THE PHI KAPPA PSI FRATERNITY

5395 Emerson Way, Indianapolis, Indiana 46226 (317) 632-1852 (317) 637-1898 (fax) www.phikappapsi.com

Historian of Phi Kappa Psi Michael H. MCCoy One Hiawatha Circle Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2804 608/274-1638 MCCOYMH@CHORUS.NET

Date: To: Subject:

June 9, 2012 The Grand Arch Council Report of the Historian for the 2010-2012 Biennium

Most of my focus during my time as Historian, including the biennium now concluding, has been on four aspects of our history. I categorize them as the history we know, the history we have forgotten, the history we have yet to discover, and the history we make every day of the year. All require continuing attention. The challenge that comes with the history we know is to make use of existing ways and finding new ways to keep it accessible to each new class of initiates, as well as those Brothers and friends of Phi Kappa Psi who develop an interest in our history at other stages of their lives. The history we have forgotten only increases as time passes, at all levels of Phi Kappa Psi. Examples can be personal, Chapter, or national-level history which is never documented or, if documented, not preserved or widely shared, or if preserved is often not easily accessible. The history we have yet to discover begins with our 1852 founding and has grown daily for 160 years. Common examples are personal and organizational stories which reflect Phi Psi life and impact of the time. It may well be the most challenging of these four categories because it faces the challenges of faded or fading memories within a Brothers lifetime or lost entirely upon his death, materials disposed of upon the death of a Brother when the value of that material to the Fraternity is not obvious to survivors, or because we are often just are not curious. So many of my journeys of historical discovery have begun with simply asking a question beginning with I wonder and then pursuing the answer. For those interested in exploring the history of Phi Psi or Phi Psis who have made or are making history, success may well start with simple curiosity. The last area of our history I believe needs our continuing attention is the history we are making every day of the year at all levels of the Fraternity. Perhaps no generation before todays undergraduates has so greatly photographed or committed to written form daily life as a Phi Psi, even if only in 140 characters or less on Twitter or brief posts on Facebook. Most of this material is almost certainly never evaluated for possible historical documentation, usually by a Chapter adding to its own history. It thus exists as if on sand and can be lost as quickly. 1

What follows are a few examples of my activities in this past biennium with these challenges In mind. Additional details appear in my four interim reports to the Executive Council submitted during the biennium, dated Oct. 20, 2010, and Feb. 2, June 10, and Sept. 13, 2011. (A fifth interim report was scheduled for early 2012 but was not produced due to my hospitalization and extended recovery from two spine operations.) These and earlier reports are available from the Files area of the Phi Psi 150 Yahoo Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PhiPsi150 or upon request to me. They constitute supplements to this report. A tremendous advance in making our history more accessible to ourselves, our families and descendants, and others was the unveiling in April 2012 of The Shield digital archives online, beginning with the first issue and searchable by key word(s). For me, this marked culmination of a goal of mine from the late 1990s when I included it in a proposed master plan for our 150th anniversary celebrations in 2002, in my capacity as Sesquicentennial Commission chairman. Under the leadership of Will Haskett after he assumed the position as Shield editor, production techniques were explored and a report made at the 2010 Grand Arch Council when two committees, including the History, Ritual and Practices Committee, endorsed the project. A contractor then was selected and the work begun. It is my understanding we are the first Fraternity with an extended history to complete such a project. Now Chapters can explore their own histories, including all their Chapter newsletters otherwise lost to time. (Unknown to many of todays Phi Psis is that for many years Chapter newsletters appeared in every issue of The Shield.) Alumni can return to the Chapter newsletters printed when they were undergraduates as well as search for feature articles, obituaries, and other news about their Chapter from that or other times. Family members of deceased Phi Psis can search for information about them here. These are just a few examples of how valuable these digital archives will prove to be. It is another way to demonstrate our service to others. One major example of the history we have yet to discover is history we thought was already well known such as our founding story of illness on the Jefferson College campus, the rendering of aid to fellow students by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore, and the inspiration they had as a result to found Phi Kappa Psi. Readers of our Centennial History have noticed that there is not a word in that two-volume set about any such thing; it was reluctantly left out because, although it was believed, it could not be proved at that time. It was my learning of the missing founding story in the Centennial History, when I started work on the Sesquicentennial in 1997, that began my own quest to find an answer. In the succeeding years, I found documentation which led me to believe that there had been some sort of illness, with students rendering aid to other students, in the winter of 1850-51 a year earlier than generally understood from our traditional understanding. We had been looking for evidence in the wrong places. But confirming evidence still was elusive. This past November, when Archivist Tim Tangen and I visited the Washington & Jefferson College campus, the home of Pennsylvania Alpha, and its library for research, we finally found the evidence confirming there had been an illness, it had been typhoid fever, and it had been in the winter of 1850-51. Along the way we made several other discoveries, including finding images of some of Pennsylvania Alphas earliest members and, while in nearby Canonsburg, what we believe might well have been the site of the first Phi Psi Chapter house at Jefferson College, a rooming house populated by a number of Alphans where meetings were held. I extend my most sincere thanks to Penn Alphans David Loeffler and Dylan Haas for their preparatory work in advance of our visit and their hospitality and assistance while we were there. It was on that trip we also visited the graves of Charles Page Thomas Moore, his four daughters, and the uncle who had adopted him, all together in a small rural cemetery south of 2

