The Minnesota Daily, Oct 7, 1916

Picking up the thread of the early history of Mnesicles in the last post, we move forward nearly 2 years this announcement on page 3 of the Oct 7, 1916 issue of The Minnesota Daily. This is the earliest mention of the Mnesicles Club in The Minnesota Daily, immediately prior to the chapter's installation on Oct. 20.

It's tempting to consider the Cyma Club the precursor of Mnesicles Chapter—and several histories of Alpha Rho Chi imply as much. While this is in some ways true, the actual situation was much more awkward. Despite 10 members leaving to form Mnesicles Club and petition APX, the remaining members of Cyma remained dedicated to operate as a local architecture fraternity.

A read of the Society Section of The Minnesota Daily on Saturday October 14, 1916 would uncover that both architecture fraternities would remain competitive. The following notices appeared on page 5 (I've condensed them for space and column breaks on the page).

Mnesicles' pledges would not be members for the Oct 20, 1916 charter, but presumably have been initiated into APX at a later date.

Cyma would continue to operate as a local fraternity for a few more years. However by May 1920, it's final mentions in The Minnesota Daily were as part of a list of student organizations overdue to file registration for continued university recognition. Mnesicles Chapter would continue to maintain its status as an active chapter until around 1990. There are no signs that our latest colonists ever attempted to reestablish Cyma before submitting their application to APX in Oct. 2012.

The Minnesota Daily, Dec 11, 1914

Heading into ceremonies to formally establish Mnesicles Colony at the University of Minnesota on Feb 9, 2013. we'll briefly resume this blog to look back nearly 100 years to the origins of APX at Minnesota. The following story appeared on Dec 11, 1914 on the cover of student newspaper, The Minnesota Daily, in the extreme lower right corner.

This is the same sort of mission statement you would expect from any local architecture fraternity of the era—or as part of applications to establish new colonies of Alpha Rho Chi in the modern day.

Two years later, 10 members of Cyma Club would leave to form Mnesicles Club and petition to become a chapter of Alpha Rho Chi. Walter F. MacGregor, their first president, would be one of the 10 original charter members of Mnesicles Chapter.

Another founder of Cyma, Samuel P. Albee, would also make the switch to APX. In fact, he would be elected as WGS by the 4th National Convention to complete the term of Chandler Cohagen, who would be serving in WWI France. Unfortunately Brother Albee would die in May of that year, leaving the office vacant until 1920.

Bonus article: Cyma would again announce their organization a month later in The Minnesota Daily on Jan, 19, 1915 (page 3). Many of their goals would still sound familiar today.