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P.A.H.H. [d]

Preservation of American Hellenic History

Symposia

Synonym: Conferences

Vocabulary. A symposium is a sort of a conference; symposia are sorts of conferences. Symposia and conferences are synonymous in this context.

Regional Initiative,
Lineage of a series of symposia

This lineage may indicate some of the effects that regional initiative can have, the results that can be achieved.

1998

An inaugural symposium for the Preservation of Our History: Past, Present, and Future was convened in Oakland, February 1998, co-sponsored by the Ascension Historical Committee (Oakland, CA), the Hellenic Cultural Association (Salt Lake City, UT), and the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute (Berkeley, CA).

Conceived, planned and executed by these three co-sponsoring organizations, the symposium was attended by participants from Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Washington, and Utah, as well as from several cities in California. Following the event, news reports published in the Greek American press drew requests for information about the symposium from Illinois, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Missouri, as well as from London, England.

  • Speakers were Mary Kumarelas Mousalimas, Speros Vryonis Jr., Paul. G. Manolis, James Steve Counelis, Constantine J. Skedros, Gabrielle Morris, Helen Papanikolas, and Betty Psaltis Duncan.
  • The proceedings have been published as a section in the Greek Orthodox Theological Review (GOTR), vol. 45, no. 1-4 (2000), pp. 345-425.
  • A fuller description of the 1998 symposium can be found in its own web-page.

1999

Since the inaugural symposium, the Ascension Historical Committee, the Hellenic Cultural Association, and the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute have co-sponsored two more symposia. Both of these events were successful. Both encouraged the history preservation committees in the communities in which these further symposia were held.

The first of these subsequent two, the Arizona Greek Cultural History Symposium, was held in Phoenix, Arizona, in February 1999.

  • The local preparations were made by the Arizona Greek Cultural Heritage Project, a group which had been formed just a few months earlier.
  • The keynote speaker was Helen Z. Papanikolas of Salt Lake City, a respected historian of the state of Utah and the American West.

2001

The next, the Valley Cultural History Symposium, took place in the Greek Orthodox Church Complex in Stockton, California, in June 2001.

  • Helen Z. Papanikolas of Salt Lake City was the keynote speaker in this event, as she had been in the earlier symposium.
  • This symposium promoted, and resulted in, the formation of the Saint Basil Heritage Society.
  • Furthermore, this symposium prompted the creation of a national web-site:
    • In the Greek Orthodox Church Complex, Stockton, California, a special meeting was held by members of the Ascension Historical Committee, the Hellenic Cultural Association, the Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, the Arizona Greek Cultural History Project, and the newly founded Saint Basil Heritage Society.
    • They agreed that a web-site should be created to promote our aims nationwide.
    • The PAHH web-site developed from this creative decision — and PAHH.com was launched within a year, March 2002, sponsored by the Ascension Historical Committee.

2002

We were able to express our purposes and provide direction on a national level by initiating and organizing some workshops about Procedures for the Preservation of Parish History.

The workshops were held, July 1 - 2, 2002, as a part of the 36th Biennial Clergy Laity Congress of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. The congress was convened in Los Angeles, California, June 30 to July 4, 2002, hosted by the Diocese of San Francisco.

Sixty-four cities from twenty states were represented when people signed the guestbook in our workshops. There were visitors from other locations as well, who did not sign but who did pick up our printed material.

Furthermore, a Resolution of the San Francisco Diocese was taken as a proposal onto the floor of the Congress for the preservation of community histories. The resolution had been prompted by an earlier proposal from the Ascension Historical Committee to the San Francisco Diocese conference, February 2002.

2006

Momentum continues at the regional level with a Symposium for the Historical Societies of the Metropolis of San Francisco. Presented by the Ascension Historical Committee of Oakland, California, and the Holy Trinity Historical Society of San Francisco, California, the symposium was convened on April 29, 2006, in the Ascension Cathedral Complex, Oakland, with the blessing of His Eminence Gerasimos, Metropolitan of San Francisco.

  • Opening Remarks
  • Participant Introductions
  • The Importance of Forming a Preservation Committee
  • The Importance of Family History Interviews
  • Using Technology & Prosopography
  • Programs to Reach Out to the Community for Historical Memorabilia
  • Archiving Properly
  • Open Forum / Group Discussion

While covering vital topics for the sake of our groups, which have already been organized, we hope more widely that our own zeal will generate interest in the work we do and will result in the establishment of new preservation groups.

We also hope that annual meetings (or symposia) will rotate through parishes of the Metropolis of San Francisco and open lines of communication and cooperation among us.

2007

Symposium for the Historical Societies of the Metropolis of San Francisco. Presented by the Holy Trinity Historical Society of San Francisco and Ascension Historical Society of Oakland, California, the symposium will be convened on May 5, 2007, at the Holy Trinity Complex, San Francisco, with the blessing of His Eminence Gerasimos, Metropolitan of San Francisco.

2007 Symposium Registration Information.

  • Opening Remarks
  • Greeks and Russians Together
  • The Los Angeles Greek Community
  • The Seattle Greek Community
  • The History of the Daughters of Penelope
  • The Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute
  • The Salt Lake Greek History Museum
  • Growing Up Greek in the Bay Area
  • The Oakland Greek Community
  • Open Forum / Group Discussion

While covering vital topics for the sake of our groups, which have already been organized, we hope more widely that our own zeal will generate interest in the work we do and will result in the establishment of new preservation groups.

We also hope that annual meetings (or symposia) will rotate through parishes of the Metropolis of San Francisco and open lines of communication and cooperation among us.

Furthermore


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