Point Pleasant, W. Va., to check on its condition and accessibility and that of the small chapel a few feet from Judge Moores last resting place and where he may well have worshipped in his later years. There likely is more to be discovered of his and about him in that area. Phi Psi Archives on Twitter (http://twitter.com/PhiPsiArchives or @PhiPsiArchives for those on Twitter) continues to be a popular way to share our history. When we reported to the 2010 GAC six months after the birth of this Twitter page, we had posted 450 times and had 135 subscribers. As I write this, we have posted more than 2,500 times and have a subscription list of 680 which is growing weekly. As this resource often is also the first place we learn about Phi Psi activities by others having historical significance, its a way for us to help document and share the Phi Psi history being made as it happens. These and other message posts we make which we evaluate as having future relevance also are separately saved. Another Phi Psi Archive online is the Phi Psi 150 Yahoo Group, originally established in preparation for our 150th anniversary but which has become a rich resource of information about Phi Psi history ever since. The group currently has 251 members and has recorded 1,819 message posts since its establishment, the latter of which may be searched by key word. The Files area currently has 88 megabytes of documents related to our national and Chapter histories and Phi Psis making history. All messages and files are archived and accessible to members of the group. Some features are also available to all visitors. Since the last GAC, we have established a Phi Psi History Forum on Connect where any Connect member can ask questions, comment on answers, and share their own research. Topics addressed to date include identifying buildings on campuses named for Phi Psis, the epidemic which led to our founding (this section needs updating to reflect the findings of last November mentioned above), some history of the colors of Phi Kappa Psi, and suggestions for additional ways to explore Phi Psi history. Its still relatively new and has much unexplored potential. Check it out on Connect in the Forums tab, under the General PKP topic where it is a sub-forum. Last summer Tim Tangen and I conducted two Phi Psi History workshops at the Woodrow Wilson Leadership School in Columbus, Ohio, and I made a presentation to alumni organizations present on documenting their Alumni Association histories. By the time you receive this at the GAC, Tim and I will have attended the second (and our second) two-day National Fraternity/Sorority Archives Conference at the University of Illinois in Champaign. This has proven to be an excellent method for us to learn and share the latest trends and tools in this pursuit not only from but also with other Greek organization archivists and historians. To those at the GAC, I encourage those with any interest in fraternity history to attend one or all of the History, Ritual and Practices Committee sessions for its history and Ritual programming. This will be in addition to the normal committee business making the biennial assessment of these programs and making recommendations the committee desires. Tim and I also are available throughout the GAC to answer questions individually. Fraternally,

Michael H. McCoy Historian of Phi Kappa Psi