Dear Burt,
 
If I haven't already pledged an annual contribution of $25, count me in.
 
Barry Ahearn
 
Burt Hatlen wrote:
 
> The letter below is addressed to all members of the Ezra Pound Society.
> I recently sent out this letter to all subscribers to Paideuma, because
> everyone who subscribes to the journal is automatically a member of the
> Society.  So too, although most of you probably don't know this,
> everyone on the Pound list is automatically a member of the Society,
> with all of the rights (there are none) and responsibilities (there are
> none of these either) that go with such membership.  Thus I am sending
> this letter to the list as well.  Those of you who subscribe to
> Paideuma will receive the same letter through the mail.
>
> Burt Hatlen
>
> August 15, 1999
>
> Dear Pound Society Member,
>
> Hugh Witemeyer, the Society s first president, has proposed that the
> Society institute an annual award for the best book-length contribution
> to Pound studies.  Current president Barry Ahearn, I as secretary of
> the Society, and several other members have discussed Hugh s proposal
> and endorse it.
>
> The Society would make the award annually at the Modern Language
> Association convention.  It would be called  The Ezra Pound Society
> Prize  (the  Ez  for short).  The judges for the award will be the
> reviewer of Pound books for American Literary Scholarship and the
> Managing Editor of Paideuma, with the immediate past president of the
> Society called in to cast a tie-breaking vote, if necessary.  We hope
> to make the first presentation this December in Chicago, awarding a
> prize for the best Pound book published in 1998.
>
> We hope to raise $500 each year for this award.  Hugh, Barry, and I
> have each pledged $25 to this end, and the National Poetry Foundation
> has pledged $100 annually to the prize. We are writing at this time to
> ask you to contribute to this year s prize. If you are able to make
> such a contribution, please send a check to the National Poetry
> Foundation at the address on this letterhead. NPF will place all such
> donations in a separate account for the Ezra Pound Society Prize.
> Please indicate on the check that you are making a contribution to the
> Pound Prize. NPF is an agency of the University of Maine, a tax-exempt
> institution; therefore your donation should be tax deductible.
>
> If you are in a position to pledge continuing contributions in later
> years, we would also welcome such pledges.  If we can find sixteen
> people willing to pledge $25 per year (and we ve already found three
> such persons), we will be able to fund the prize indefinitely.
>
> Thank you for your attention, and we hope to hear from you soon.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Burton Hatlen
> Secretary, Ezra Pound Society
>
> for Hugh Witemeyer, immediate past president, Ezra Pound Society
> and Barry Ahearn, president, Ezra Pound Society