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Memorandum: Recurring Activities Usually Include Almost-Daily Researching and Posting at Phi Psi

The historian provides a summary of his activities since his previous report in October. He regularly researches and posts about Phi Psi history on Twitter and maintains a master calendar of events. The Twitter account has grown in popularity. The historian also shares information weekly on the Phi Psi 150 Yahoo group. Plans are underway to implement recommendations around preserving chapter meeting minutes digitally and developing Phi Psi history programming. The historian commemorated several anniversaries and has upcoming events planned, including ceremonies at the grave of William Mitchell on Founders Day.

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13 views

Memorandum: Recurring Activities Usually Include Almost-Daily Researching and Posting at Phi Psi

The historian provides a summary of his activities since his previous report in October. He regularly researches and posts about Phi Psi history on Twitter and maintains a master calendar of events. The Twitter account has grown in popularity. The historian also shares information weekly on the Phi Psi 150 Yahoo group. Plans are underway to implement recommendations around preserving chapter meeting minutes digitally and developing Phi Psi history programming. The historian commemorated several anniversaries and has upcoming events planned, including ceremonies at the grave of William Mitchell on Founders Day.

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MEMORANDUM

Date: To: From: Subj: Jan. 25, 2012 The Executive Council of Phi Kappa Psi Michael H. McCoy, Indiana Beta 1958 Report of the Historian A nation which does not remember what it was yesterday does not know what it is today, nor what it is trying to do. We are trying to do a futile thing if we do not know where we came from or what we have been about.
-- Woodrow Wilson, Virginia Alpha 1879

Here are some highlights of my activities as Historian since my Oct. 5 report. Recurring activities usually include almost-daily researching and posting at Phi Psi Archives on Twitter about Phi Psi history and Phi Psis making history, as well as continued content expansion of an informal Phi Psi history master calendar upon which these postings are often based. Phi Psi Archives posts are usually tied to anniversaries and news of the day. This and other information, often expanded, is shared every week or so at the Phi Psi 150 Yahoo Group where one of the benefits is its searchable message archives. Phi Psi Archives on Twitter continues to grow in popularity with 882 current subscribers, up 14% from the 774 noted in my previous report, with a total to date of 3,284 messages composed by or selected from other sources by the Historian (up 13% from the 2,902 as of Oct. 5). Messages are usually posted several times a day seven days a week. Youll find it at http://twitter.com/PhiPsiArchives. If youre already on Twitter, youll find it @PhiPsiArchives As far as I have been able to determine, Phi Psi Archives was the second of three Greek fraternities and sororities with a Twitter account dedicated to sharing their histories. Subscribers to the Phi Psi 150 Yahoo Group posts have remained essentially unchanged since my Oct. 5 report, declining by 4 to 250. Message posts by me and others in the same period totaled 53, bringing the count since the Yahoo Group was established June 3, 2001, to 1,914. This was the first Internet-based forum devoted to Phi Psi history and also contains photo albums, 100 MB of files, and a link list. Its located at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PhiPsi150 You can read the most recent message postings there without subscribing, but Yahoo Groups requires membership to access the message archives, files, and certain other features. Unresolved is finding a location on the Internet that can handle documents relevant to Phi Psi history that are accessible to the public; weve reached the 100MB Yahoo Group capacity. (Phi Psi 150 also is a good place for Phi Psi history-sharing by others.) Fraternity Archivist Tim Tangen and I continue to confer on plans for implementation of the recommendations of the 2012 Grand Arch Council related to the preservation of

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Chapter meeting minutes in digital form, digitization of the Centennial History of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity, and development of Phi Psi history programming at this years Woodrow Wilson Leadership School at Butler University in Indianapolis. Suggestions for implementation of any or all of these recommendations are welcome; please contact me at [email protected] Ive also established for my own use a Projects in Progress (PIP) file where I formally record Historian projects to be developed, with my initial thinking about how that should be done and to serve as a repository of my research notes. To date I have 42 identified, more to add, and an unlimited number of those that could be added. SPECIAL ANNIVERSARIES The 100th anniversary of the office of the Mystagogue of Phi Kappa Psi was commemorated Jan. 12 with a message I prepared and shared on Phi Psi 150 and Twitter. It included information about the key role an Archon from that time played in the establishment of the position and his later life of great accomplishment and tragic death. Veterans Day Nov. 11, 2012, was given special attention in a Phi Psi-customized and detailed message I posted that day at the Phi Psi 150 Yahoo Group and on Twitter. It was followed two days later by special recognition in a message of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Pearl Harbor Day also was recognized in another Phi Psi 150 message on Dec. 7. (Im unaware of any list of names of Phi Psis whose names are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and who were at Pearl Harbor. If you happen to have any information about these men, perhaps from your own Chapter or family, please let me know and well start a list.) UPCOMING Weather permitting, I expect to again hold ceremonies in Milwaukee at the grave of aviation pioneer and prophet Brig. Gen. William (Billy) Mitchell, D. C. Alpha 1896, who died on Founders Day in 1936. This event, planned for Saturday, Feb. 16, will begin at 11 a.m. at the cemeterys Hall of History where Brother Mitchell is recognized with a display, a drive to his grave, and then a luncheon at a south side Milwaukee restaurant. Brothers are welcome to participate in any or all of these events. Please contact me if interested. I will be speaking at two Founders Day events this year, at the Central Texas Alumni Association event in San Marcos, Tex., Feb. 23, and the Atlanta Alumni Association gathering March 1.

Distribution: Executive Council; Appointed Officers; Headquarters Staff; the Archives of Phi Kappa Psi; Phi Psi 150 Yahoo Group; Twitter (Phi Psi Archives)

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