Guide to the Phi Epsilon Pi Fraternity Records, 1912-1969
 
I-76

Series I: National Executive Committee, Grand Council and National Office, 1912-1964.

Arrangement:

Arranged in eight subseries.

Scope and Content:

Starting in 1911, a body known as the National Executive Committee was established to govern the first fraternity chapters. Within a few years, in order to accommodate chapter expansion, PEP created a new national-level governing body, the Grand Council, which consisted of the following national officers: Grand Superior, Grand Vice Superior, Grand Secretary, Grand Treasurer and Grand Recorder. These officers were elected at the annual PEP conventions, known as the Grand Conventions. At the Grand Convention in 1921, PEP decided to create the full-time paid position of Executive Secretary, which was first filled by Maurice Jacobs. The position managed the national office in Philadelphia, performed or oversaw annual visits and inspections of chapters, edited publications, provided advice to chapters, assisted regionally-based alumni associations, and maintained contact information for members. With the exception of a hiatus in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the position of Executive Secretary was key to the administration of the fraternity.

This series is comprised of records related to the governance of PEP and which were maintained, received or generated by officers of the National Executive Committee, Grand Council and national office. Materials consist of the fraternity’s constitution, by-laws, minutes, reports, general correspondence, Grand Convention materials, and membership and financial records.

Subseries 1: Constitution and History, 1912-1954.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

This subseries contains drafts of, revisions to, and correspondence regarding the constitution and by-laws, as well as one folder of writings and supplementary materials on the history of PEP. There is further documentation of constitutional revisions elsewhere in the collection as well, for example, in the correspondence of national officers in Series I, Subseries 4. For chapter-specific constitutions and by-laws, see Series II.

Subseries 2: Grand Council Meeting Minutes, 1915-1958.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This subseries consists of the minutes of various formal and informal meetings of the Grand Council between 1915 and 1958.

Subseries 3: National Officers' Reports, 1921-1957.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

The national officers delivered annual reports on their activities at the Grand Conventions. These reports, as well as financial reports and a small amount of correspondence pertaining to the annual reports or to position appointments, comprise this subseries. In addition to annual reports, the Grand and Executive Secretary folders also contain bimonthly and weekly reports.

Subseries 4: Correspondence, 1912-1964.

Arrangement:

Arranged in three subsubseries.

Scope and Content:

This subseries brings together three distinct bodies of correspondence, which were each arranged slightly differently by a previous archivist and/or the collection creators. There is extensive correspondence throughout the rest of the collection as well.

Subsubseries A: General, 1912-1958.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by name of individual or organization.

Scope and Content:

This subsubseries contains internal, external, incoming and outgoing correspondence, which was handled by the national officers of PEP. The richest correspondence is that of Jesse Acker during the early, formative years of PEP between 1914 and 1919, as well as the correspondence of Maurice Jacobs and Abram Sacher. The correspondence of Jesse Acker and Maurice Jacobs in particular can be found throughout the rest of the collection as well.

Subsubseries B: Mass Mailings, 1912-1949.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

This subsubseries contains outgoing announcements and general mailings from Grand Council to membership and leadership (addressed as “Fraters”), with only a few exceptions (such as a few pieces of correspondence received by Jesse Acker).

Subsubseries C: Members, 1914-1964.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically by state.

Scope and Content:

The correspondence in this subsubseries mostly pertains to everyday membership and alumni issues, such as dues, networking, PEP paraphernalia, and address changes. There is also correspondence related to city and state alumni association administration and planning. The bulk of the correspondence is incoming, received by the Executive Secretary and Grand Superior, and much of it was dealt with by the staff secretary Ruth Allen.

Subseries 5: Committees and Activities, 1917-1963.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

This subseries documents the administration of, the activities of and the issues addressed by various committees, funds, and projects of the national body of PEP, perhaps most notably during WWI and WWII. Materials include correspondence, annual and weekly reports, notes, clippings, press releases, talks, and photographs.

