''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities'' was a
compendium
A compendium (plural: compendia or compendiums) is a comprehensive collection of information and analysis pertaining to a body of knowledge. A compendium may concisely summarize a larger work. In most cases, the body of knowledge will concern a sp ...
of
fraternities and sororities
Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America.
Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradu ...
in the United States and Canada, published between 1879 and 1991.
[Lurding, Carroll and Becque, Fran. ]
Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities
'' Urbana: University of Illinois. Accessed October 14, 2022. One modern writer notes, "''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities'', was, in essence, the Bible of the Greek letter system."
History
While seeking a Greek organization as a merger partner for his small national fraternity of Alpha Sigma Chi (which later joined
Beta Theta Pi) at
Stevens Institute of Technology
Stevens Institute of Technology is a private research university in Hoboken, New Jersey. Founded in 1870, it is one of the oldest technological universities in the United States and was the first college in America solely dedicated to mechanical ...
,
[ The main archive URL i]
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage
William Raimond Baird
William Raimond Baird (1848–1917) was the namesake of Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities and publisher of its early editions.
Biography
He was born in 1848 and in 1878 he graduated from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, Ne ...
conducted extensive research on fraternal organizations.
He compiled and published his research as ''American College Fraternities: A Descriptive Analysis of the Society System in the Colleges of the United States, with a Detailed Account of Each Fraternity'' in 1879.
Baird's publication coincided with a period of immense growth for fraternities in the United States.
His book was in demand for libraries and fraternity chapters, the latter contacting Baird with updates to their entry.
Baird published eight editions of the reference through 1915.
With the sixth edition in 1905, the serial was renamed ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities.
''
After Baird died in 1917, the
National Interfraternity Conference
The North American Interfraternity Conference (or NIC; formerly known as the National Interfraternity Conference) is an association of intercollegiate men's social fraternities that was formally organized in 1910, although it began at a meeting a ...
held the rights to his manual which continued publishing with an erratic schedule and various editors and publishers.
James T. Browne served as editor and publisher of the 9th edition in 1920 and the 10th edition in 1923.
In the 1920s, the National Interfraternity Conference sold the serial to
George Banta George Riddle Banta, Sr. (July 16, 1857 – September 23, 1935) was the founder of the George Banta Company (later the Banta Corporation) and an influential figure in the development of the collegiate Phi Delta Theta fraternity and Delta Gamma wome ...
, publisher and editor-in-chief of ''
Banta's Greek Exchange''.
Banta was a former president and secondary–founder of
Phi Delta Theta.
His
George Banta Publishing Company (later George Banta Company, Inc.) of
Menasha, Wisconsin
Menasha () is a city in Calumet and Winnebago counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 18,268 at the 2020 census. Of this, 15,144 were in Winnebago County, and 2,209 were in Calumet County. The city is located mostly in Win ...
released eight editions of ''Baird's Manual'' between 1927 and 1968.
Banta hired Francis Wayland Shepardson, president of
Beta Thea Pi, to edit three editions, the 11th edition in 1927, the 12th edition in 1930, and the 13th edition in 1935.
[""New Addition of Baird's Manual:" ''The Phi Beta Kappa Key'' 6, no. 8 (May 1927): 520. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42914065.] Banta died in March 1936, and his company's leadership fell to his widow and son.
During the 1940s, Banta Publishing made the publication slimmer with fewer entries.
Alvan E Duerr was the first editor of this new format with the 14th edition in 1940.
Harold J. Bailey edited the 15th edition that was released in 1949.
George Starr Lasher edited the 16th edition in 1957.
John Robson edited ''Baird's Manual'' for its last two editions with George Banta Company, the 17th edition in 1963 and the 18th edition in 1968.
In the 1970s, Banta transferred rights to the serial to the Baird's Manual Foundation. The foundation published the 19th edition in 1977 with Robson continuing as editor. Jack Anson of
Phi Kappa Tau
Phi Kappa Tau (), commonly known as Phi Tau (), is a collegiate fraternity located in the United States. The fraternity was founded in 1906. As of November 2022, the fraternity has 161 chartered chapters, 79 active chapters, 6 Associate chapte ...
and Robert F. Marchesani Jr. of
Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi (), commonly known as Phi Psi, is an American collegiate social fraternity that was founded by William Henry Letterman and Charles Page Thomas Moore in Widow Letterman's home on the campus of Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pen ...
edited the 20th edition for the foundation.
Released in 1991, it was the last edition.
Description
''Baird's Manual'' covered national and international collegiate social, professional, and honor fraternities, including active and defunct organizations.
