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The Illinois Medieval Association held its fifteenth annual meeting at Eastern Illinois University, Charleston, on February 21, 1998. The essays in this Volume were drawn from those read at the conference, the theme of which was "Medieval Communities." Bailey K. Young organized the meeting, with the assistance of Heribert Breidenbach, Bonnie Irwin, David Raybin, Timothy A. Shonk, and Grant Sterling.
The organizers wish to thank Eastern Illinois University's College of Arts and Humanities (James K. Johnson, Dean) and the Departments of English (Dana Ringuette, Chair), Foreign Languages (Heribert Breidenbach, Chair), and History (Anita Shelton, Chair) for their financial support. We are indebted also to the School of Adult and Continuing Education (William C. Hine, Dean) and particularly to Pam Hale, Director of Credit-Free Programs, who oversaw all the practical details of running the meeting.
At the business meeting, Bailey K. Young was elected president for 1999. Anne Clark Bartlett (DePaul University) was elected vice-president. Timothy A. Shonk holds the position of counselor for 1997-99; William Fahrenbach (DePaul) is counselor for 1998-1999; David Wagner (Northern Illinois) is counselor for 1998-2000; Allen J. Frantzen (Loyola University Chicago) continues as Executive Secretary. The 1999 meeting of IMA will be held at DePaul University and will be chaired by Anne Clark Bartlett.
The editorial board for this issue of Essays in Medieval Studies included Anne Clark Bartlett, Allen J. Frantzen, David Raybin, Bailey K. Young, and Timothy A. Shonk. Beginning with Essays in Medieval Studies10 (1993), the
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annual proceedings of the IMA began to appear on line. Beginning with Volume 12, EMS became an online journal, although printed copy is also prepared for distribution to contributors as offprints. Volumes 8-15 are available at http://www.luc.edu/publications/medieval. Volumes 1-7 will appear online in the future; copies of most Volumes are available for $15.00 per Volume, including shipping, and can be ordered from Allen J. Frantzen (afrantz@luc.edu).