Author: Henry Baldwin Ward

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-07-21

Total Pages: 556

ISBN-13: 9781331916826

Excerpt from Sigma XI: Quarter Century Record and History, 1886-1911 The Baltimore Convention of the Society instructed the Corresponding Secretary in 1909 to prepare a complete catalog of the membership. The Washington Convention in 1911 authorized the printing of the list. The result is this book. The preparation of the record has demanded a large amount of work for which the Society is indebted first of all to the secretaries of the individual chapters. Rapid rotation in office, frequent shifts in the personnel of a chapter, and the lack of permanent records have made it difficult to ascertain accurately some of the important facts in the history of almost every chapter despite the prolonged efforts of the present-day officers and of the resident members. In one case (Ohio) all of the original records were destroyed by fire and in other chapters early record books and papers cannot be found. The membership list of each chapter is published on the authority of the Chapter Secretary, and each chapter history is signed by him. In addition, I have spared no effort to help make each list complete and to correct all errors. The delays incident to the investigation of doubts arising in reading manuscript and proof have led to the discovery of numerous errors, and have resulted as a matter of fact in demonstrating the omission of some forty names from one chapter list; yet this has postponed the appearance of the book many months. It is too much to hope that all errors have been corrected; for any that still remain I ask the most charitable consideration of all. By vote of the Washington Convention the list was limited to the membership on December 31, 1911, and each member was to be given the position held at that date. There have been changes, of course, but this book is more than a mere address list, and despite the changes the record indicates closely the present relations of the membership. The examination of original records and the study of the history of Sigma Xi has proved very interesting to me and I trust the results may appeal to others. This history forms clearly an important part of the movement that has led to a new conception of educational values and a new emphasis in educational work. The men who have been leaders in Sigma Xi have been also prophets of the new education. It is fitting to chronicle their work in the establishment of the organization. But the records are scanty. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.