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Triangle Society records
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Held at: Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections [Contact Us]370 Lancaster Ave, Haverford, PA 19041
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Haverford College Triangle Society was a student group founded in 1892 consisting at first of only five close friends who wished to give their friendship a "tangible form." The group's initial purpose deviated little from performing secret tasks, holding private meetings of mysterious conversations, and initiating new members. As the group grew and gained momentum, its mission evolved to be more centrally focused on the betterment and general support of the College and its student body. This involved leading by example by a strict expectation of dressing well and attending as many campus-wide events as possible. Members of the Triangle Society were expected to participate or at least attend any and all sporting events. The Society established an influential social presence on campus through the hosting of dinners, parties, and various other activities such as basketball games and golf outings.
Secrecy was a major pillar of the Triangle Society, which did not make it particularly well-liked by the college administration at various points in time. Members would communicate in specific algorithms and developed a suite of secret rites performed throughout each school year. The initiation ceremony and the Triangle procedure for electing their administration caused perhaps the biggest controversies on campus. Though the initiation ceremony took on several permutations over the course of Triangle history, it involved at worst staging deaths of those who had revealed Triangle secrets, and at best involved an elaborately scripted performance piece in their ornamental Atrium space. It at times butted heads with the other major society on campus, Beta Rho Sigma, and it was the tension between the two groups which inevitably caught the attention of the administration. Though allowed to continue well into the 20th century, the college administrative intervention in the 1950s required both groups to relinquish a good portion of their secrecy.
Ultimately the presence of the Triangle Society was preserved due in large to its extensive and devoted alumni network. Membership was not free, and Triangle members continued to give money to the society well after graduation in order to support scholarship funds and various other campus projects. The Triangle Society worked to improve the campus garden, to acquire a collection of clocks to install around campus, and made donations of books and other objects to enrich the library's collection. The society produced an annual bulletin reporting on the history of the Triangle Society and the actions of current and former Triangle members, as a means of communicating with the larger community. The Triangle Society continued its activity around campus until 1972, accruing a diverse and elaborate suite of traditions passed on through its history.
This collection contains a variety of different materials and spans nearly a century of operation of the Triangle Society. Minute books (1909-1972) kept by the Secretary and the Board of Governors are present as bound volumes and folders of unbound pages. Financial records include the Report of the Treasurer, checkbooks, bills, receipts, and records of the life insurance project. The administration of the Triangle Society kept detailed records of their operation through the Report of the President, the Report of the Secretary, and by keeping ballots and other notes from elections. There are several sets of documents related to Triangle interaction with the larger Haverford community, including communication about and with Beta Rho Sigma, documents regarding the "fraternity issue" with the administration, and various correspondence. Documents regarding membership include the attendance book, roll calls, bound directories, lists or bulletins of new members, correspondence between members and various administrators relating to their membership status, and alumni documents which include include minutes, correspondence, discussion of gifts, and records of donations.
As one of its primary activities, the Triangle Society released a series of publications that were distributed around campus. The society's major publication was the Triangle Bulletin which released both regular editions and some special editions. Other publications include various announcements and the bound volume of the History of the Haverford College Triangle Society which contains versions of the Triangle Bulletin as well as other historical background on the society's origins. There are various documents related to social events hosted by the society, including invitations, correspondence, programs, and banquet menus. Documents that track the elaborate collection of Triangle traditions include papers related to initiation, music ("rhymes and ditties"), and tags with the Triangle emblem. Miscellaneous materials include newspaper clippings, photographs, and a scrapbook.
Processed by Grace Thiele and Alexandra Stern; completed February, 2019. Additional processing and description by Maia Schwallie; completed January, 2025.
Subject
- Secret Societies
- College students -- Scholarships, Fellowships, etc
- College students -- Societies, etc
- College students -- Societies, etc. -- History -- Sources
- College students -- Social life and customs
- College publications
- Universities and colleges -- Alumni and alumnae
- Secretaries -- Handbooks, manuals, etc
- Scrapbooks
- Publisher
- Haverford College Quaker & Special Collections
- Finding Aid Author
- Grace Thiele, Alexandra Stern, and Maia Schwallie
- Finding Aid Date
- February, 2019; updated January, 2025
- Access Restrictions
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The collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Standard Federal Copyright Laws Apply (U.S. Title 17).
Collection Inventory
This series includes 13 volumes of Triangle Society material. The first volume is an edition of the Triangle Bulletin, which contains a brief history of the Triangle Society. The following volumes include meeting minutes, secretary books, iterations of the Triangle Society constitution, meeting rosters, and a scrapbook of newspaper clippings pertaining to Triangle Society members.
This volume is a Triangle Bulletin pertaining to the History of the Triangle Society at Haverford College. The bulletin was written thirteen years after the society began and includes various historical accounts of the inception of the Triangle Society and its early years. The volume also discusses the controversies between the Triangle Society and Beta Rho Sigma, a Haverford fraternity. It also includes meeting minutes, photographs and biographies of Triangle Society members, and correspondence between members in a section titled "Characteristic Triangle Letters." The volume begins with a foreword by Morris Matthews Lee (Class of 1898) and concludes with a roster of past Triangle Society members.
This volume includes handwritten meeting minutes from meetings of the Alumni Organization, as well as some pasted in documents, including budget information, proposed constitutional amendments, and treasurer's reports.
This volume includes a handwritten constitution, meeting minutes, budget notes, and annual reports of the secretary, treasurer, and board of governors. There is also a letter from John A. Lester Jr. (Class of 1937) addressed to Robert L. Balderston from 1950 inserted at the beginning of the volume. Lester writes that Triangle Society volumes such as this one are too detailed, and he lays out a new potential plan for future bookkeeping.
This volume includes meeting minutes, treasurer's notes, and board of governor's reports.
This volume includes meeting minutes, one newspaper clipping, and discusses an amendment to the scholarship policy.
This volume includes secretary notes by WS Bradley, EC Pierce, IH Sheldon and RJ Shortidge, who are listed as "historians" for the Triangle Society.
This volume includes secretary notes by PW Brown, CK Drinker, and GD Godley. There is also one scrap of black, yellow, and red fabric.
This volume includes meeting notes regarding regular weekly and monthly meetings. The volume concludes with a record of members.
This volume contains meeting minutes, constitutional by-laws, and lists of officers and board members. There is also a Triangle Society ballot pasted in the book from the 1914 election for the society's president, vice president, and two governor positions.
This volume includes meeting minutes written by Triangle Society historians.
This volume includes meeting minutes and reports of the treasurer.
This volume includes rosters of members who attended various Triangle Society meetings and events from 1910-1948. There are rosters from weekly, monthly, and annual meetings, as well as midwinter banquets. There are also two rosters from trips to Atlantic City and a newspaper clipping about Dr. Ernest Brown, a former Haverford professor who passed away.
This volume includes three pages of scrapbooking. The materials pasted into the scrapbook are mostly newspaper clippings that mention Triangle Society members' names, many of which are underlined. Most clippings relate to wedding announcements. There are also a few cartoon clippings, as well.