October 15, 1923, Vol. 5, No. 1 Part 2

Where are they Now?

The Chittenden Hotel, Columbus, Ohio - Location for the Demetrios Founder's Day celebration in 1923.
Unfortunately, this building was demolished in 1974.



The Seneca Hotel, Coumbus Ohio - Location for the Demetrios Pledge Dance on October 12, 1923
After years of being in a state of disrepair, this structure is now student housing, aptly named "The Seneca"
http://www.campusapts.com/Home.aspx?Proj=101&Name=Seneca



The Interlachen Club, Minneapolis Minnesota - Location for the Mnesicles Formal on May 11th, 1923.
This building is still used as a Country Club. - www.interlachencc.org/



Ye Olde Bull Pen Inn, Los Angeles California - Location for "Many Summer Meetings" of Andronicus Brothers over the summer of 1923.
Formerly located at 633 S. Hope Street, it has since been demolished.



The University of California, South Branch - The architecture department at this branch of University of California was discontinued, which created a windfall for the USC architecture department (And consequently was a windfall for the Andronicus Chapter).
The site is now the location of Los Angeles City College, and the Southern Branch of University of California moved to a plot of land west of Beverly Hills, and became UCLA.

October 15, 1923, Vol. 5, No. 1 Part 1

Thank you to the Prelinger Archives for this clip.

Page 6 of this issue includes an article by Berkeley Hardman, Demetrios, that vividly describes the Berkeley Fire of 1923. I find it interesting that a man named Berkeley ends up living in Berkeley. Was it predestined?

The clip is strikingly similar to the description supplied by Brother Hardman.


Changes to The Ritual?

See the letter on Page 5 from Grand Lecturer Rexford Newcomb, which outlines his thoughts about The Ritual. Many explanations can be drawn for the way in which our ritual is currently played out. Keep in mind, the fraternity was only 9 years old at this point, and the secret works may not have been viewed so much like "Gospel" as it we tend to do today.

March 15, 1923, Vol. 4, No. 5

If you're currently a pledge in a colony of Alpha Rho Chi (I'm looking your way, Severus), and you think you're going to put out the most bang-up, boss, swell, radical, bitchin, kick-ass petition for affiliation, you best be looking at the submission that Paeonios put together back in 1923.

Not ONLY did they include a dozen 7x11 inch views of the campus, individual pictures of all the petitioning members, and endorsements from the President of the School, the Dean of Engineering, the head of the Intra-Fraternity Council at the university, the Registrar and the Head of the Architectural Department, they also bound the thing in a soft, brown undressed leather cover, which bore the gold seal of the Kansas State Agricultural college.

The postage on that baby? $2.00. In today's dollars, that would be $24.11

I wonder whatever happened to that petition, described as a "masterpiece" by the Archi Editors.

In Other News..

There is a lovely response to the Archi Editors from an Alumnus, inquiring about an article in a previous issue:

"In the last issue of the Archi, there was considerable mention of the Alumni Association taken up at the convention. However there was nothing said of its purpose, development or benefit. It is the opinion of the members of the Chicago Alumni Chapter than an article should be published in the Archi giving some information regarding this issue."

Let this serve as a warning to you, my fellow brothers - people who stick their necks out like that end up getting elected Worthy Grand Architect. You see, the letter was signed by a G. A. Whitten. Yes, That would be future WGA, Silver Medal Recipient, and namesake of our annual Scholastic Achievement Award, George A. "So" Whitten.

December 1, 1922, Vol. 4 No. 2 Part 2

A trip down memory lane without looking at the dark and less than pleasant things is really no different than walking down Main Street USA at Disneyland.

As much as I love Disneyland, that's not our purpose here. And unfortunately, we find ourselves, once again, with a questionable comment that in our times would be considered quite racist. I'm doing my best to try to look at it through the context of 1922, but no matter how hard I try, I can't rationalize it, and that's why I've chosen to not quote it here.

But now I find myself quite curious about how race relations played into fraternities and sororities. I have known that there were fraternities and sororities specifically for African American and Jewish students; there were a number of each on the campus of my Alma Mater. I'm not naive enough to think that fraternities and sororities weren't segregated, even in states without Jim Crow laws. I had just never thought about it until now and for the sake of this project, I decided to dig deeper.

Stupidly, I started my quest typing into my google search "racism fraternity." It was a query that returned almost 260,000 hits, most of which are undoubtedly referencing recent events.

