Gangwish Library
Ottawa University
Date and Bulk Range: 1916 - 2017
Finding Aid created by Leslie Drake 2022
Copyright Pi Kappa Delta National Forensics Archives
Collection Creator: Pi Kappa Delta
Contents: The Pi Kappa Delta Tournament Collection is a varied and comprehensive collection. It includes: Official and unofficial periodicals and newsletters, correspondence, photographs and other visual media, event files, meeting minutes, agendas, reports, certificates, trophies, plaques and other awards, orations and speeches, topics, tournament planning, tournament results, evaluations, tournament. program, pennants, flags and other convention paraphernalia.
Collection Designation: RG37
Language: English
Acquisition Information: This material, accepting a small portion concerning Ottawa University only, was deposited at Gangwish Library between the dates 2016 - 2018 by the Pi Kappa Delta organization as a basis to form the Pi Kappa Delta National Forensics Archives. Future deposits are expected.
Access Restrictions: The collection is open for research.
Copyright: Copyright remains with the Pi Kappa Delta National Forensics Archives
Cite: (per item) folder, box, Pi Kappa Delta Tournament Collection, Pi Kappa Delta National Forensics Archives
History: Pi Kappa Delta was formed with the intention of becoming a national forensics honorary fraternity. The organization's constitution was ratified in 1913 due primarily to the efforts of two individuals, an English and Forensics professor - Edgar Ray Nichols (Ottawa University, Ripon University, Redlands University) and a college student - John A. Shields (Ottawa University). Nichols, after graduating from Harvard, moved to Ottawa, Kansas after being offered a teaching position at Ottawa University in 1909. He had won awards as a student in public speaking and shared with his OU students his dream of a national fraternity dedicated to forensics. The idea made a convert of Shields, a student in his classes. Shields was already an active participant in public speaking and in his early youth had been inspired by the great orators in the Chautauqua tent shows and Lyceum lecture series that crisscrossed rural America in late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The struggle to realize the organization, however, took years and included opposition from both faculty members and other students. These groups were either opposed to fraternities in general or disagreed concerning the organizations structure and intent. In 1911 Nichols accepted a position at Ripon University in Wisconsin and left OU. He and Shields had become friends and continued to correspond concerning the organization. In 1916, due to health reasons, Nichols moved again this time to the faculty of the University of Redlands in California. His movements helped the future development of the organization by allowing the idea to spread beyond the Midwest. In the meantime, Shields, with indefatigable energy, promoted the idea in trips to colleges in neighboring states developing converts. In Ottawa, Shields had already developed a student organization named Deinon Legien (Latin for "Terrible Talkers") and Nichols had likewise formed a student organization at Ripon called, the PI Kappa Delta Club. The name was coined by Grace Goodrich, a student of Greek history and the sister of one of his students and stands for Pietho, Kale, Dikia (Persuasion, Beautiful and Just).
By 1912 the efforts of both men resulted in a board of twelve "founders" who began work on constitution for the new national organization. After much arguing and trading drafts back and forth the constitution was finalized. The final version was put into shape by John Shields and E.A. Vaughn, a student at Kansas Agricultural College (today, Kansas State University) and later the first Vice President of the organization. They spent the 1912 Christmas holidays putting the final touches on the document and were the first to sign it. With this Shields accomplished his goal to complete the initial framework of the organization by the time he graduated in 1913. The Ripon club name, Pi Kappa Delta, was agreed upon as the name for the new national organization. Nichols became the first president, a post he held until 1918, and Shields the first General Secretary. The position allowed Shields to clear the way for Ottawa University (Kansas Alpha) to be awarded the first chapter and charter.
The organization grew rapidly. Its peer-reviewed journal, The Forensic, was first published in 1915. The first national convention was held at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas in 1916, and the first Convention/National Tournament at Ottawa University in 1918. To date there have been over fifty Nationals. From the beginning PKD has welcomed and actively encouraged the participation of women and formally dropped the "fraternity" from its title in the 1970s. Also in the 1970s, PKD began to actively recruit minority students and minority based colleges and universities. Pi Kappa Delta celebrated its one hundredth year in 2013. PKD today, thanks largely to its policy of welcoming colleges and universities and any size into the organization, and its broad array of forensic activities, extends throughout the United States. Recent PKD National Tournaments have included hundreds of higher educational institutions from over thirty states with thousands of student participants.
Scope and Content: The Pi Kappa Delta Tournament Collections contains multiple sources which include; Organization periodicals and newsletters, correspondence, promotional materials, event files, tournament expenses, photographs and digital media, posters, original speeches and compositions, meeting minutes, clippings, trophies, award plaques and certificates, pennants, maps, agendas and programs, planning material, tournament topics, evaluations, ballots, convention paraphernalia and convention booklets. It is difficult to pinpoint the strength of the collection, but planning correspondence, tournament planning details, tournament and banquet programs, periodicals and newsletters are extensive.
Correspondence: Ranges from 1916 to 2017, the bulk of it from the 1940s to the 2000s including presidential, council and chapter sources dealing with the planning of PKD conventions and tournaments.
National Tournament Planning Details: Range from the 1940s to 2017 and include the categories; Convention Registration summaries, Tournament Committees, Tournament Logistics, Questions and Topics, Tournament Results, Contest Results, Orations and Debates, Event Participation, Business Meetings, Individual Assessments, Tournament Evaluations, Planning and Correspondence, and Award Lists and Certificates.
Agendas and Programs: Range from pre-PKD 1880's - 1910 to the 2000s and Include Contest Agendas, Convention Booklets and Banquet Programs.
Photographs: Range from the 1940s to 2017 and are under the category "Tournament Images" and are separated by date.
Periodicals and Newsletters: Range from 1915 to 2017 and include the PKD Forensic, The Key and other PKD Newsletters.
Convention Paraphernalia: Ranges from 1916 to 2017 and includes buttons, laminated cards of all sizes, pennants, place holders, event tickets, name badges, and decorations.
Subject Terms:
Related Materials: The Pi Kappa Delta National Forensics Archives is currently the only known comprehensive national archives dedicated to forensics and public speaking. Small amounts of additional archival material in this area within many United States college and university archival collections focusing on that institution's role in forensics competition.
