January 2017 Archives News

Happy New Year! Many of us make resolutions for the new year, and I have some Theta-specific ones to recommend (which don’t even require giving up chocolate!)

Resolution 1: Read and view Theta history. Catch up on the From Theta’s Archive blog posts, including The History of Theta’s Coat of Arms. There is an accompanying virtual exhibit showing the various coats of arms used over the years. Take a few minutes to explore the past versions—official and unofficial—and read about their history.

Resolution 2: Organize your chapter/personal archives. I know lots of us have our own resolutions to clean out those closets and cupboards! This is also a good time to think about helping groups we belong to clean out their “closets” … while still preserving their history. View our guide to archival Best Practices for management and preservation ideas. Who knows? You might find materials to fulfill some of the wish list items I identified in An Archivist’s Wish List.

Resolution 3: Celebrate Founders Day! This is an easy one! Be sure to come back to our heritage site on January 27 to watch a new video that kicks off Theta’s Sesquicentennial celebration. The site will also include information about a temporary exhibit at Theta headquarters from late January through the end of April. Called “Bettie and Her Daughters: Four Generations of Thetas,” the exhibit features artifacts from the lives of Bettie, her daughters Edna and Eulalia, her granddaughter Genevieve, and her great-granddaughter Carole. These historically significant items reflect both the professional and personal lives of five women over 100 years, and Theta connections run through it all. Many of the very special objects and images in the display have never been exhibited before and were generously contributed to Theta’s collection by the family of Carole Cones-Bradfield. Of course, at any time, you can visit the Our Founders page to review what you know (or maybe you did not know) about our founders.

As you can see, we have some great content planned for this new year. So we hope you’ll visit Kappa Alpha Theta Heritage often!