Baird's Manual of Fraternities and Sororities
 

Does anyone know of plans to update Baird's Manual? Last published in 1990's...

The last I checked there are no plans whatsoever to publish another edition. Too bad, isn't it? Publishing rights are controlled by the NIC. I have even offered to help work on it gratis and still found no interest. In fairness to them I think they still have a ton of the last edition sitting in a warehouse.

If they have a good number of these left, maybe they should consider reducing the cost. I'd like to have one, even with the old copyright date, but it's pretty pricey.

But in the era of publishing on demand and e-books, they shouldn't need to have a warehouse full of paper again. And a book like that really screams out for e-only publishing since it's really just a reference tool. I mean, you wouldn't buy a paper encyclopedia, would you?

The most recent edition contains poor/no/ or inaccurate information for several sororities, in particular ZTA where some chapters of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity are listed as ZTA's. AST lists no specific chapter information.

In the mid 1980's the editor of what became the 1990 Baird's edition placed an advertisement in Kappa Delta's magazine, asking members to send a check to reserve a copy in advance. I sent-in a check, and never received any further info or a book from Baird's.

When I contacted KD staff, they said Baird's Editor was repeatedly promising book delivery to members; it was a ruse by same Baird's editor who died before publication, and another person ended up editing the book with no refunds or book for those who had pre-ordered. KD staff understandably had no responsibility in the matter.

DubaiSis, you made some very good points.

Bairds Manual
 

I have started to update the older Bairds Manuals, at least for now just posting pictures of the groups listed, I am planning to publish online a newer version of information on fraternities and sororities.

Go to photos.bairdsmanual.com to view images of groups from the 1879, 1883, and 1890 now.

Thanks.
CS1869

Has anyone ever seen a Baird's Second Edition (1890)?

Actually, the second edition was the 1883 edition, an the third was 1890.

I have copies of all 20 editions of the Bairds Manuals.

Is there something specific youre looking for?

Sincerely
Badgeguy

NIC should consider an on-line version with a subscription fee, $10 or so per year, and have a site where the info could be accessed. It could be updated on a continuing or yearly basis, so that the info is fairly current.

And I also think that if NIC has a warehouse full of books, they should reduce the price and move them out.

Whoops! My Typo! I should have said 1880.

Thanks for the update, badgeguy That's quite a collection there!

The first edition was 1879
The "second" (which was actually called the First Revised Edition) was 1880
The "third" (which was actually called the Second Revised Edition) was 1883

According to the preface (page IV) of the 1883 edition, the 1880 edition was little more than a reprint of the 1879 edition.

I'm wondering if anyone has scanned the 1880 version and posted it online.

List of editions at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baird%2...e_Fraternities

As far as I can tell from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyrig..._Extension_Act , the 1920 (and earlier) edition should be out of copyright, but the 1923 edition won't be out of copyright until 2019.

Is there any chance we could get the NIC to webpublish those editions up to say the 18th in 1968?

At one point I went looking for the editions on books.google.com. I found the 1879(1st), 1898 (5th), 1905(6th), 1912 (7th), 1915 (8th), and 1920(9th). As indicated above 1923 isn't out of copyright, so snippets are on-line. I've seen snippets for some of the more recent, but I haven't bothered to check which have snippets and which aren't there at all.

They would have to reduce the price to 2.5 cents because the word is out that the last edition is a piece of poo, full of errors, lacking updates and omitting tons of info that was in the previous edition.

I think the thought of updating with all the multicultural and other GLOs that have sprung up is not something that the old guard wants to tackle.

I know some people who would by the 1991 edition at $5.00. (I figure the Shipping and Handling would double the cost) I own the 1920, 1923, 1968 and 1991 versions (I think).

Part of the reason that I'd be interested in a new version is that I've found that it is *very* difficult for some fraternities and sororities to get a straight answer on where they currently have *in*active chapters.

?? Re the bolded: Are you saying some fraternities and sororities don't know where they have inactive chapters, or that they are unwilling to make it easy for others to find where they have inactive chapters? If it's the latter, a Baird's or similar book is only going to be as good as the information supplied to the editors, and it may be out of date by the time its published. If it's the former, then those GLOs have bigger problems to deal with.

I suspect 33girl is right that Greekdom is just too big and varied now for something like an updated Baird's to be as accurate or comprehensive as it should be. And with what's available on the internet, it probably isn't worth the effort.

The latter, but that having the NIC ask for it and having the results in something as well known as Baird's *might* be enough to cause them to research it (if needed) and give an answer. In addition, for some fraternities and sororities, finding founding dates for chapters can be very difficult. This is also likely to be requested as part of Data for Baird's.

For example, since I spent some frustrating time helping a sister of Delta Sigma Theta create Wikipedia page of them... I'll pay $10 on the spot for a referenceable complete list of all of the Delta Sigma Theta undergraduate chapters (active and inactive) and what year they were created. I have a very low expectation of getting such a thing (though I'll be interested to see what sort of information is in the program at the centennial) *but* if they were to put out a new version of Baird's, there would be a good chance of getting that information. (The current wikipedia page contains that information for all chapters 1976 and prior since the list in the 1991 Baird's (which I own) is repeated from 1976)

I agree with 33girl on that point as well...

Why is it so much more difficult to get chapter information from NPHC organizations? Most of the groups simply don't list it. In doing some research on a specific campus I found several cases where a chapter name has been re-given. Is this a common practice? I can see how difficult the project would be; however, if a request from a respectable organization about to publish an updated Baird's surely each group would want to be as accurate as possible.

I do seem to recall that not very many copies of the 1990 edition were sold. They published tons of them and were stuck. I agree that it wasn't the best issue and so that fact, coupled with a high price just didn't cut it. I can see why anyone would be wary of publishing a new edition.

1880 Bairds Manual
 

I was able to find a copy of the "mysterious" 1880 edition....in fact it wasnt even titled "first revised edition" as the preface suggests. The NY public library is supposed to have all the editions, and many other books that once belonged to William Baird himself. (He had amassed a huge collection of material in his lifetime)/ The entire collection (minus things related to Beta Theta Pi) was given on loan to the NYPL by the Beta HQ back in the day, with the thought that the entire collection would remain intact, but apparently NYPL never got that note because they totally dispersed the entire collection to many various places!! What a shame!

Anyway, the one copy "1880 edition" I was able to find looks exactly like the 1879 edition except that two or three pages were changed, and an addendum was added to the end to update chapter info, and make a few corrections. One way to notice if one has an 1879 edition or an 1880 edition is to look at the entry for Alpha Tau Omega, if there is a die cut of the badge, then you have an 1880 edition, if not then you have the 1879 edition.......the pages for Phi Kappa Sigma are also different, as is the entry for Pi Kappa Alpha, which in the 1879 edition it was listed as PHI Kappa Alpha and not Pi Kappa Alpha!

I have a digital copy I can share, if you contact me.

Thanks.
BG