Delta Tau Delta is an international college fraternity. [1] It was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, (now West Virginia) in 1858. [1] In the early years of the fraternity, chapter names were assigned, removed, and reassigned in rapid succession. [2] [1] There are at least two incidents of the same name being issued simultaneously. [2] Other chapters selected names and began operating without authorization from the national fraternity; while some were eventually authorized, others were disbanded. [2] [1] All records from Alpha Prime were lost; Alpha Third was lax in record keeping and ended in scandal. [2] [1] As a result, there are information gaps, especially from 1858 to 1875. [2] [1]
In 1877, James Eaton constructed a multi-part history of the fraternity for the Crescent magazine from his memory as the founder of multiple chapters, from the fraternity's records, and interviews with living chapter founders. [2] He documented chapters and name changes that were unknown to William Raimond Baird when he published the first edition of his Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities in 1879. [2] [3] For example, Baird lists Mount Union College as Sigma Second but does not list Sigma Prime or the two other Sigma chapters that predated Mount Union. [3] Baird also lists charter dates, but leaves the institution's name blank in some instances. [3] [1] Eaton often fills in those blanks, but tends to list institutions by place name only, which presents a different set of challenges. [2]
In the following Delta Tau Delta chapter list, active chapters are indicated in bold and inactive chapters and institutions are in italics. [2] [3] [4] [5]