One highlight of the 2008 AOS Fall Members Meeting will be a rare orchid auction on Friday, October 17, from 6:30 to 8:15 pm at the Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington, Delaware. Proceeds will benefit the Society's American Heritage Collection in memory of Pierre and Alice du Pont and Mrs. William K. du Pont, founding members of the American Orchid Society.

During the first 30 years of this organization, it was customary for the trustees to meet at the New York Horticultural Society or at the Massachusetts Horticultural Hall. During those years, they also met at their homes, and if you happen to have some copies of the old AOS Bulletin, you can read about the board meetings. Delaware; or in 1947, in the home of then President Rodney Wilcox Jones; and in 1948, at Plating Fields in Long Island, the home of W.R. Coe, then one of the trustees.

The task force on issues related to the ethics of orchid judging was created by the AOS Board of Trustees in May 2007 to develop recommendations for additions and changes to the Handbook on Judging and Exhibition, 11th edition, concerning a procedure for suspension and termination of judges for noncompliance with rules for ethical behavior. We were to review all sections of the Handbook which addressed conduct, behavior or demeanor of an AOS judge and to recommend to the JC those areas in which changes were needed and how to implement those changes. We were also charged with the responsibility of suggesting a range of sanctions for the breach of ethical behavior and how these sanctions could be enforced.

IN THE FEBRUARY 2008 ISSUE OF Orchids, I wrote about the need to create a strategy to save orchids from extinction as natural habitats disappear. Several choices were presented and the Conservation Committee, as well as the membership, discussed this in general

Thanks to the leadership of Longwood Gardens and the DuPont family, the American Orchid Society will be returning to Longwood for its Fall 2008 Members Meeting. The meeting will take place October 17–19 at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, Delaware, and Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, a distance apart of only 10 miles (16 km). It has been more than 60 years since the AOS last met at Longwood, and everyone involved is excited, not only about October, but for the relationship and bond these two great organizations are developing for the future.

As I explained in the June issue of Orchids magazine regarding th American Orchid Society Heritage Collection, for the first 70 years the organization operated from offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then moved to the former residence of Lewis and Varina Vaughn in West Palm Beach, Florida, where for the first time there was sufficient land but not the type that could be turned into a botanical garden.