History of the American Spelean History Association
by Jack H. Speece
One of the original committees formed under the guidelines of the
National Speleological Society was on folklore and was headed by noted
historian, Clay Perry. After his death in the early 1950’s, the
interest faded. Burton Faust made several contributions afterwards, but
it was not an organized effort.
By 1967 the caving community was becoming more and more specialized.
The concept for a spelean history group was inevitable. Authors were
submitting their articles to a wide verity of publications including
over 100 grotto newsletters. Historical articles were being overlooked
in most abstracts. Research for verification and information was
extremely difficult.
William R. Halliday set forth to organize the speleo historians and
create a publication to serve as their outlet. After considerable
preliminary informal discussions a formal meeting was held on December
28, 1967 to organize the group. William Halliday was elected temporary
president and editor, Jerry Fraham as secretary-treasurer, with Harold
Meloy and Tom Meador as additional trustees. Afterwards, Bill started
publishing The Journal
of Spelean History.
The first annual meeting of the American Spelean History Association
was held on Friday, August 23, 1968 at the annual convention of the
National Speleological Society, held in Springfield, Missouri. The
constitution and by-laws were adopted and William Halliday, John
Bridge, Harold Meloy, Tom Meador and Jerry Fraham were elected
trustees. The trustees appointed John Bridge as president, Peter Hauer
as secretary-treasurer and William Halliday as editor. Charter members
were enlisted until the end of 1968 with a total of seventy one.
The main concern of the organization was the continuation of the
publication The Journal
of Spelean History. Bill Halliday did a splendid job of producing the Journal for the
first six years before handing it to Pat Quinlan. Its existence
stimulated the formation of the group and growth in membership. In
addition the association was registered as a corporation with the State
of Washington.
This all occurred during a time when the National Speleological Society
was struggling from a bureaucratic Board of Governors and several
splinter groups were being created to compete with the Society.
Therefore, the members of ASHA felt that to avoid any conflicts or
outside influences, the association should remain independent and have
no affiliations. Its goal was to keep a broad perspective of history,
international in scope, and serve a wide range of individuals. A
philosophy of keeping it simple and allowing the members to “do their
own thing” prevailed. This was a society which served its members and
required no sacrifices in return.
By 1978 the politics of the National Speleological Society had
stabilized and the splinter groups had disappeared. ASHA had served as
the historical outlet for the NSS for over ten years and sponsored the
history session at all of the conventions. At the annual meeting in
Lovell, Wyoming, the question was proposed by the officers that ASHA
consider becoming an official section of the NSS. This became a motion
which was approved at the 1979 convention in Pittsfield, Massachusetts
The original concept for the Association has been maintained throughout
the years with very little change. The Journal has
continued as a quality publication and the membership has continued to
grow. Politics has not has an influence and the members continue to do
their own thing.
(From The Journal of
Spelean History, Volume 27, Number 1, Issue #89, Jan. -
Mar., 1993)
Last
updated or validated on October 24, 2011