
Monthly Meeting Place
After the club was established, the meeting room for the monthly meetings was Union Room 300 on the south side of the Student Union Building . This was the meeting place until the 1970's when another Student Union room was used. Over time many Student Union Building rooms have been used and even the Business Economics Building. Over the recent years, RLM (Robert Lee Moore) 4.102 room has been used.
When an officer finds that he/she is the only one doing all the work, the frustration level builds. This happens in particular in getting the newsletter out to its members. In July 1989, President Kat Bussey laid her thoughts directly on the line to both the club officers and membership. This is what she had to say on page 3, July 1989, Vol. 25, No. 6.
"Another newsletter goes out. This isn't the first one I've written, laid out, printed, stamped, addressed (hand written), and mailed out without any help from the other so-called officers. Gee,last February, some people couldn't wait to take over. Guess it's a different story when you realize it takes work.
I have another month left, but don't expect much. I would resign, but I want to watch the USC crash and burn.
No longer will I have to buy a bunch of junk for a dive where no one bothers to show. Officers are expected to come to more than one activity a year.
I've had it with doing everything myself. Unless someone else takes some initiative, this will be the last newsletter, because there won't be anything to print."
-Kat Bussey
Those of us who have been officers and members that have found ourselves in the same boat, appreciate Kat's ability to lay her thoughts on the line in order to jar the membership into sharing the work. Kat volunteered her time the following year as Newsletter Editor.
On 11-01 and 11-04-1999, I received these edited email comments from Tim Kennedy, our club faculty sponsor and past President :
"I was checking out your Scuba Club history site and saw how you've added a sampling of newsletters. That's a neat idea. Of course, I'll have to figure out how to get the plug-ins in order to access them. I liked your little quote from Kat Bussey. She joined the club at its lowest point. She came to a meeting where the president quit, saying he was too busy. There was about 5 people in the RLM audience, including me, Dave Senecal and Scott Gainer. Kat was the only UT student. I turned to her and said "How would you like to be club president?"
She had called me a few days before that meeting asking for information on the club. She had gotten my name and number from the Campus Activities Office where they told her I was associated with the club. So, she became president at her very first meeting.
Dave and I helped her run an info table on the West Mall for a week and we were able to build up the membership."
Desperation
President Joseph Guerrero found the club in March 1971 to be in desperate straits as compared to the 1964 to 1969 time period. Read the March 1971 newsletter to see what President Guerrero proposed to get the club headed in a new direction. Up until the end of 1969 the University Underwater Society obtained its membership from those interested in the sport of diving and those that wanted to learn to scuba dive. During that time period the club had its own instructors and taught its own dive course for the very reasonable rate of $25.00 ( including equipment). In order to take the course, the potential dive student must first join the dive club and pay dues in order to get the the bargain priced dive course. The club could easily add 40 or more members per year from the new dive students alone. As the years progressed, new members plus renewals provided a healthy manpower for the club's activities.
By 1970, all the club instructors and more experienced club members had graduated from the University. Local dive shops were now training the new divers and giving nationally recognized certifications. By the mid seventies, J. Rich Sports of Austin was conducting the "informal" Texas Union student diving course. Come the 1980's the University had added scuba diving to its physical education curriculum. From the 1970s onward, the University Underwater Society could not rely on the conducting a beginning dive course to draw its membership.
What has been realized during the years in which the dive club has had active participation is that the success of the modern dive club hinges on entertaining its membership with good programs and a variety of activities. For this to happen, the club has to have an organized group of officers preplanning , publicizing, and sharing the work load of organizing activities for the membership. When all these factors come together, the dive club prospers.
The Golden Years - 1964 to 1969
These years are the years in which today's club has its primary foundation. The sport of diving was relatively new and exciting. Not many people in relation to the total population knew how to dive. Diving was thought of as adventurous. Because the club had developed a diving course, members were not hard to come by due to the dedication of the founding members. Before the advent of the desktop computers, these hardworking members put out newsletters by cutting stencils on typewriters. Dive course material and instructor manuals were developed by typewriter and mimeograph machines. Dives, parties, club entertainment, dive courses, point system for participation, bottle derby, turtle derby,club trips, spearfishing contests, awards banquet, humorous awards, skin and scuba diving at local lakes and rivers, club constitution, posters, newspaper advertisements, phone calling lists, polar bear dives, club air cards, inexpensive diving equipment rental, executive officer meetings, a student body representative, and the newsletters are some of the building blocks put into place by the members of the early years. For these things, we can be very grateful.
Included in the library of newsletters from the past are many newsletters from "The Golden Years" 1964 - 1969.
© Copyright - 2000 - Paul Johnston