A typical entry included an overview of a society's history, traditions, symbols, chapters their founding dates, and membership information.
Organizations contacted Baird with updates to their entry.
However, there was such a boom in the growth of Greek organizations, both local and national, that Baird struggled to update the entries and add new content for each edition.
In essence, each volume was outdated before it was published.
The first ten editions included high school fraternities, literary fraternities, and local societies that had developed permanence by owning property or merging into another fraternity. With the 7th edition, Baird stopped including secondary school organizations.
In 1940, a slimmer version was published, omitting local chapters and secret societies.
In future editions in the 1940s, editors cut literary societies and classes from the publication.
By the 1963 edition, only national social (general), professional, and honorary organizations were listed, along with short profiles for defunct national groups. ''Baird's Manual'' also listed postsecondary schools with their active and inactive chapters. This remained the format through the final print editions.
Subsequent publication
When ''Baird's Manual'' ceased publication in 1991, Carrol Lurding of
Delta Upsilon
Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek Letter Organizations#Greek letters, Greek-let ...
created a new resource, ''Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities.'' The Student Life & Culture Archives at the University of Illinois Library published it digitally .
This free resource is inspired by ''Baird's Manual'' but does not duplicate the content found in the original serial.
The ''Almanac'' resulted from decades of research with resources including fraternity and sorority publications, yearbooks, the
New York Public Library, the Baird Collection, the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
Library's Student Life & Culture Archives, and Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University's Lurding Collection of Fraternity Material at the Lilly Library.
Thus, it is more comprehensive than ''Baird's Manual''.
In addition, the ''Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities'' is updated monthly and accepts corrections and additions through its website.
Editions
*William Raimond Baird, Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''American College Fraternities, 1st edition.'' Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co.,1879.
*Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''American College Fraternities, 2nd edition'', 1880.
*Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''American College Fraternities, 2nd revised edition'' (known as the 3rd edition)''.'' New York: Frank Williams, 1883.
*Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''American College Fraternities, 4th edition.'' New York: James P. Downs, 1890.
*Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''American College Fraternities, 5th edition.'' New York: Wm. Raimond Baird, 1898.
*Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 6th edition.'' New York: The Alcolm Company, 1905.
*Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 7th edition.'' New York: The College Fraternity Publishing Co., 1912.
*Baird, William Raimond, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 8th edition.'' New York: The College Fraternity Publishing Co., 1915''.''
*Brown, James T., ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 9th edition.'' New York: James T. Brown Publisher, 1920''.''
*Brown, James T., ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 10th edition.'' New York: James T. Brown, 1923.
*Shepardson, Francis Wayland, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 11th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: The Collegiate Press/
George Banta Publishing Company, 1927.
*Shepardson, Francis Wayland, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 12 edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: The Collegiate Press/
George Banta Publishing Company, 1930.
*Shepardson, Francis Wayland, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 13th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: The Collegiate Press/
George Banta Publishing Company,1935.
*Duerr, Alvan E., ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 14th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: The Collegiate Press/
George Banta Publishing Company,1940.
*Baily, Harold J, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 15th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin:
George Banta Publishing Company'','' 1949''.''
[Baird, Wm. Raimond and Baiy, Harold J. (1949). ''Manual of American College Fraternities''. 15th ed. Menasha Wis: George Banta Publishing Co.. vi]
World Cat
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*Lasher, George Starr, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 16th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta Co., 1957''.''[Baird, Wm Raimond and Lasher, George Starr (1957). ''Manual of American College Fraternities''. 16th ed. Menasha Wis: George Banta Publishing. vi]
WorldCat
/ref>
*Robson, John, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 17th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta Co., 1963.[Baird, Wm Raimond and Robson, John. (1963). ''Manual of American College Fraternities''. 17th ed. Menasha Wis: George Banta Publishing. vi]
WorldCat
/ref>
*Robson, John, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 18th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: George Banta Co.'','' 1968''.''[Baird, Wm. Raimond and Robson, John. (1968) ''Manual of American College Fraternities''. 18th ed. Menasha Wis: George Banta Publishing. vi]
WordCat
/ref>
*Robson, John, ed. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 19th edition.'' Menasha, Wisconsin: Baird's Manual Foundation.1977.
*Jack L. Anson, Anson, Jack L. and Marchesani Jr. Robert F., eds. ''Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 20h edition.'' Indianapolis: Baird's Manual Foundation,1991''.''
References
External links
''Online Book Page: Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities''
*
Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities
'
{{Authority control
1879 non-fiction books
American encyclopedias
Fraternities and sororities in the United States
Specialized encyclopedias
19th-century publications
20th-century publications