Yay!! Convention is On!! The 9th Convention of Alpha Rho Chi was held at the Curtis Hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota
The image above is an image of the exterior of this hotel. Below is an image of the space in which our banquet was likely held.
This 1 page Archi is a special edition noting the immediate highlights of convention. In fact, if this issue was written in the middle of convention, considering the event was scheduled for January 2-4, 1924. The majority of the reporting is on the opening dinner dance, and is followed by items yet to be covered.
I wonder why they did this? Is this the closest the 1924 version of us had to instant messaging?
God Bless the Archi Staff to not only list all of the attendees, but also the ladies who accompanied them as their dates. It makes me wonder how each of these Lady Golden Gophers were assigned to each of our brothers. Were they matched up by height? Was there a lady-auction a la Pirates of Carribean? Why didn't Norman Palmquist of Paeonios get a date? Poor Norman.
We are also graced with the banquet menu, which was probably really fancy, but reminds me of an Anthemian Sunday Night Formal Dinner. In fact if we switched out the ice cream and cake or pie with "nilla wafers and pudding" it would be almost exactly the same.
Special thanks to Rick Jenkins in sleuthing out these photos.
There is a key to solving the mystery of the shortest Archi ever that is hard to discern from the scans. The paper is significantly higher quality than the normal monthly Archis. Combine that with the heading "Curtis Hotel – Stag Banquet" and it's clear that this Special Edition is actually the menu/program for the banquet itself.
ReplyDeleteI imagine this issue would have been distributed at each place setting in the banquet room. That's one way to save on mailing costs.
The brand name "Nilla Wafers" was not used by Nabisco until 1967, so that was at yet unavailable to our brothers.
The notion that this was merely a banquet menu/program explains a lot. Especially since the next issue is nearly a complete repeat of this information. Enid, Doris & Verna are going to get 2 entries apiece!
ReplyDeleteMuch more on the Curtis Hotel then and later from James Lileks' excellent website.
ReplyDeletehttp://lileks.com/mpls/hotels/curtis/index.html