Narrowing down my search to fraternity and race relationships, I came across this story recounted by James Vorosmarti Jr. of Lafayette College, a brother of Phi Kappa Tau.
http://www.lafayette.edu/news.php/view/10558

His story is not unlike many others I discovered; stories that tell of "gentlemen agreements" that essentially barred chapters from initiating anyone other than christian white males.

In the stories I have read thus far, an awakening among the student population that this was clearly wrong, appears to have took place in the mid-to-late 1950's. The stories tend to mirror Mr. Vorosmarti's experience where certain chapters challenge the national organization on these mandates, and often end up seceding from the national fraternity in protest.

However if this is the case, we have about 30 years of Archi's where we may stumble into pronouncements like the one here on page 4.

I dismayed to discover in the March 15, 1923 issue of the Archi, that our fraternity was not one of the organizations that maintained a racial status quo with a "gentleman's agreement". Instead, being "white male" was listed as one of the requirements for membership in our National Constitution.

Shocking.

December 1, 1922, Vol. 4, No. 2 Part 1

Andronicus Brothers help with Political Campaign?

"Gump For Congress at Andronicus

Great acclamation and a series of stirring speeches followed the illustrious Andy as he rode down Broadway at Los Angeles when the A. P. X. of U of Southern California put on a real old time campaign. Pledge T. L. Pletsch played the part of Andy."

This is one of those entries that may have made perfect sense back in 1922, but today holds an enigma. The only Andy Gump I know is the guy who supplies port-a-potties to construction sites.
Turns out, the cartoon of the day called "The Gumps", which was written by Sidney Smith, and began its run in 1917. The strip featured a main character named Andy Gump, who in 1922, ran for congress. Subsequently, he ran for president in 1924.
What this has to do with our brothers play-acting a political campaign on his behalf, I have not yet been able to figure out.

Was this some sort of college age fad of the 1920's? (I mean, after all they were a good 25 years way from having televisions and movies weren't even talking yet).

What I do know is that there was a series of pinbacks made to promote these fictional congressional and presidential campaigns. The image included is one of them, dated to the 1920's.
Thanks to collector Mark Lansdown (www.marklansdown.com) for the image.

Database Progress

Just an update on the progress of the database itself.
I'm only 6 issues in, and already there are 443 names on the database. It's started to get unweildy to scroll from name to name, so I've started with the old "find" command. The last issue I entered, 12/1/1922 didn't have a lot of unique names in it.

So far, our most popular guy is Harold R. Peterson. It makes sense, since he's the Worthy Grand Scribe, AND the head of the Archi Board

November 1, 1922 Vol. 4, No. 1, Part 2

The Archi Staff re-printed one letter in full as a good example for others - and wouldn't you know it? It's from Myron Dassett's Mother!!

Myron Dassett, as you may recall from previous posts, is a Mnesicles Brother, studying at the Ecole des Beaux Artes in Paris, France. We've seen a picture of what might possibly be the apartment in which he resided, thanks to google maps!

His mother is writing to pay the $1.50 fee for "your little paper" so she can forward it along to her son. Also, she provides an address encouraging the brothers to write him. How sweet! What a great mom. It is signed Mrs. F. D. Dassett, and my next google treasure hunt began.

I wanted to just post this picture, but I don't want to pay 7 bucks for it. I try to be on the up & up in order to not sully the fair name of Alpha Rho Chi... therefore, Click on this link:

http://collections.mnhs.org/visualresources/image.cfm?imageid=142222&Page=1&Location=MH5%2E9%20MP3%2E1M%20p319

You will see a photograph dated 1895, showing the Mooney & Dassett Meat Market. Mr. F. D. Dassett is the second man from the left. His business partner, Myron C. Mooney is at the center. Can we assume that the son of Mr. & Mrs. Dassett was named after his business partner?

The site of this little market is now the site of the downtown Macy's store.

November 1, 1922 Vol. 4, No. 1, Part 1

pep
"vigor, energy," 1912, shortened form of pepper, which was used in
the figurative sense of "spirit, energy," from at least 1847. Peppy "full of
pep," first recorded 1922. Pep rally is attested from 1945; pep talk from
1926.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper

It appears "Pep" was a huge buzz-word in 1922, and the new Archi Board sure liked to use it to describe the properties of this new publications.

The new board sent a letter to all alumni asking for suggestions, and I believe the response from this unnamed brother succinctly describes why the new, peppier version was sought:

"As a suggestion, I would like to offer this, that there be less of
articles which we can get in Architectural magazines and more of a personal new
and chapter information."

And thus, aspirations to have the Archi be a periodical contribiting to our professions were put aside for a period of time. A loss for the profession? Perhaps. For us, however, Archi Names Project Gold!

