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Writing a Chapter History
My undergraduate chapter of Alpha Phi Omega (Mu Alpha, Georgetown University) will be celebrating its 50th Anniversary in May of 2006. The actual observance will be a gala weekend in March of 06. I have been appointed to the committee that will be writing our chapter history.
This document will most likely shape up to be a book-length manuscript! Our chapter has had pledge lines every semester since our inception (except the year 1994) and we’ve initiated a national APO president, Ambassador Maura Harty, and President Bill Clinton. This is an ambitious project that we have just over a year to prepare for.
Have you ever written or co-written a chapter history before? I mean a document more detailed than what might be found on a chapter website. If you have written one, what challenges did you face? What format was your chapter history presented in? Was it bound like a yearbook or more like a pamphlet?
Helpful to my chapter are active alumni from all generations, great records (photos, scrapbooks, yearbooks), an archives at the school library, and an office full of certificates, files, and miscellaneous data. Some obstacles may be narrowing down our scope and finding alumni from the initial chartering class. I can also foresee us having difficulty with finding one “voice” to write the history in.
Any thoughts?
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