Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity records

Collection

Identifier: 04.TKE

Staff Only

Abstract

The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity records includes the records of the Washington Toastmasters' Club which was organized into the greek letter organization of Phi Delta Pi. In 1955 Phi Delta Pi was absorbed into the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity establishing the Delta-Pi Chapter at the Michigan State Normal College. The materials in the collection are organized into two series: Phi Delta Pi and Tau Kappa Epsilon. There are few records from the Washington Toastmaster's Club aside from the programs and cards that bear the name of their primary social event, the Washington Dinner Dance. Materials in the Phi Delta Pi series date from 1902-1954 and includes correspondence and clippings, directories, meeting minutes, a ritual book, programs and a petition to the Tau Kappa Epsilon fratertity to be absorbed into their national fraternity. Materials in the Tau Kappa Epsilon series includes clippings, constitution and by laws, corespondence with the national office, pledge information and a file on the student organization TKE Little Sisters (the order of Diana). The materials related to the Delta-Pi Chapter of the TKE fraternity does not document the fraternity much after the mid-2000s and has very little documentation generated by the fraternity itself.

Dates

Creation: 1899 - 2004

Conditions Governing Access

Researchers are asked to request materials 24 hours prior to visiting the the University Archives.

Historical Note

The Phi Delta Pi Fraternity was founded as the Washington Toastmasters’ Club on February 22, 1893 at the Michigan State Normal School (now Eastern Michigan University) with the purpose of mutual enjoyment and the cultivation of the art of speech. Nine men founded the Toastmaster’s club, and they held their first banquet on May 20th of that year. In the fall of 1899, the organization was reorganized as the Greek letter, Phi Delta Pi, fraternity establishing the Alpha Chapter at the Michigan State Normal College, electing Dr. Charles O. Hoyt as its patron. In 1954, seeing the second the third chapters discontinued, the Phi Delta Pi fraternity petitioned the national office of Tau Kappa Epsilon for a chapter at the Michigan State Normal College. The petition was granted and the Delta Pi chapter was established January 1955.

The Tau Kappa Epsilon (ΤΚΕ or Teke) is an international all-male secret and social college fraternity founded in 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The National Fraternity Sigma Mu Sigma merged with TKE in March 1935, the exception being the Alpha and Iota Chapters which decided to remain independent. The Delta-Pi Chapter of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity was founded at the Michigan State Normal College in 1956 and remains active on campus today.