WELCOME TO THE H-SHEAR NETWORK!PLEASE READ AND SAVE THIS MESSAGE.

This welcome message is designed to provide you with basic information about this network. It contains information on using the list (managing your subscription; tips on contacting and communicating via the list; mailing addresses of the list editors; a list of the current editorial board); rules for posting (style, editorial practice); information about the network's associated service on the World Wide Web; and contact information about the network's parent, H-Net.

Our Sponsoring Organization: SHEAR

H-SHEAR was approved by the SHEAR Council as an official voice of SHEAR, at the annual meeting of SHEAR in July 1995. H-SHEAR is sponsored by the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic, which was established in 1977 as an association of scholars dedicated to exploring the events and meaning of United States history between 1776 and 1861. SHEAR's mission is to foster the study of the early republican period among professional historians, students, and the general public. SHEAR membership includes a subscription to the Journal of the Early Republic, published four times a year by the University of Pennsylvania Press. Please direct all applications for SHEAR memberships and JER subscriptions to Amy Baxter-Bellamy, Executive Coordinator, SHEAR, 3355 Woodland Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4531. Tel. 215-746-5393; Fax 215-573-3391; Email info@shear.org; or go to

http://jer.pennpress.org/PennPress/journals/jer/orderform.pdf

for the order form. All journal submissions and editorial correspondence should be directed to

Roderick A. McDonald, Editor,
Journal of the Early Republic,
The Library Company of Philadelphia,
1314 Locust Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19107-5698.
Tel. 215-546-0754;
Fax 215-546-0755;
E-mail: jer@shear.org; http://jer.pennpress.org

Since 1979 the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic has held annual conventions during the summer. Although membership in SHEAR is not required in order to subscribe to H-SHEAR, it is strongly encouraged. One of H-SHEAR's primary missions is to serve members of SHEAR. The list will publish time-sensitive organization announcements, book reviews, conference programs, book notes and article reviews, and membership information. H-SHEAR's editorial board and editors are nominated by the SHEAR Council and approved by the H-Net editorial board.

I. The H-SHEAR Network: Scope, Content, Purpose.

H-SHEAR is dedicated to enhancing scholarly communication on the history of the early American republic, during the period 1789 to 1850. The list is sponsored by SHEAR, the Society of Historians of the Early American Republic, and is owned by H-Net, Humanities Online, currently centered at Michigan State University. H-SHEAR intends to foster productive exchange of ideas and materials among historically-oriented scholars of a social scientific or humanistic perspective -- the list is not limited to professional, academic historians. Archivists, librarians, public historians, and students at any level with a mature interest in the raft of history during this period are also welcome. Through this list, subscribers and moderators will communicate current research and research interests; discuss new articles, books, papers, approaches, methods and tools of analysis; test new ideas and share comments and tips on teaching.

H-SHEAR invites subscribers to submit syllabi, outlines, handouts, bibliographies, guides to term papers, listings of new sources and archives, and reports on new software, datasets and cd-roms. As a member of H-Net, H-SHEAR will post announcements about conferences, fellowships and grants, research and publication opportunities, and jobs. We are especially interested in reaching college faculty who already have, or plan to teach courses on this period. H-SHEAR will therefore actively solicit syllabi, reading lists, term paper guides, ideas on films and slides, and tips and comments that will be of use to the teacher who wants to add a single lecture, or an entire course.

II. Editors.

The editors serve two-year renewable terms, with the approval of the H-Net Executive Committee and rotate their duties. The current editor will be identified in all messages coming from the list. The editors will solicit postings (by email, phone and even by regular mail), will assist people in managing subscriptions and setting up options, will handle routine inquiries, and will consolidate some postings. Anyone with suggestions about what H-SHEAR can and might do is invited to send in ideas. The editors will solicit and post newsletter-type information (calls for conferences, for example, or listings of sessions at conventions.) Like all H-Net lists, H-SHEAR is moderated to edit out material that, in the editors' opinion, is not germane to the list, involves technical matters (such as subscription management requests), is inflammatory, or violates evolving, yet common, standards of Internet etiquette. Please read section III below for details about ownership, style, formatting, and content of your messages. H-Nets procedure for resolving disputes over list editorial practices is Article II, Section 2.20 of our bylaws, located at:

http://www.h-net.org/about/by-laws.html

III. Communicating Through the List.

A. Copyright notice. PLEASE READ CAREFULLY. H-Net considers all messages posted to its lists to be a form of publication. All contributions to H-SHEAR fall under Art. II, Sec. 2.04 of the H-Net Bylaws concerning copyright and intellectual property:

"Although authors of messages to H-Net lists retain the copyright in those messages, sending a message to an H-Net list for posting will constitute permission to H-Net and its subscribers for electronic distribution and downloading for nonprofit educational purposes with proper attribution to the author, the originating list, and the date of original posting. Original messages to H-Net lists are not in the public domain, and may not be used for other than educational, nonprofit purposes without the permission of the copyright holder and notification to H-Net." In general, the author retains copyright rights to publication of any submission to the list, and grants to H-SHEAR and H-Net permission to store, disseminate with full attribution, and make available to subscribers such submissions without further permission. Postings (such as H-Net reviews) that are commissioned by H-Net are copyrighted by H-Net and may be reprinted for nonprofit, educational purposes with proper attribution to the author, location, and H-Net. A full copy of the H-Net Constitution and Bylaws and other important information may be found on the World Wide Web at: http://www.h-net.org/about/.

B. Contributions: "Netiquette." The tone and content of H-SHEAR depend directly on subscribers. The editors want to encourage lively, informal, productive discussion and exchange of information. To that end, we ask that contributions be considerate of the needs of a busy audience of scholars, many of whom must pay for their access to the internet. A number of excellent guides to online behavior and style are available on the World Wide Web; we invite you consult them.

-- ALL MAIL TO THE LIST MUST BE SIGNED. The editors will delay posting until authorship and email address are confirmed.

-- CONTENT: Editors retain the right to review material for its pertinence, tone, style, and relevance to the list's mission. Ad hominems, unattributed quotations or innuendo, private messages forwarded for posting without permission, or messages that violate the norms of civility and professional courtesy will be rejected. Persistent violators can be removed from the subscription list.

-- STYLE: the default editorial style for the list is that of a letter to the editor. Your remarks can be crafted to suit the tone of an existing discussion thread, but in any case they should address the editor and not make direct personal references to others, except where you are replying directly to a simple query (e.g., "you can find this information in Webster's Third International Dictionary."). Avoid excessive quotation of messages you refer or reply to.

-- FORMAT: Please send messages in plain text: no styles, html, special fonts, graphics files, or nonstandard characters (except diacriticals, which are acceptable). Signature files are subject to editing for content and length. Advertisements in signatures will be removed. Remove or turn off .vcf, digital signatures, or other automatic attachments. As a rule, editors do not redistribute attachments to the list; consider posting the material at a web site, or consult with the editor concerning proper venues for publication.

IV. Technical Information.

When you subscribe, LISTSERV will send you a confirmation message containing important information about managing your subscription. Please save this message as a text file for future reference. ALL changes to your subscription must be addressed to listserv@h-net.msu.edu, the software that manages the distribution and archiving of list electronic mail.

For online help with your subscription, visit: http://www.h-net.org/lists/help/email: help@mail.h-net.msu.edu

1.) To subscribe: Normally, receiving this message from listserv indicates that you are already subscribed to the list. But should you need to resubscribe, send the following command (turn off signatures, styles/fonts, and word wrap if you expect the line to wrap), as an email message to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:

sub H-SHEAR your name, institution Example: sub H-SHEAR Jane Smith, Illinois State U.

Follow the instructions in the reply that LISTSERV will send you in response to this command.

2.) To unsubscribe, logon to the computer account from which you subscribed to the list, and send this message to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:

SIGNOFF H-SHEAR

Please unsubscribe from H-SHEAR and all other mailing lists if you are terminating a particular computer account. You can then resubscribe from the new account.

