I saw that in The Trident too, and I’m glad this was brought up again because I’ve actually been in contact with the winning eBay bidder. It drove me crazy not knowing what was going on, so I just emailed him via his eBay user name. He wrote me back once or twice, then a few weeks later, he sent me the following AMAZING email. I just so wish I were a rich alumna so I could buy this from him and donate it to National! BTW, he said he was in contact with a couple of Tri-Delts, so... have any of you been emailing him too?
“This is what I have discovered about the Tri-Delta document so far;
It would appear that this is indeed a handwritten document from the early days of Tri-Delta although it does not appear to be the Alpha Chapter’s copy of the constitution. What I have seems to be a copy provided to the Epsilon Chapter at Knox around August of 1889. What this means is that although this is not the original constitution it is certainly one of the first and evidently one of the only remaining handwritten copies in existence, allow me to explain.
The original Tri-Delta constitution was revised soon after your founding (Thanksgiving Eve, 1888) to incorporate the suggestions of Etta Mae Budd. Miss Budd, as you may recall, was an Iowa State Alumna and a member of the local organization U.D.T. and had intentions of spreading her organization as a national all over the world. She had already been in contact with groups at a number of colleges, Simpson included where a group by the name of L.F.V. (Lovers of Fun and Victory) had already pledged itself to join her society. She had moved to Boston and came across one of Alpha’s early initiates, Josephine Centre (Jan, 1889), at the local Y.W.C.A. where she was boarding and requested an interview with the Tri-Delta leadership. Upon meeting with your Founders she entered discussions with them to see if they would be interested in affiliating with her organization. The Tri-Deltas evidently were able to convince Miss Budd that a coalition would be good but the identity of the group would remain Tri-Delta although some things in the constitution of Miss Budd’s society were incorporated in that of Tri-Delta, notably those portions referring to the Commissioner of Education, the Provinces, and the arrangement for Chapters in Canada and England (A Detailed Record of Delta Delta Delta 1888-1931, B.L. Priddy, p.28).
The Constitution that I have has already incorporated these features from Miss Budd’s Society. By dating to these conversations I feel that this document can be shown to have been written between January 1889, March, 1889 (Miss Budd’s initiation into Tri-Delta), and August, 1889 which was the date of the installation of the Epsilon Chapter at Knox College. The original By-laws required that each initiate sign the document (Article 24 of the Constitution of Delta Delta Delta) and so my book actually has the signatures of six of the nine charter members of the chapter. This discrepancy may be due to the graduation of members, disassociation, or lack of attendance at the initiation. It is interesting to note that although the charter was granted in the fall of 1889 the chapter has always claimed its installation date as Thanksgiving Eve, 1889.
At any rate this book served as the Constitution for the chapter for the next twenty one years and was faithfully updated, by hand in its entirety, to reflect the revisions of the first, national Tri-Delta convention in Galesburg 1893, and the fifth convention in Boston 1902. In other words there are three complete, handwritten versions of the constitution in this book reflecting the changes, among many areas, in your government structure, officer roles, degrees, and Alumnae associations (alliances). It also shows the subtle changes in the “Aim” of Delta Delta Delta. In spite of what your published histories may have taught you, i.e. “the Aim of the Fraternity as written by its founders has remained unchanged” (A Detailed Record of Delta Delta Delta 1888-1931, B.L. Priddy, p.18), there have indeed been substantive changes made to this statement from the earliest constitution.
It is truly amazing to see the actual signatures of such distinguished Tri-Deltas as Almedia Laurson (a past grand President) and R. Louise Fitch (editor of The Trident, and another past Grand President), along with 178 other Tri-deltas from Epsilon Chapter, too numerous to mention. These signatures are positioned after each revision and have, in some instances, class year designations and/or initiation dates. The writing of the actual constitution portions of the documents is not attributed to any specific scribe nor is it signed but three different hands have handled the task of rewriting the whole document after each revision. I find it interesting that there seems to be no mention of these handwritten copies of your Constitution anywhere. In fact the only reference I have found indicates that “during the early history of the Fraternity, the constitution was supplied the members and chapters in typewritten copies only.” (A Detailed Record of Delta Delta Delta 1888-1931, B.L. Priddy, p.89). It goes on to further state that a printed constitution was issued in 1897 and then subsequently reprinted after every convention. Based on this statement it would seem that the ladies of Epsilon Chapter took it upon themselves to preserve and protect this obviously cherished bit of their history.
The book itself is in remarkable condition, considering it is over 100 years old, with the writings and signatures being crisp and clear. You can almost see the personalities of the Tri-Deltas in the way they signed their names with flourishes and embellishments at what must have been one of the most exciting moments of their lives, their initiation into your Order.
I will at some point be transcribing the entire document (I don’t wish to have it photocopied due to its fragility) and if you continue to have an interest in it, I will be happy to provide you with periodic updates. Hopefully this will serve two purposes; first you will see that I have a genuine scholarly interest in the document and; second, that you, who have been among the most courteous of all the people who have contacted me, can gain in knowledge of your organization’s history. Incidentally, not only have Tri-Deltas been contacting me, a number of collectors have been offering astonishing amounts for this document. Who would have known! At any rate just let me know if you would like to receive further information.
1888 Constitution
I was surprised to see this post about the constitution. I figured it was a dead topic by now but since you asked, the LOSER did contact me again about the book. He wanted to see if I wanted to buy it for $2500 dollars. I mean I know its priceless but I could never afford that, not even for Tri Delt. I didn't even bother replying but if your chapter ever had a fundraiser to bring your constitution back home you can count me in for $50
Lots of love, Dawn
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