Kappa Gamma Psi

Kappa Gamma Psi was founded on December 11th, 1913 at the New England Conservatory of Music to satisfy the desire for an organized student relationship with the institution and its faculty. After this fellowship was recognized as an asset to the institution, nationalization was planned. At that time, Kappa Gamma Psi was only for male students of music. With only men in the fraternity, the first world war gave a rocky start to its expansion. The formation of Gamma Chapter in 1923 at the Boston Conservatory of Music marked the beginning of stable expansion for the fraternity.

The fraternity steadily gained chapters until the start of United States involvement in World War II, when growth leveled off. Then, as the Vietnam War progressed, chapters of Kappa Gamma Psi became inactive. In 1968, Alpha Chapter, at the New England Conservatory, went inactive. By 1976, only one chapter remained active: Iota Chapter at Ithaca College. Iota Chapter is still active today and Kappa Gamma Psi has maintained its national board and its identity as a national fraternity.

In 1976, Iota Chapter began inviting female students to join. In the 1980s, having developed more diverse performance interests (a trend which began in the 1950s), the chapter officially changed the fraternity's designation from Musical Fraternity to Performing Arts Fraternity. Today, Kappa Gamma Psi is open to male and female performers of any major.

Physical description

This collection consists of 3 boxes – approximately .35 lin ft. The first box contains 17 folders of paper records; the second box contains 9 folders of photographs and a guest book; the third box contains issues of the fraternity’s publication.

Provenance

These records were created/maintained by the Alpha Chapter of Kappa Gamma Psi at NEC. After the Alpha Chapter dissolved, these records remained in storage at NEC and were transferred to the archives in 2004. The issues of Gray and Black were donated to NEC by faculty member John Moriarty in 2008.

Access

Access to this collection is by appointment through the NEC Archivist. A few folders have access restrictions.

Copyright

All copyrights to this collection belong to the New England Conservatory. Permission to publish materials from this collection is granted by the Director of Libraries. This collection should be cited as Records of Kappa Gamma Psi Collection, New England Conservatory of Music Archives, Boston, MA.

Scope & Content

This collection contains the records of the National Music Fraternity, Kappa Gamma Psi’s Gamma chapter at New England Conservatory. The collection is organized into 7 series: 1) Minutes & By-Laws 2) Reports, Treasurer’s Records 3) Pledging/Ceremonies 4) Event Records 5) National Fraternity Records 6) Photographs 7) Publications.

The majority of the written records date from 1956-1961; however there is one volume dating from 1926-1927 containing the Minutes of the 1926 convention of Kappa Gamma Psi, as well as Minutes from the National Body Meetings of those years. The records from 1956-61 include: charter and by-laws, treasurer’s ledgers and audits, quarterly reports, pledge materials, information relating to ceremonies and rituals, and a few event records.

There is also a group of approximately fifty photographs. These are primarily formal group pictures and photographs from fraternity events dating from 1916-1958. There are also a few autographed portrait photographs of honorary fraternity members, Josef Adamowski, Georges Longy, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, and Francis Findley. The Guest Book lists members and their addresses from 1965. The third box contains several single issues of the fraternity’s publication, Gray and Black, from the years 1948-1958 and 2 issues of the Newsletter from 1960.

Container List

Series 1 Official Records

Box 1 – Folder 1
    Constitution and By-Laws
Box 1 – Folder 2
    Minutes, 1957-1958
Box 1 – Folder 3
    Minutes, 1959-1960
Box 1 – Folder 4
    Minutes, 1961-1962

Series 2 – Reports, Treasurer’s Records

Box 1 – Folder 5
    Quarterly Reports, 1959-1961, 1964
Box 1 – Folder 6
    Treasurer’s Records, Accounting ledger, 1940-1953
Box 1 – Folder 7
    Treasurer’s Records, Accounting ledger, 1952-1953
Box 1 – Folder 8
    Treasurer’s Records, 1956-1961

Series 3 – Pledging/Ceremonies

Box 1 – Folder 9
    Pledging Procedures and Ceremonies (Restricted access to members only)
Box 1 – Folder 10
    Member essays (Restricted access)

Series 4 – Event Records

Box 1 – Folder 11
    Bean Supper
Box 1 – Folder 12
    Debate series
Box 1 – Folder 13
    Skits & Pieces
Box 1 – Folder 14
    Other

Series 5 – National Fraternity Records

Box 1 – Folder 15
    Important documents – Information, By-laws etc.
Box 1 – Folder 16
    Minutes, Financial reports, publications, constitution, Kappa Gamma Psi hymn

Series 6 – Photographs

Box 2- Folder 1
    Photographs – Portraits
Box 2 – Folder 2
    Photographs – Groups – Dated (1919-1927)
Box 2 – Folder 3
    Photographs – Groups – Dated (1927-28 –1939)
Box 2 – Folder 4
    Photographs – Groups –Box 2 – Dated (1958)
Box 2 – Folder 5
    Photographs – Groups – Undated
Box 2 – Folder 6
    Photographs – Groups – Undated
Box 2 – Folder 7
    Photographs – Oversize – Portrait
Box 2 – Folder 8
    Photographs – Oversize – Groups – Dated
Box 2 – Folder 9
    Photographs – Oversize – Groups – Undated

Series 7: Publications: Gray and Black; Newsletter

Box 3– Folder 1 - Gray and Black
        v. 1, no. 1 (December 1948)
        v. 35, no. 1 (May 1950)
        v. 36 no. 1 (November 1950)
        v. 38 no.1 (May 1952)
        v. 38 no. 2 (November 1952)
        v. 39 no. 1 (April 1953)
        v. 39 no. 2 (November 1953)
Box 3– Folder 2 - Gray and Black
        v. 40 no. 1 (April 1954)
        v. 40 no. 2 (February 1955)
        v. 41 no. 1 (December 1955)
        Special issue, 1957?
        v. 43 [no. 1] (December 1957)
        v. 43 no. 2 (May 1958)

Box 3 - Folder 3 - Newsletter
Fall and Winter 1960