In this issue we begin to hear the first rumblings of the project to build a house for the Mnesicles Chapter. Not to spoil anything, but much more will come on this subject in the future.

In other chapter house news, it looks like the Anthemios chapter moved to a different house, which would explain why I didn't recognize that photograph in the later issue. The poem included in the article specifically references a big rambling porch, which was quite distinctive. Anthemios also, is in the process of purchasing land for a future chapter house.

There are 2 brand new chapters, and it seems that the Archi Staff feels quite differently about each of them.

The Archi staff is tickled pink about those Andronicans out in Los Angeles, as they sent in many updates about students, pledges and faculty members. Most interestingly would be the mention of Carleton Monroe Winslow, made an honorary brother, who had been awarded a major project in Los Angeles, where he would be working in conjunction with Bertram Goodhue. It's a building that I enjoy visiting regularly; The Los Angeles Public Library! - see photograph above, courtesy of the Los Angeles Public Library.

However, the Kallikrates brothers are having to face the painfully polite, yet passive agressive wrath of the Archi Editors.

"From Kallikrates we have received only the most meagre news and we shall be
expecting a perfect mess of it during the next few issues. Our suggestion is that about once a week a letter with such information as may be in hand should be sent to us to make it possible to be up to date..."

As a former Grand Council member, I have to say: some things never change.

After a few more comments about how each of the new chapters are doing on dues, theres a.. lamentable comment that wouldn't be right to ignore:

"As the old darkey said on the arival of his ninth heir, "Lawd, we's thankful
for what we have received, and may's we all be blessed even moh."

Whoa. reading something like that is cause to snap a person out of their nostalgic stupor, and be grateful for living in more tolerant times.

April 1922, Vol. 3, No. 1, Part 2

I'm going to have to say that my home chapter wins the prize for the most interesting updates of this issue.

Let's start with Anthemios's trip to Demetrios to attend the Illinois-Ohio State game in Columbus. Nine brothers made the 23 hour trek in their "reo 'speed-wagons'". I have to remark: "23 HOURS!" Man that is Brutal! How long would it take to get to Columbus in an REO Slow-Wagon? The image above is a 1917 REO Speedwagon, likely very similar to the vehicles taken by our brothers. (Thanks to Wikipedia).

Also, I find it curious that they took REO Speed-wagons, considering the band REO Speedwagon was founded by students attending the University of Illinois in the late 1960's.

When describing the game, I may be looking at it through a modern girl's eyes, but boy does it seem like the brothers were a little too.. um.. inebriated.. to follow every play. (Illinois won).

In OTHER Anthemios news, 2 of our brothers are soloists for John Philip Sousa! Holy CRAP! E.E. Newcomb (no relation to Rexford Newcomb) and Bill Snyder (Snyder is also noted as being Mr. Sousa's personal secretary). This fact had been noticed in the February 1921 issue, and that Mr. Sousa had dined at the Anthemios Chapter House, but I didn't note it here.

April 1922, Vol. 3, No. 1, Part 1

If you ever wondered how our fraternity dealt with the way architectural education shifted from a 4 year program to a more solidified professional degree, look no further than the article by Rexford Newcomb, called "Tendencies in the Architectural Education World. At first blush, it looks like a boring article about education, but don't be fooled. It is focused directly on Alpha Rho Chi. And what i find interesting is that the questions that he posed are questions we are still asking ourselves today: Who Are We? What are Allied Arts? How do we deal with some chapters having a 5 year program, while others have a 4-2 program? Quoting him:

"The Fraternity may find itself face to face with the difficulty of reconciling a double-headed condition, we may find ourselves eventually with chapters in which the men remain four years, other chapters in which they remain six years, and still others in which the period of study covers six years with the later four only given over to what may be called professional work."

Just this past weekend, at the summer meeting, we held a pretty tense discussion how to classify graduate students in a 4-2 program; does the member become an alumnus before or after the M.Arch?

For an Honorary Member, Brother Newcomb took a lot of care when writing this paper. It's inspiring whenever I see a faculty member develop a passion for this fraternity.

The majority of this Archi is dedicated to the 7th National Convention held January 2-3 in Champaign, Illinois.

This is the convention where Kallikrates AND Andronicus join the fray. Kallikrates sent two members (who we would today call colonists) where it appears they were promptly given their pledge pins (in ceremonious fashion, of course), and given a seat at the convention table. Later, they were incorporated into the Anthemios pledge class and made brothers. It is indicated that they would go back to UVA and with the help of the Grand Lecturer, initiate the rest of the members of the Kallikrates Club.

