Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Centennial Horizon, Spring 2007, pages 1 - 4

Brethren,

I am pleased to publish the Centennial Horizon, Spring 2007 edition, to this blog. Inside you will find all the important information about the Centennial Celebration, including how to register for the event and order commemorative items. Be sure to fill out the forms on pages 6 and 7 and send them to the chapter house (318 Highland Road, Ithaca, NY 14850). The Centennial Horizon will be the cover pages for the Spring 2007 Traveler so be on the look out for both newsletters. The Traveler and Centennial Horizon will be mailed out the week of April 2.

Please note: To print, you must either download the images and print using Windows or go to http://www.cornellacacia.org and download the Adobe PDF version under the Publications section. These images are best viewed for printing using Mozilla Firefox or Netscape Navigator.



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Centennial Horizon, Spring 2007, pages 4 - 8






















(click on each image for a larger view).

Sunday, March 11, 2007

The Cornell Chapter of Acacia Fraternity Collection

Since beginning the history project, I have felt a need to find a way to secure the Cornell Chapter's history. Many of the records of the corporation and the chapter have been scattered and lost over time, and we are indeed fortunate to possess what we have. In some cases, luck has played a greater role in the continuance of the chapter's records than prior proper planning.

In the spirit of the History Project, I propose creating the Cornell Chapter of Acacia Fraternity Collection to be housed at the Carl A. Kroch Library Rare and Manuscripts Collection in the John M. Olin Library. The boxes pictured alongside me would supplement the existing Acacia Corporation Records now a part of the library's collection. Before donating these records, I would create physical and digital reproductions to be housed at the chapter house and on secure file servers or hard disks. While the archives, once donated, cannot be retrieved from the library, they may be accessed during library operations throughout the school year. Restrictions can be placed on who may access the collection, but in the spirit of open inquiry, I believe most of the collection should be made available to the general public. In my examination of the fraternity's history, there is very little we should seek to hide.

I plan on bringing this question to a formal vote at the annual meeting of the corporation. I would hate to see the chapter's past be subjected to the uncertainties of the future that are inherent in a fraternal living arrangement. Here's to creating the next 100 years of the fraternity's history!

Fraternally,

Hoover #1063

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Cornellians' Photographs

I was in Ithaca this past weekend, and thanks to help from Clara Tow, I now have a fairly complete collection of composites. We scanned photographs from the Cornellian for those years missing, and compiled with the scans done of the 11" x 14" photographs, the collection is almost finished. I am quite happy to have these scans completed since I will use them for a slideshow on the Friday night of the Centennial weekend. Include below is the photograph taken for the 1938 Cornellian.















(click on the image for a larger view)