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WEDNESDAY 29.09.99.
The annual meeting of the Association of European Migration Institutions (AEMI) began with afternoon registration at the Grand Hotel Emona, in Portoroz, Slovenia.

THURSDAY 30.09.98
The General Assembly of the Association of European Migration Institutions (AEMI) was called to order in the meeting room of the Grand Hotel Emona at 10:00 AM by chairman Knut Djupedal.
In his opening remarks, Mr. Djupedal thanked Milena Cerar of the Slovene Department of Culture and Irena Gantar Godina of The Institute for Slovene Emigration Studies for hosting the annual meeting in such impressive and comfortable surroundings. Mr. Djupedal then called the roll of institutions present:
The Center for Migration Studies, Ulster-American Folk Park, Omagh (UK), represented by Mr. Brian Lambkin;
The Centro Italianio di Studi Sull'Emigrazione, Tramonti, (I) represented by Aurelio Giordano;
The Danish Emigration Archives, Aalborg (DK), represented by Henning Bender;
The German Emigration Museum (D), represented by Jürgen Rudloff;
The Institute of Migration, Turku (SF), represented by Dr. Olavi Koivukangas
The Institute for Slovene Emigration Studies, Ljubljana (SL), represented by Dr. Irena Gantar Godina;
The Historical Emigration Office, Hamburg (D), represented by Ms. Elizabeth Sroka;
The Norwegian-American Collections, Oslo (N), represented by Ms. Dina Tolfsby.
The Norwegian Emigrant Museum Ottestad (N), represented by Mr. Knut Djupedal.
The Norwegian Emigration Center, Stavanger (N), represented by Mr. Hans Storhaug;
The Polonia Institute, Krakow (P), represented by Dr. Adam Walaszek;
The Research Center for Lower Saxons in the USA, Oldenbourg (D), represented by Dr. Antonius Holtmann;
"Routes to the Roots", Oldenbourg (D), represented by Dr. Wolfgang Grams;
The Swedish Emigrant Institute, Växjö (S), represented by Dr. Ulf Beijbom.
Others representing the member institutions were also present, but had no vote.

The following member institutions were not represented at the opening:
Centre de Documentation sur les Migrations Humaines, Dudelange, (L)
The Archives Department, Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool (UK)
The North Frisian Emigrant Archive, (D)
Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane, Kaupanger (N);
The San Marino Emigrant Museum and Study Center, San Marino;
Vesturfarasetrid/Icelandic Emigration Center, Hofsos (IS);
The Åland Islands Emigrant Institute, Mariehamn (SF).

Guests were:
Antonio Perotti, of SESOPI-Centre intercommunautaire/Scalabrini Foundation.
Joel Wurl, of The Immigration History Research Center, St. Paul, MN (USA)
Dr. Branamir Banovic, or the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies, Zagreb (CR)
Ms. Milena Cerar of the Slovene Department of Culture;
Dr. Janja Zitnik of the University of Ljubljana;
Professor Dr. Matjaz Klemencic of the University of Ljubljana;
André Brummer of ancestry.com.

1. Election of a presiding officer for the General Assembly.
The chairman moved that Adam Walaszek of the Polonia Institute be elected presiding officer of the business meeting. The motion was seconded, and it was passed unanimously. Mr Djupedal turned the podium over to Dr. Walaszek. Dr. Walaszek asked if there were comments to the agenda.
Dina Tolfsby of the Norwegian-American Collections, National Library of Norway, asked for time to present the EMIDATA-project.

2. Amendments to the statutes.
No proposals had been made, so no action was necessary.

3. Budget for 1999-2000.
The chairman noted that AEMI has nearly 45.000,- DKK in its accounts. The meeting discussed use of the funds in connection with the logo, and brochure. The meeting decided to return to the budget after a discussion of point 13.

4. Chairman’s Report for 1998-1999.
The chairman read his report for the past year. The members had no comments to the report. The chairman then discussed his efforts to gain new members for AEMI. He mentioned Russian, Georgian, Hungarian, and Croatian institutions which he had contacted or attempted to contact.
Aurelio Giordano mentioned other Italian institutions, and Wolfgang Grams asked if AEMI should contact ECHO, the EU program concerned with the export of European culture overseas. Adam Walaszek asked the AEMI not forget European immigration organizations, and asked about the contact with ANEMI.
Joel Wurl discussed this, and said that for the time being ANEMI is rather static. He asked if AEMI would entertain American members, or alternatively, ANEMI might affiliate with The Immigration and Ethnic History Society.
Concerning membership, Jürgen Rudloff enquired concerning new members from 1998. The chairman answered that he had not received letters from anyone in this matter.
Antonio Perotti, of The SESOPI-Centre intercommunautaire/Scalabrini Foundation, then stated that he had come to Slovenia to ask that the Center for Migration Studies (CSER) in Rome be admitted as a member institution in AEMI.
Branamir Banovic of The Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies in Zagreb stated the same. The membership decided to discuss this under later point.
The chairman moved that the annual report be adopted by the general assembly. The motion was seconded and the report was unanimously adopted.

5. Financial statements and accounts for 1998-99.
Henning Bender reported the audited accounts for 1998-99. He pointed out that the John F. Kennedy Trust also had paid dues for 1998-1999, but in accordance with the decision at the last meeting, this institution was not a member. The membership asked that this problem be addressed under point 10, “New Members”. Mr. Bender moved that the accounts be adopted by the general assembly. The motion was seconded and the accounts were unanimously adopted.