The Andronicus Club was approved to become a chapter. This decision was endorsed by Rexford Newcomb, as it was revealed that he taught at USC before coming to teach at the University of Illinois. (This little parallel between Rex and myself, I admit, has filled me with glee.)

This is also the convention where the distinction was made between Faculty Brother and Honorary Brother, and Cass Gilbert was approved to become a Master Architect.. Take note that this approval took place prior to the death of Nathan Clifford Ricker, which happens in 1924.

It is also reported that Dave, the father of Anthemians Dave & G.R. Postle, was initiated as an Honorary member. It didn't take that long for us to get some legacies, did it?

The Formal Banquet took place at the Beardsley Hotel, which was located on Neil Street, just north of Main. Apparently, it was the nicest hotel in town at the time. Photo provided above, thanks to the University of Illinois Archives.

February 1921, Vol II No. 2

This is the oldest Archi we have a copy of, so far. and as you might have guessed it, I unpacked my Summer meeting bags finally.
I'm first struck by the cover art on this issue, which you might recognize from the Pledge Education Manuals.
I have to admit that I couldn't get through the long article by Irving Pond, FAIA. I'm sure it is fascinating. If you read it, leave a comment and let me know whether its worth it.
There are detailed updates from each chapter and Alumni Chapter. The Alumni Chapters include Chicago, Detroit, Columbus & Minnesota, and highlight how our alumni arranged themselves prior to Brother Whitten's Chapter-Specific Alumni Association plan.
I find it funny that 95 years later we're recognizing the value of city-centered alumni groups. It seems as though these Alumni Chapters did still have an eye on their "nearby" chapters, but just by simply identifying yourself with a city may have generated a focus on the profession AFTER college.
Howard D. Smith is mentioned in an article about the new Ohio State stadium. The fact that 2 Demetrios brothers are working as his draftsmen, (Brother H. F. Richard being chief draftsman), it likely shows the blossoming of his relationship with that chapter.
I'm intrigued by the number of our brothers who have been bestowed so many prestigious awards. It makes me wonder if there were more awards, scholarships and competitions per capita, or if our current organization is lacking in collecting and recording this data.
Happily, we hear about our friend Myron Dassett again, noting that he is studying in Paris under Gromort. I'm lead to believe this is Georges Gromort who appears to be a bit of an expert on the Elements of Classical Architecture. http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Classical-Architecture-Georges-Gromort/dp/0393730514

One last curiosity: Mnesicles Brother Harry J. Korslund is the 1920 winner of the A. Moorman Traveling Scholarship, and there is Brother Al Moorman from Mnesicles, who is "A. A. A." of the Minnesota Alumni Chapter. Could this be the same person? A brief google search did not produce any results.

February 1, 1923 Vol. 4 No. 4 Part 2

View Larger Map

There's a lovely Letter from Myron Dassett of Mnesicles who is studying at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He remarks that he has been visited by 2 brothers, Ed Loye & Galen Oman, and enjoys his letters from Howard Gilman. Notably, he is also visited by Professor S. Chatwood Burton - The same sculptor who created the bust of Dr. Ricker.
During his visit, the two of them dined with the "famous mural painter from St. Paul." It sounds like it might have been an unforgettable evening for young Brother Dassett. A brief google search did not result in any signifcant hits on Mr. Lalonde.

It's noted that he lives at "No. 1 rue de l'Albaye. I was unable to find that address in a google search, and according to my Par Arrondisment book that street does not exist in paris. But could it be rue de l'Abbaye? I sure hope so. It's an adorable place on the left bank, walking distance to the Louvre, the Tuileries and Notre Dame Cathedral.

Another Famous Sculptor is making waves, as Mr. Lorado Taft is noted as "giving a series of lectures at the University [of Illinois]. Mr Taft is well known by our Anthemian Brethren as the sculptor of University of Illinois' beloved sculpture "The Alma Mater."

The inscription on that sculpture reads: "To thy happy children of the future, those of the past send greetings."

Fitting, no?

February 1, 1923 Vol. IV, No. 4 Part1

When I read through these issues the first time, Convention issues generated more glee in me than almost all of the other things they may have written about. It's hard to believe that our fore-brothers would hold Convention over the Christmas holiday, often times forcing our brothers to leave their homes the day after christmas for a 2-3 day trek.

