History
Here is some of MUTTM’s early history gleaned from former MUTTM President Jean Nance's articles in past issues of the ‘Commodore MaiLink’, newsletter of the Meeting 64/128 Users Through the Mail
-- Robert Snyder Meeting 64/128 Users Through the Mail (MUTTM)
The May 1986 ‘Compute’s Gazette’ had ‘The 64 User Group of America’ on their list of user groups. The president was Kirby Herazy, a Danville, Illinois high school student. Those who responded began to correspond with Kirby and he encouraged them to write to other members. He provided lists of members upon request. There was no newsletter, no regular mailings of any kind, and no dues-- but there was plenty of correspondence. The cost of replying to people who inquired about the group, and of sending out member lists, was borne by Kirby. He put out most of the material on his printer. There were about 30 members. The name was changed to ‘Meeting 64/128 Users Through the Mail’ when Kirby acquired a C-128. In the spring of 1987, Kirby began to find the work of maintaining the group burdensome. He wanted to spend more time on school work and was also starting some other projects.
Jean Nance, a retired biology teacher, had been a member for about a year and they corresponded frequently. Kirby asked Jean to take over the presidency of the group and she agreed to do so in June. An informative letter and an application form were sent to each person who inquired about the group. Those who returned the application received a copy of the membership list. At member Ed Hettler’s suggestion, this had a little ‘bio’ on each member telling about their computer equipment and interests.
The first newsletter, four pages, went out in September 1987, where Jean Nance suggested a $3 voluntary dues to help cover the cost of copying and mailing the newsletter. Twelve people sent in $3 or more-- a total of $43.25, which just about covered the expense of putting out the first two newsletters.
Dues of $5 had been set for 1988, although foreign members did not have to pay dues. the ‘User Group Update’ listing of our club kept attracting a good many people and the March 1988 issue of ‘RUN’ magazine ran a letter telling about the group. The flood of inquiries and many new members, prompted Brain Vaughan to help Jean by taking over the task of maintaining the membership records and making mailing labels.
Jean Nance persuaded Bill Robinson, (who had publishing experience) to take over as editor of ‘The Commodore Mail Link’, the expanded club newsletter, newly named by Elly Carey. Bill Robinson also started the disk version of the newsletter before handing the reigns to a series of ‘guest’ editors.
Bill Lyons designed the Masthead for the ‘Commodore MaiLink’ which first appeared on the May 1991 issue and used in some form on nearly all later issues. Because of good word-of-mouth and a steady place in the Commodore user group listings in the popular Commodore magazines, the group membership steadily climbed reaching a peak in the early 1990’s of around 300.
The BIOS, as the membership list became to be known, also grew in thickness. Meeting 64/128 Members Through the Mail has always been a nonprofit organization relying solely on membership dues and the occasional member donation to continue.