3.) To change your subscription address: if you have access to your old account, login to it and send the command:

CHANGE listname newaddress E.g., CHANGE H-SHEAR jsmith@ilstate.edu

You then must login to the NEW account to confirm the change, or it will not be executed. If you do not have access to your old account, then write to the list address and have an editor make the change for you; be sure to provide your old and new addresses.

4.) To send your own message to all subscribers, send an email note directly to H-SHEAR@h-net.msu.edu. Please see III above on style and formatting of messages to the list.

5.) To REPLY to a message so that all subscribers can read it, be sure that the outgoing reply is directed to H-SHEAR@h-net.msu.edu, and not to the original author or to the editor. Replies intended only for individual authors should be sent directly to the author.

6.) If you are away for an extended period, suspend H-SHEAR email by sending this to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:

SET H-SHEAR NOMAIL

7.) After vacation, you can resume by sending to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:

SET H-SHEAR MAIL

8.) If you prefer to receive one daily digest of all posts to H-SHEAR instead of various individual posts, you can do so by sending this to listserv@h-net.msu.edu:

SET H-SHEAR DIGEST

To return to individual messages, send the following message:

SET H-SHEAR NODIGEST

V. The H-SHEAR Site on the World Wide Web

In addition to providing interactive communications via electronic mail, H-SHEAR also maintains a site on the World Wide Web. The site is located on the H-Net server at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, USA. It may be located by following the hypertext links at http://www.h-net.org.The H-SHEAR web site contains the following information and services:

- The archives of the H-SHEAR list, known as its "logs." They are in searchable and sortable format. - The network's official documents: its welcome files, lists of board members and editors, contact information, and other founding and information documents. - Hypertext links to resources in our subject: teaching materials, research archives, other lists.

V. Advisory Board.

H-SHEAR's daily activities are managed by the editors. Its long-term policies are developed by the advisory board. If you are interested in serving on the board, please contact the current editor. Board members referee incoming articles, reviews, and teaching materials; establish basic subscription restrictions and policy; advise the editors on disputes among editors and subscribers; monitor the list and make active contributions to discussion; and serve as the subscribers' voice in H-Net affairs. You are encouraged to contact any or all of the editorial board members with ideas and concerns about H-SHEAR.

Current Advisory Board, H-SHEAR:

Charlene Bickford Bertram Wyatt-Brown Phyllis Field Bruce Baird (Book Review Editor) Richard R. John Bertram Wyatt-Brown John Lauritz Larson Peter Knupfer Hal Morris (Web Editor) J. Mills Thornton Robert V. Remini

VI. Our Parent Organization: H-Net

H-Net is an international consortium of scholars in the humanities and social sciences that creates and coordinates electronic networks, using a variety of media, and with a common objective of advancing humanities and social science teaching and research. H-Net was created to provide a positive, supportive, equalitarian environment for the friendly exchange of ideas and scholarly resources.

The goals of H-NET networks are to enable scholars to easily communicate current research and teaching interests; to discuss new approaches, methods and tools of analysis; to share information on electronic databases; and to test new ideas and share comments on the literature in their fields.

H-Nets Constitution and Bylaws, along with a list of its officers and committees, is available at: http://www.h-net.org/about/

Among H-Net's many services are:

- Book and software reviews: timely, exhaustive, authoritative, professional, fast. Mailed through our lists and stored in searchable, printable, retrievable format on our site at the World Wide Web. http://www.h-net.org/reviews

- Job guide postings: at regular intervals, H-Net offers employment information in a broad array of fields in the humanities and social sciences. http://www.matrix.msu.edu/jobs

- H-Net calendar: announcements of conferences, papers, and professional activities, archived and searchable at our web site. You can visit our site and sample these and other services, at: http://www.h-net.org/announce

CONTACTING H-NET FOR MORE INFORMATION

On the World Wide Web: http://www.h-net.org Electronic mail: help@mail.h-net.msu.edu

Postal mail:

H-Net
8A Morrill Hall
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, 48824-1046
Phone: (517) 432-5134
Fax: (517) 353-5229

Executive Director: Prof. Peter Knupfer
Michigan State University
E-Mail: peter@mail.h-net.msu.edu

Associate Director: Heather Hawley
Michigan State University
E-Mail: hawley@mail.h-net.msu.edu