Collection: Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi, commonly known on campuses across North America simply as Beta, was founded on August 8, 1839, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of the oldest fraternities in existence, it was founded by students who had previously been members of the Erodelphian and Union Literary Societies but had greater aspirations for their own organization. Founder John Reily Knox, Miami 1839, noted at the time:
“There was an interest about the actions of men who bound themselves together by vows which were never broken and who pursued the great objects of their association with an energy that never tired, with a zeal which knew not-self, and with a devotedness that never counted gold.”
The eight founding members were: John Reily Knox, Samuel Taylor Marshall, David Linton, James George Smith, Charles Henry Hardin, John Holt Duncan, Michael Clarkson Ryan, Thomas Boston Gordon, That night, Beta Theta Pi – the olde
