A Farewell Message from Pompeiiana Newsletter, Then and Now

It is not without some sadness that the Pompeiiana Newsletter blog project comes to a close. I have, for the better part of the past 13 months, posted five issues per week of Dr. Bernard Barcio's labor of love, his Pompeiiana Newsletter, which ran from 1974 until the end of the 2002-2003 school year. It is my hope that Latin teachers, students, and enthusiasts, will continue to return to this blog to mine it for Latin readings, recipes, puzzles and games, comics, and insight into a cornucopia of Classics topics. With nearly 250 issues, the activities within Pompeiiana's pages are seemingly endless. This blog shall remain free and open to the public and should serve as a way to continue promoting Latin both in and out of schools, and to stand as a testament to the love and devotion Dr. Barcio gave to the Latin language and to ancient Mediterranean culture and history.

May Barcio's work also serve to inspire those who wish to regularly promote Latin and Classical Studies on a national or global stage both now and in the future. Take this as a challenge, then.

Andrew Reinhard
Pompeiiana Newsletter online editor
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.
March 11, 2010

From the final issue:

"Pompeiiana, Inc., Now Part of History"

It had a long run, almost thirty years from the summer of 1974 to the summer of 2003! The time has comes, however, for the founder and Executive Director of Pompeiiana, Inc., Dr. Bernard F. Barcio, to retire, and for Pompeiiana, Inc., to cease its operations.

Pompeiiana, Inc., was definitely a labor of love for Dr. and Mrs. Lillian Barcio who, in addition to raising a family and juggling several different careers, devoted their lives to the ten primary purposes spelled out in Pompeiiana's Articles of Incorporation:

1. Aid in maintaining and expanding outstanding classical studies programs which are already functioning at the secondary school level.
2. Devise local, state and national media promotional tactics.
3. Act as a resource center for all material and programs released to classical studies for secondary schools.
4. Deliver enrichment programs to Latin, English and Ancient History classrooms.
5. Formulate and present programs on classical studies to secondary school assemblies and community groups.
6. Supply secondary school counselors and administrators with promotional materials for classical studies programs.
7. Sponsor and coordinate such nation-wide Latin-oriented multi-discipline projects as the National Catapult Contest.
8. Conduct special interest programs in Classical studies for local and state area youth and adults.
9. Sponsor high-interest summer study/travel programs in Classical Studies.
10. Continually generate and sponsor the production of new materials, programs and approaches to accomplish the above-mentioned goals.

Dr. and Mrs. Lillian Barcio are proud that all of the above primary purposes were well-achieved, with the exception of #9, for which adequate funding could never be obtained.

Pompeiiana, Inc., is proud to have introduced Latin teachers and students across the nation to The National Catapult Contest, National Chariathons for Latin, Latin Weekender Conferences, a Persona-Presenters Speakers Bureau, an annual Textbook Giveaway Program, and the Pompeiiana Newsletter, the only national monthly publication in the world for secondary school students of Latin.

It is also proud to have produced and made available to Latin teachers a Ferias Agamus booklet, a set of Latin Cultural Drill Tapes and Accompanying Study Sheets, The Life and Training of a Roman Legionnaire Video, a set of Roman Emperor Posters and more. The copyrights on these items are available for purchase by interested publishers.

Article 15 of the Articles of Incorporation of Pompeiiana, Inc., spells out how its dissolution be handled:

"Upon the dissolution of the corporation, the Board of Directors shall, after paying or making provision for the payment of all of the liabilities of the corporation, dispose of all of the assets of the corporation organized and operated exclusively for charitable and educational purposes as shall at the time qualify as an exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (or the corresponding provision of any future United States Internal Revenue Law), as the Board of Directors shall determine at the time of dissolution."

Dr. and Mrs. Lillian Barcio, along with the members of the Board of Directors, thank all those students, teachers, classicists, supporters and friends who have helped Pompeiiana, Inc., promote Classical Studies during the past twenty-nine years.

Valete Omnes!
May 2003

*The image above is of Dr. Barcio, taken by Dan Lurie, www.geekfriendly.org, and is used by permission.