The Postcard Archives
The problems and delays involved in publishing research papers were a couple of the reasons that Carl Baum decided to create the hardcopy EMP Notes Series.
Every six months or so — for over four decades — Carl and the Air Force financed the publication and distribution of
photocopied "Notes" that were written by his colleagues and himself. These Notes were assembled into sets, stuffed into envelopes and mailed to the 300 or so peopleon his mailing list (~200 domestic, 100 international).
These bulky envelopes were filled with inch-thick, double-sided three-hole-punched photocopies that often tipped the scales at two pounds!
It cost over $10 each to mail these cumbersome packages of papers to international addresses and every envelope had to be accompanied by an intricate, signed customs
declaration.
The cost of producing these photocopies was also high and, with the onset of the digital age, many of Carl's associates began to wonder if there might be a cheaper and more elegant way to distribute and archive the Notes series.Other"heavyweight" EM professors defended the hardcopy publication and distribution of Notes by extolling their value andtheir vulnerability to the winds of change.
Carl was pleased to see how his fragile Notes were scanned and placed on a website at the Otto-von-Guericke
University Magdeburg but he became frustrated when that website became corrupted. That's when he set up a new digital archive here at the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department at the University of New Mexico.
In addition to our "cloud-based" site at ECE, Carl alsocommissioned the creation of a box set of his Notes on CDs that can be found in libraries and private collectionsthroughoutthe world (nine sets remain unsold and can be purchased for $50 by following the instructions in this link).
If Carl were alive today he would still be photocopying these Notes but his untimely demise has made it necessary for us to economize and rethink the distribution process.
To this end the SUMMA Foundation is now creating a handsome, heavy-duty
postcardannouncement that will alertour subscribers to new Notes that have been uploaded on to our website. These informative and
beautifully-printedcards are sent to domestic addresses by first class mail and by Air Mail to our international friends.
If you would like to be added to the free postcard distribution list, please follow this link and send your "full coordinates" to this e-mail address (include Name, Complete Street Address, City, State, Zip Code, Country, etc. etc.)
If you would like to submit a paper for inclusion into the Notes Series, please contact the editor, Dave Giri, by pressing this link.
Click on the "thumbnail" postcards shown on this page if you would like to study them in as a pdf files. , or click on the following links: January 2011, July 2011, January 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013 or Spring 2014 (Note: A Notes mailing was not made in the summer of 2012. At that time Chief Editor Dave Giri published his memoir of Dr. Carl Baum, which can be found here.)
Postscript: In an attempt to increase the readership of the Notes and to streamline the process and frequency of Notes submission, a decision was made in the fall of 2015 to discontinue the publication of postcards and to go fully digital. Please click on the little image of the postcard on the left to see the final postcard that was issued in the spring of 2015.
The final postcard was mailed through the US Postal Service to 300 subscribers. Of those subscribers, 200 lived within the United States and the rest were sent by Air Mail to our international colleagues.
When Dr. Baum passed away in 2010, there were also 300 subscribers on his mailing list but back then Carl used to have his assistant stuff 300 envelopes with his photocopied Notes. Carl Baum was a big fan of "hard copy" and sometimes his package of Notes would tip the scale at over several pounds! Clearly, the times have changed but The Notes Series remains strong as ever!
If you would like to have your Note considered for publication within the Note Series, please send it as a press quality pdf file to the new editor, Dr. Everett Farr, at the following e-mail address: efarr@farr-research.com
“All published Notes are approved for public release and their distribution is unlimited.”
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Last Updated October 23, 2015
University of New Mexico Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
"All published Notes are approved for public release and their distribution is unlimited."