Series 1: Knights of Pythias, Pythian Sisters

This collection contains lodge records from three fraternal organizations located in Perry County, Ohio. The materials in this collection cover a period of 73 years, 1890 to 1963. Contained within the collection are a variety of ledgers, account books, membership rolls, minute books, and membership applications for each fraternal society. The organizations represented are the Pythian Sisters of the Knights of Pythias, the Degree of Pocahontas of the Independent Order of Red Men, and the Ohio Rebekah Assembly of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

In sum, there are five ledgers, seven account books, sixteen minute books, eight membership cards, and four receipt books. The ledgers include names of members and due payments. The minute books contain member absences and/or attendances, donations or offerings and minutes of each meeting. Account books were kept primarily for recording cash transactions with local businesses, however, most of the organizations rarely kept accurate records of this. Membership ledgers contain present members and members dropped or expired.

The collection includes 23 volumes of publications on the internal structure of two of the three fraternal orders. The Degree of Pocahontas is represented by six volumes of the Records of the Great Sun Council (1933-1948). This publication comes out yearly after the annual national assembly, and presents a very good overview of the orders' structure and business. The Rebekah Assembly is represented by 17 volumes of the Proceedings of the Ohio Rebekah Assembly (1932-1962). This publication is quite similar to the DOP, except for different organizational structure and law. Both should be consulted if the researcher desires further information on these two orders. This collection also contains a package with materials related to the Ohio Rebekah Assembly.