During and just after WWI, PEP kept track of members in the service via correspondence and War Service Record forms, which can be found in the “World War I” folders. The War Service Records include detailed information on the member’s activities during WWI, as well as photographs. For more on WWI, see also Jesse Acker’s correspondence in Box 16.

PEP’s efforts in the 1930s and 1940s on behalf of European refugee students are chronicled in both the “Holocaust” and “Refugee Committee” folders. Among the refugee students to whom PEP extended help were a few protégés of Albert Einstein, so there are copies of correspondence with Albert Einstein in Box 12, Folder 7. Approximately 2000 PEP members served in World War II, and national representatives of PEP kept in contact with as many of these members as possible and disseminated much of the news and communications they received via the Phi Epsilon Pi Quarterly. Material generated at this time can be found in the “World War II” folders, including accounts of members’ war experiences and correspondence announcing deaths and prisoner of war or missing in action status. See also individual chapter files for more on PEP members in the service.

Also of special note in this subseries are the “Negro-Jewish Relations -- Black Membership Controversy” folders, which carry correspondence reflective of the 1950 rifts between the Grand Council, Northern chapters and Southern chapters regarding the initiation of the African-American student, Alfred Rogers, at the Upsilon chapter of the University of Connecticut. These folders also include correspondence from Eleanor Roosevelt, Abraham Ribicoff and many leaders of outside organizations who reacted to the controversy. The “National Service Award” folders include texts of talks and correspondence from award recipients, such as Henrietta Szold, Stephen Wise, Herbert Lehmann, and Eddie Cantor, as well as correspondence to Albert Einstein. “Extension Committee” folders highlight the challenges faced and efforts made by PEP between 1920 and 1958 to expand the fraternity and admit new chapters.

Subseries 6: Grand Conventions, 1916-1960.

Arrangement:

Arranged chronologically.

Scope and Content:

PEP held an annual national convention, which became known as the Grand Convention, in locations that would vary each year. At Grand Conventions, national officers were elected, annual officers’ reports were delivered, resolutions were passed, and future directions of the fraternity were determined. The Grand Conventions are documented in this subseries by correspondence, minutes, invites, agendas, reports, notes, resolutions, printed materials, newspaper clippings, financial records, press releases, local-area tourist brochures, issues of Phi Epsilon Pi Quarterly, cartoons, pins, ribbons, decals, signage, and welcome letters from local politicians. Banquet photographs of the convention dinners are in Series VI. The texts of annual officers’ reports can be found in Series I, Subseries 3.

Subseries 7: Membership, 1931-1958.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

The bulk of this subseries is lists (also called “reports”) of chapter initiates, pledges and depledges, as kept track of by the national body between 1933 and 1956. For the most part these lists consist of names, pledge dates, and pledge fee amounts paid, but a few forms have more detailed information on individual members. “Distinguished Members” includes clippings, correspondence, and biographies and obituaries of members.

Subseries 8: Finances, 1923-1959.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

This subseries includes ledgers of expenses and dues received, bank account books, tax forms, financial statements and audit reports, all of which were generated or received by the national body (especially the Grand Treasurer) between 1923 and 1959. “Payroll Tax Deductions” (Box 5, Folder 5) is restricted due to privacy concerns.

Series II: Chapters, 1912-1957.

Arrangement:

Arranged in order of the Greek alphabet, which closely but not wholly aligns with the chronological order in which the chapters were founded. Single letter chapters come first, followed by double letter chapters. Folder titles begin with the name of the chapter, followed in parenthesis by the name of the academic institution during the last years represented in the folders.

Scope and Content:

49 chapters of PEP are represented here between 1912 and the spring semester of 1957. It appears that much of this material was received, collected and organized by the national body, and a substantial amount was generated by Chapter Superiors.

