1905-06 Volume 30 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

238 THE SCROLL.Walter Palmer began his active work as an official of thefraternity in 1879, when he became an editor of the fifth editionof the catalogue, which was issued in 1883 At the outsetof his labors, he learned that valuable historical papers werein the possession of several of the older chapters. He saysin his preface:This discovery suggested the writing of a history of Phi Delta Theta. Ihad no reason to suppose that I had any special qualifications for the authorshipof such a work, but took it up because I thought there ought to be ahistory of the fraternity, and no one else had volunteered to write one. .. . When it first occurred to me, over a quarter of a century ago, had Iseen the difficulties that would be encountered in producing such a book,and how many annoying interruptions in the work there would be, and hadI realized what a vast amount of labor was involved, and how many yearswere to elapse before it would be finished, I am sure that I would not havehad the courage to enter upon such an arduous undertaking. Certain it is thatI greatly misjudged the time that would be required to complete the task.Before the meeting of the Indianapolis convention of1880, which created the office of historian of the generalcouncil. Brother Palmer had formed the nucleus of a fraternitylibrary and a collection of historical papers, and he wasthe first incumbent of the new office. At the close of histerm, at the Richmond convention in 1882, he reported thathe had collected a number of historical documents and thehistories of several chapters, and his plans for writing a historyof the fraternity were endorsed by his successor as H.G. C, by the general council in 1885, and by most of ournational conventions since that time. It was recognized bythe fraternity that Brother Palmer had undertaken a stupendoustask, and one of the very greatest importance to the fraternity,and there has always been an enthusiastic willingnessto allow him to take his own time and to afford himevery facility and encouragement. With his usual care, hehas kept the list of those who have assisted him, whether in'great or small measure, and the names of these, in smalltype, fill four pages of his book, ninety-one chapters, activeand inactive, being represented, the Miami chapter alonehaving thirty-nine names recorded. A pathetic reminder ofthe length of time that has been consumed in the preparation ofthe history is the fact that many of the names on this roll arethose of Phis who have long since entered the Chapter Grand.The work which Brother Palmer has done on the historyhas been carried on and completed simultaneously with amultitude of tasks, such as fall only to hard working newspapermenand the statistician by profession, for since 1892,as a special agent of the United States Department of Labor,