To all Conch-L:
This has indeed been an interesting thread ... the decline of shell clubs. For years in the Los Angeles area there were a number of shell clubs (ie., Conchological Club of Southern California, Pacific Shell Club, Santa Barbara Shell Club, Yucaipa Shell Club, and Long Beach Shell Club amongst others) and many members were members of several of the others. However in the middle and late 1980's due to whatever reason membership began to decline particularly for the CCSC as many members were in their 70's and 80's (and even 90's!). This combined with the fact that the CCSC met in south-central LA on Monday evenings at the Natural History Museum of LA County certainly did not help bolster growth and/or attendance. The Santa Barbara Shell Club and the Long Beach Shell Club and perhaps the Yucaipa Shell Club are now defunct. The Pacific Shell Club met on Sunday afternoons at various locations in LA. Therefore, some of us got a brilliant idea ... merge the two surviving organizations into one and continue to meet on Sundays. The surviving Pacific Conchological Club still does well ... in fact there are now members under 30 years old! Farther south the San Diego Shell Club continues to thrive due to the magnificent efforts of Carole and Jules Hertz. So perhaps too many shell clubs in small geographic areas contribute to declining membership. Or perhaps it's due to a fateful piece written by Art in the Hawaiian Shell News [June 1988, 36(3):11] ... "How to destroy a shell club" never-the-less it's humorous reading. Happy holidays.
Aloha,
Lindsey
________________________________________
From: Conchologists List [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of "José H. Leal"
Sent: Tuesday, December 20, 2005 9:05 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Decline of shell clubs
The decline in interest in communal activities in the US is deftly discussed in the book "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community" by Robert D. Putnam ( http://www.bowlingalone.com/). The decline clearly is not restricted to shell club activity. The book, which discusses sociological trends that might explain the downturn discussed in this thread, has been informally endorsed by the American Association of Museums as a guide to the demise of community activities and what to do to fight this tendency.
This is a quote from the book's Web site:
"In a groundbreaking book based on vast new data, Putnam shows how we have become increasingly disconnected from family, friends, neighbors, and our democratic structures-- and how we may reconnect.
"Putnam warns that our stock of social capital - the very fabric of our connections with each other, has plummeted, impoverishing our lives and communities. Putnam draws on evidence including nearly 500,000 interviews over the last quarter century to show that we sign fewer petitions, belong to fewer organizations that meet, know our neighbors less, meet with friends less frequently, and even socialize with our families less often. We're even bowling alone. More Americans are bowling than ever before, but they are not bowling in leagues. Putnam shows how changes in work, family structure, age, suburban life, television, computers, women's roles and other factors have contributed to this decline."
Support you local Shell Club!
José
_____________________________________________________________________
José H. Leal, Ph.D., Director
The Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum
Editor, The Nautilus
www.shellmuseum.org
3075 Sanibel-Captiva Road
Sanibel, FL 33957 USA
(239)395-2233
fax (239)395-6706
At 11:40 AM 12/20/05, you wrote:
Andy Rindsberg wrote:
> How sad. A metro area of over a million people and no shell club? Times have certainly changed.
* a very similar decline, with all the same comments this thread has
elicited about shell clubs, has been noted in 'herpetology'
(=herpetocultural) groups.
fred.
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Bishops Mills Natural History Centre
Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad, Jennifer Helene Schueler
RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0
on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W
(613)258-3107 <[log in to unmask]> http://pinicola.ca
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