Notes from initial planning meeting, 1973, page 3

          research, but rather with the theoretics and problematics of the disciplines
and of interdisciplinary work in women's studies.

The original concept of a conference on methodology was broadened as
it became clear that there were semantic difficulties, and that the concept
of methodology is understood differently in different fields. Among ideas
suggested for conference focus were the following: A consideration of the
underlying intellectual hypotheses of women's studies. What are the ques-
tions that women's studies as a new interdisciplinary field is peculiarly
qualified to ask or to answer? What will be the impact of women's studies
on specific disciplines? what changes have taken place as a result of
women's studies? What are the new assumptions? What have we learned about
women? Where do we go from here?

Some consideration was given to the size, length, and format of

the conference. The format that seemed to find most general approval was

a series of morning and afternoon panel/workshops in which individual or
joint papers would be presented by a speaker and one or two commentators.
These papers would be distributed well in advance to conference registrants
to ensure full participation and productive discussions. Although there

was no resolution on the size or length of the conference or on the question
of how participants would be selected, there seemed to be a general consensus
that we would not be able to accommodate more than about three hundred and
that in order to avoid the complications of housing, the conference should
probably be limited to one day.

The group agreed to send in individual comments after further thought.

These individual reports will be summarized by the Center and presented at
the next meeting, scheduled for August 8th. We hope that the group will be
able to come to some decisions on content and format at this meeting as

well as to appoint a working subcommittee to work on the plans for the
conference. a