The 8th Convention in 1923 took place at Demetrios, and this was a good one indeed. This convention marked the election of Dwight Palmer "Pop" Ely to the position of Worthy Grand Architect; a position he would hold for 30 years! However, this almost was not to be. In a race between himself and Harold Peterson, the incumbent WGS, the election was tied. The Convention took another vote, undoubtedly after a few additional endorsements for each nominee, and again, the vote was tied.
This was resolved when the nominator from Mnesicles withdrew his candidate, who was not present. It doesn't say whether Brother Peterson, who was also on the Archi Board, was aware of his nomination.

At the 8th Convention, our organization continued the discussion the idea of having Alumni Associations associated with each chapter "to which all graduates of that chapter would belong regardless of where situated." This would be in lieu of city based Alumni Associations, as they were operating presently. The scheme was introduced at the 7th convention by Brother George A. "So" Whitten, and though it appears to have been met favorably, they hadn't worked all the bugs yet. Can't wait to see what happens in the 9th!

On Page 3, there is a little gem:

Are baldheaded men considered more handsome, more brainy, more impressive, or more agressive than others? At least that was our conclusion after sizing up the bunch around the convention table, for fully fifty per cent of those there had no superfluous hair on their domes.

January 1st, 1923 - Vol IV, No. 3

I did intend to start at the very beginning, and work my way forward. But because I haven't completely unpacked my luggage from the summer meeting, the 1st four available issues which I printed to share with my brothers during that meeting, are still tucked away.

However, as an Anthemian, I found it to be only fitting that I inaugurate this project with an Archi issue that bears the portrait of Dr. Nathan Clifford Ricker on the cover. Hello Doctor Nathan Clifford Ricker, Sir!

This issue does talk a lot about the chapter houses of our chapters at the time. Theres a nice rendering of the proposed home for Mnesicles. There is a picture of a house for Anthemios that doesn't look like the house I thought they lived in prior to their current place at 1108. It is stunning.

There is a detailed article about Howard Dwight Smith, who is an Honorary Brother at Demetrios. It appears he used to work for John Russell Pope.

I never knew that the Memorial bust of Dr. Ricker was sculpted by a professor from University of Minnesota. (Not a Brother)

I have a feeling I will like the correspondence recaps the most.
For example.. Brother Christen (Chapter as of yet unknown), suggest that the archi start some sort of "Lonely Hearts" section:

"I wonder if i could make use of the Archi as a 'fusser' bureau? I have a couple of very fine young lady friends in Los Angeles, and should like to find out if any of the Andronicus brothers would be interested to meet them. They are both "good lookers" and mighty good scouts."

He continues:

"In fact, one of them was my sweetheart back in the days when I was in school. If Carl Juline Anthemios is in L.A. he might be interested."

Oh Carl.. you must have really made an impression on Brother Christen.

Note to self: research what it means to be a "good scout."

What is The Archi Names Project?

Alpha Rho Chi Fraternity has (as of today) a rich 95 year history. Of that history, we only truly know the tip of the iceberg.
Over the past year, Worthy Grand Scribe Emeritus, Rick Jenkins started posting scanned copies of our fraternity's Newsletter/Magazine, offering for the first time, all the primary resource information in our fraternity's history.. in the same place.. so it could be read from start to finish.

And one day, that's what I started to do. Starting from the beginning, I read each issue. I began to notice certain names coming up over and over again. Some of them are names we all recognize. Dwight Palmer "Pop" Ely... George A. "So" Whitten.

But there were more obscure brothers; brothers who did not end up on the Grand Council who also began showing up over and over. It made me wish we had some sort of index.

So this, the creation of an index of names from our past issues of the Archi is what the Archi Names Project is.

What does this have to do with this blog?
As I am reading through these issues and articles, I have been making sometimes noteworthy.. sometimes interesting and sometimes shocking observations.
The blog is intended to be a narrative of these observations as I go along.

How will this work?
I intend to read every issue of the archi, and add it to an excel spreadsheet. After each issue, I will create a blog entry and noting anything interesting that happened while I was reading. Maybe I'll feel compelled to do a little "where are they now?" or draw some connections between separate issues.

Why are YOU doing this?
Well.. Let's see.. If you look at the date of this post, you might notice that July 20 marks the date AFTER the Grand Council's 2009 Summer Meeting.. and this was the final summer meeting I attended as the WGAA. I had kicked this idea around my head for a little while, and while it would have been logical to share this vision at the meeting, I didn't say a word. I've always truly believed that with Alpha Rho Chi, you can do whatever project you want without getting permission from anyone.. the GC, your Chapter, or you AA.. assuming that this project does not depend on funds from those organization. This is such a project. I'm just doing this. I love this fraternity, I love our alumni and I love our history. I'm going to love every second of this.