The Northeastern North American Branch is the oldest IGS branch. The first mention of the branch is recorded in the 1965 December issue of the IGS newsletter, ICE number 19 pp12-13.
There, Charles M.Keeler, Steven J. Mock, Rene O. Ramseier and Wilford F. Weeks announced their intentions to establish a ‘regional meeting of persons interested in exchanging ideas in all aspects of snow and ice research to be scheduled annually. To avoid a “population explosion” it is further proposed that the meeting be aimed primarily towards those living and working on the Eastern seaboard of North America.
For the purpose of giving the initial meeting some semblance of organization it is suggested that this be run as a regional branch of the Glaciological Society of which nearly 125 members reside between Ottawa, Ontario, Washington, D. C. and Buffalo, New York.
Sanction and encouragement for such regional association is found in the constitution of the Glaciological Society: Article 3. “The Society shall encourage the establishment of branches in any country to foster the objects of the society.”
Realizing, however, that all persons interested in snow and ice may not be members of the Glaciological Society, it is urged that membership in the parent society need not be a criterion for participation in the regional meetings and that all interested persons shall be made welcome. It is planned that these annual meetings will be informal and the emphasis placed on free discussion rather than numbers of presentations.
No doubt you have at one time experienced considerable frustration arising from the lack of free discussion at meetings where a large number of papers of diverse quality are presented.
It is particularly to be hoped that students and younger scientists will find this a meeting where they can fully express their opinions.’
The invitations for the first annual meeting of the Northeastern North America Branch were sent out in the summer of 1966 as was reported in the August issue of ICE number 21 pp8.The meeting was subsequentially held at 0900, Saturday 1 October 1966 in Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.A., with the U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and Dartmouth College as co-hosts.
The report from the meeting can be found in the August issue of ICE number 21 pp8.