Friday, December 23, 2005

A Cornell Acacian's Holiday Wish List

In the spirit of the Holiday Season, I thought I would compile my wish list for 2005/2006. The items below are ordered in importance to the history project.

1. Travelers, 1951 - 1971. Brother Stein has saved copies of the Travelers since 1972, and the chapter house has copies of newsletters from 1912 to 1934 and 1946 to 1950. I know there were no newsletters produced between 1941 and 1945 on account of the war, and I think it is unlikely to find any of the lost newsletters from 1935 to 1941. If any brother knows of any copies of any of the Travelers from 1951 to 1971, please contact me!

2. Photographs from 1907 to 1947 and from 1968 to 1995 of brothers, Acacia, and Cornell. If you have a scanner, why not send some of your photos from Acacia to me via email (tjb36@cornell.edu). If you don't have a scanner, send them to Acacia via mail, and I will return them in a week's time.

3. Survey questions. Though the research team and I plan to contact every alumni with a known, working telphone number, the more alumni who volunteer answers to the survey questions mailed in the Fall 2005 Traveler, the easy our jobs will be.

4. Volunteers for Acacia! Help is needed contacting alumni to conduct phone and in-person interviews. Broadly, we are hoping one alumni will volunteer per graduating class year to contact their classmates, build interest in the 2007 Centennial, and generally be a leader among their brothers once again. Also, advise on printing the book in 2007 is desired from alumni with experience in publishing or printing.

5. Donations. Though listed last in importance to the actual research and writing of the book, alumni dues and specific donations earmarked for the history project are needed. As of year-end 2005, we have received $700+ in alumni dues earmarked for the history project. Any alumnus who donates $100 or more to the history project will be recognized in the book in the appendix.

For those interested, there will be a meeting at 4 pm Saturday, January 7, 2006 in Ramsey, NJ (my hometown) to discuss the business of the book, including funding, goals, and progress. If you cannot attend in person, I will be setting up a toll-free conference bridge which you can dial into for the call. The conference bridge can handle up to 50 separate callers, so feel free to join us!

Happy Holidays to all, and here's to seeing a Cornell Acacian's wishes come true in 2006!

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Acacia and the Big Red Band


During the early 1960s, Acacia had a strong connection to the Big Red Marching band. Pictured below are Pres Shimer, Bob Pfahl, and Al Male (though I'm not sure in that order L to R) in Wayne, PA, November, 1959. The date on the photograph says January 1960 (I cropped it so you cannot see), which leads me to believe that the dates on these photographs - many of which were taken from an album donated by Bob Pfahl in January 1960, were developed on the date on the picture and not taken on that date.

Any thoughts on this?

Monday, December 19, 2005

The Crest of Acacia


Brother Rex Inglis (VD) receives the crest now hanging above the hallway descending the stairsway to the Wing Dining Room (new addition). The crest was made and donated by Brother William Ahearn.

The picture is from January 1966. The photograph was taken in the piano room (Commons), as seen by the pair of sliding doors on the left and right of the photo and the lack of lights, which might make it the library. Where the painting hangs in the background, the Brother Tree of Cornell Chapter rests. To have one's name on the brother tree, a brother must give $75.00 in addition to the normal $50.00 dues in any given year.

Is your name on the tree?

Sunday, December 18, 2005

The New Wing Kitchen, 1963

The New Wing was constructed in 1961. I plan to do more research into the particulars of this era, including where the brothers lived during construction, for how long, and how the brotherhood existed during rennovation (pictures welcomed!)

This is a picture of the new kitchen facility as of December 1963. Not sure who the brothers in the picture are. Though times have changed, nothing has changed about a brother getting at his meal!

The Founding Fathers of Acacia


This is a picture of the Founding Fathers of Acacia at the University of Michigan, Aleph Chapter. I should note that the mother chapter closed in 1991 due to lack of interest, but there has been talk by the national officers of the fraternity to recolonize in the future.

As a bonus question, can you still name the fourteen founding brothers from memory? (HINT: If you can't, zoom in on the names below the picture for help.)

On top of Acacia!


Don't let anyone at the Corp Board know about this pre-finals tension reliever! Actually, this shot is from the spring of 1966, and I don't think anyone knew how easy it was to damage the roof of the Wing at that time. Notice one of the brothers on top of the third floor roof!

Picture from November 1963 Football game


As you can see, Acacians have always made sports a part of there college life. Here brothers play football on the back lawn. The date on the photo is November 1963, though it is possible that was simply the date the film was developed, not the actual occurrence of the event. Still, I am rather sure it took place after 1960 because of the presence of the Wing addition in the background.

I'm not sure who were the brothers in this photograph. Any help there?

Cornell Acacia Centennial, the Blog

This blog, inspired both by the suggestion of Fudd (1009) and Dorfman (1068), is dedicated to the Cornell Acacia Centennial. For my part, the Centennial, scheduled to be held in the summer of 2007, will be marked by more than a gathering of brothers and friends in Ithaca. I am hard at work on a project of history that portends to consume my free time for the next calendar year, namely the book, Cornell Acacia: The First Century.

In the spirit of Dr. William S. Dye, Jr.'s Acacia: The First Half Century and Delmer S. Goode's Acacia: The Third Quarter Century, Cornell Acacia: The First Century will be an historical account of the major events and players to affect Cornell Chapter's first one hundred years of existence. I use first one hundred years advisedly because I believe Cornell Chapter can last another one hundred years. The first one hundred years, as I am beginning to discover, was full of challenges and triumphs, heartaches and smiles.

Acacia Fraternity means many things to many people, and I know it will be difficult to capture that feeling in a single volume. That, in part, is the reason for this blog. The blog should be a forum for discussion between many Acacians, but unlike a newsgroup, it is primarly a vehicle for me to express my feelings as the project progresses and to report new findings and discoveries. I hope this blog will help keep interest in the project on an ongoing basis. Feel free to contact me to ask questions using the comments section of the blog.

Here's to the Centennial of Cornell Acacia in 2007!

Sincerely,

Hoover (1063)