6. The Logo of AEMI.
The chairman read the resolution from last year’s meeting, to the effect that his proposal be adopted as a draft, and passed on to Ulf Beijbom. He is to give it to professionals connected with the Swedish Institute, to see if they can redraw or redesign it for AEMI.
Dr. Beijbom introduced a new proposal, based on the chairman’s proposal from 1998. The new proposal was discussed at some length. Finally, in a series of votes, the membership decided to accept Dr. Bejbom’s proposal with the following modifications:

• the logo to include a globe, not just a circle;
• the logo to include several birds;
• letters AEMI in the logo.

• 2000 – Bremerhaven;
• 2001 – San Marino;
• 2002 – Stavanger.

9. The Subscription Rate.
Mr. Bender moved that the subscription rate remain at EURO 100 for institutional membership, and EURO 20 for individual membership. The motion was seconded and unanimously adopted.

10. New members.
After discussion, the membership admitted the following institutions to AEMI:

• Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies; Trg Stjepana Radica 3, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
• Centre for Migration Studies (CSER), Via Dandolo 58, 00153 Roma, Italy

11. An auditor.
The chairman moved that Ulf Beijbom continue in this office. The motion was seconded and adopted unanimously. Lunch was held from 12:30 PM until 2:00 PM.The General Assembly reconvened at 3:00 PM.

12. Election of the Executive Board.
According to the statutes Art.4, § 1., the executive board shall consist of a chairman and a secretary/treasurer, and a representative of the host institution, which last, organized the ordinary General Assembly. By these rules, the executive board for 1998-99 consists of:

• Knut Djupedal, chairman (term expires in 1999);
• Henning Bender, sec./treasurer (term expires in 1999);
• Antoinette Reuter (1998-1999).

• Mr. Djupedal was re-elected as chairman for the period 1999 – 2002 by a vote of 14 to 0, with 2 abstentions.
• Mr. Henning Bender was unanimously re-elected as secretary/treasurer for the period 1999-2002.
• In accordance with the statutes, the third member of the executive board for 1999-2000 is Irena Gantar Godina, or another representative of the Center for Slovene Migration Studies.

• Research projects on emigration;
• the tourism/travel industry and emigration;
• European and American passenger lists.

FRIDAY 01.10.99.
The Friday session was called to order in the meeting room at 10:00 AM by the chairman. This session lasting until 1:00 PM was devoted to a roundtable discussion of The Press and Emigration. .
The afternoon was devoted to a tour by boat and on foot, to Soline and Piran. In the evening, the membership had a most enjoyable dinner in the old town of Piran.

SATURDAY 02.10.99.
The chairman convened the General Assembly at 10:00 AM. to discuss future projects.

Olavi Koivukangas spoke about the role and importance of academic research at institutions, which are members of AEMI. He felt that AEMI should take the lead in discovering what sort of research is going on in Europe. He also felt that AEMI should try to organize new joint projects on present
emigration movements in Europe, i.e. post 1945. He suggested also a working group devoted to these points, and also to points such as multiculturalism, racism, and migrants in the labor market.
The chairman suggested that the Finnish Institute coordinate such a working group during the coming year.

Antonius Holtman expressed the wish to see a project devoted to European emigration and ship passenger lists. He mentioned Ira Glazier’s work, but pointed out that many groups in Europe are now developing their own data bases of emigrant lists, and that if AEMI knows what is being done, and who is doing it, then perhaps the organization can receive EU money to work on these bases.
He also expressed the wish to see a project devoted to the emigration – including forced emigration – of convicts, the poor, and other groups unwanted by the European authorities.

Wolfgang Grams stated that he felt AEMI should also devote time and support to developing European tourism itineraries, and also, European tours to the United States. He also felt that the development of regional databases of the origins of emigrants would be of interest to the general public, and particularly to tourism.

Ulf Beijbom mentioned that Sweden is now developing a project intended to interview immigrants into that country.

After further discussion, the membership decided to concentrate on three fields:

• Research Projects, with a working group to be established under the leadership of Olavi Koivukangas;
• A Project concerning the Passenger Lists, with a working group to be established under the leadership of Antonius Holtmann;
• Further work on cultural Tourism, with a working group to be established under the leadership of Wolfgang Grams.

The chairman expressed his thought that any member institution, which seeks funding, and support for a project in which two other European institutions is involved, should automatically receive a letter of support from AEMI. After a break from 11:00 AM until noon, the following members spoke
concerning:

• Elizabeth Sroka, concerning the Hamburg Passenger Lists;
• Hans Storhaug, concerning the Emigration History and Heritage Tourism conference in Stavanger, in May, 2000;
• Wolfgang Grams spoke about “Routes to the Roots”;
• Dina Tolfsby spoke about the Norwegian EMIDATA project.

After a question-and-answer session between Mr. Brummer and the membership, the chairman concluded the 1999 meeting of AEMI. He again thanked Milena Cerar of the Slovene Department of Culture and Irena Gantar Godina of The Institute for Slovene Emigration Studies for hosting the annual meeting in such impressive and comfortable surroundings, and he wished the membership
a good year, and well met in Bremerhaven on 5. October, 2000.

Referent:
Knut Djupedal