Items include correspondence, minutes, scholarship lists, newsletters, balance sheets, financial reports, reports on activities and academic performance of chapter members, income and expenditure reports, original copies of illustrations for newsletters, fraternity handbooks, constitutions and by-laws, member lists, certificates of incorporation, chapter house floor plans, scholarship reports, Grand Council chapter visitation reports, event materials, chapter member directories, photo reproductions of members and houses in newsletters, petitions for chapter recognition, budgets, leases, and clippings from campus, local, regional and national newspapers. Correspondence includes letters from Chapter Superiors to the Executive Secretary and Grand Superior; letters from university officials and from other chapters; and mailings from chapter superiors to chapter members and alumni. Among both correspondence and newsletters, there is documentation of chapters’ efforts to house European Jewish refugees during WWII, and there are also some materials about “housemothers” of the chapter houses and “dream girls” who were voted on by members.

There is more material about individual chapters throughout all series of this collection. For more on chapter founding, for example, see Jesse Acker’s correspondence (Box 16, Folders 2-7) and the Extension Committee folders (Box 12, Folders 1-2). Photographs of chapters can be found in Series VI and VII. There are more chapter financial records in Series I, Subseries 8.

The post-1936 records of the Omicron chapter seem to have been a part of this collection when the previous archivist arranged it, but they are currently missing.

Series III: Regional Provinces and Conclaves, 1919-1928, 1939, 1947-1957.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

In 1918, PEP instituted a regional form of governance called Provinces, but in 1922 the system was discontinued. After World War II, a new regional system of Conclaves was started. Materials generated by the Provinces and Conclaves in this series include minutes, reports and correspondence.

Series IV: Publications, Manuals and Directories, 1915-1969.

Arrangement:

Arranged in three sections: Phi Epsilon Pi Manuals and Directories, Other Fraternities' Manuals, and Phi Epsilon Pi Serial Publications.

Scope and Content:

This series consists of printed materials issued by PEP (with the exception of one Phi Sigma Delta-issued manual) and includes a run of the fraternity’s magazine, Phi Epsilon Pi Quarterly from 1915 to 1969 and bound and loose copies of manuals and directories from 1920 to 1957. The Quarterly, first issued in December 1915, offers essays, chapter histories, reports, biographies of new officers, statistics, convention minutes, obituaries, reading lists, individual portraits, interior and exterior chapter house photographs, and cartoons. The Quarterly reported news on chapters, conventions, general activities, alumni, officers, staff, chapter houses, and the Women’s League. During WWII, the Quarterly published accounts and letters received from members in military service and reports of members who were missing, prisoners-of-war or casualties. The Pledge Manuals provide histories and statistics of the fraternity, as well as lists of all past officers and chapter founding dates.

Phi Epsilon Pi Manuals and Directories

Other Fraternities' Manuals

Phi Epsilon Pi Serial Publications

Series V: Ephemera, 1922-1955.

Arrangement:

Arranged alphabetically.

Scope and Content:

This series contains ephemera which either the collection creators or a previous archivist separated from other areas of the collection. There is more ephemera throughout the collection, particularly among the Grand Conventions materials in Series I, Subseries 6.

Series VI: Oversized Materials, 1923-1958.

Arrangement:

Arranged by format.

Scope and Content:

This series includes oversized photographs, scrapbook pages and newspaper clippings. The bulk of the photographs in this series are panoramic group shots of convention dinners. The scrapbook pages are covered with clippings from national, regional and local newspapers and periodicals between 1937 and 1949. The clippings largely document the accomplishments of PEP leaders and members, including recognition for government, military and sports achievements. The “Miscellaneous” folder includes a certificate of appreciation for Ruth Allen and floor plans for the Alpha Eta chapter house.

Photographs

General

Series VII: Photographs, 1922-1957.

Arrangement:

Arranged in two sections: Chapters and Miscellaneous.

Scope and Content:

This series consists of photographs which either the collection creators or a previous archivist separated from other parts of the collection, and these photographs primarily document individual chapters of the fraternity via group portraits and shots of the chapter houses. Materials that accompany these photographs have been left with the photographs, such as correspondence and explanatory scraps of paper. There are many other photographs throughout the collection, the presence of which are indicated in individual folder titles with "(includes photographs)" or "(includes photograph)." There is a large cluster of oversized photographs in Series VI and many photographs attached to WWI war service records in Box 15, Folders 2-3.

Chapters

Miscellaneous