Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolfman
You're welcome! I'm pleased that this looks like the successful completion of a project that was planned and executed properly. The Chair of the International History & Archives Committee, Bro. Keir Pemberton, explains:
"Before I was appointed as International History & Archives Chair, the Grand Basileus interviewed me for the position and asked me a simple but very important question – “How would you go about producing a History Book?”. My answer connected both the production of the text with our need to properly maintain our record archives. Production of the text would involve the selection of intelligent brothers who are professionally trained historians. Leaders in their industry. Proper maintenance of our record archives has always been the most difficult endeavor. It is common knowledge that our record keeping system is inadequate and has been a restraint in our ability to provide an updated history book since 1961. Why should you think this is important? My inspiration is the late Brother Walter H. Mazyck, whose record keeping as Grand Keeper of Records and Seal provided the groundwork for the Dreer History Book which provided a wealth of chapter and member information. It served as the primary resource for the follow-on Gill History Book. Chapter records are important because they not only document its works but also their membership as well. Without those records properly maintained no one will know the SERVICE you as a brother provided to Omega and the communities you served. When our time comes to enter Omega Chapter, we will want an accurate accounting of our fraternal history" (from electkeirpemberton.com).
And I'm also pleased that this history book will be published by a very reputable academic press, which has a long history of publishing works of African American History/Studies, which means it will have gone through a peer reviewed process. And UNC Press has, IMO, published the best history of white fraternities: The Company He Keeps: A History of White College Fraternities by Nicholas Syrett. And this month UNC Press has published another important study of white GLOs: The Benefits of Friends: Inside the Complicated World of Today's Fraternities & Sororities by Jana Mathews.
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All this! A very exciting time, indeed. The peer-review portion is very important to me, and I think it's what's missing from the conversation in all other D9 history books except for In Search of Sisterhood.
The word "hagiography" comes to mind, these days.
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