Center for Fraternal Collections & Research

IU Research

Gifts to the Center for Fraternal Collections and Research (CFCR) fund support its general needs, including acquiring, preserving, and providing access to fraternal collections, particularly those underrepresented in research centers, and other critical needs. Your generosity helps protect these materials through processing, cataloging, digitization, and conservation.

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IU Research

Gifts to the Center for Fraternal Collections and Research (CFCR) fund support its general needs, including acquiring, preserving, and providing access to fraternal collections, particularly those underrepresented in research centers, and other critical needs. Your generosity helps protect these materials through processing, cataloging, digitization, and conservation.

Additional Info

Three members of the CFCR staff behind a table displaying a collection of items with an ornate garment on a dress stand.

The CFCR works to collect, preserve, and make accessible historical and cultural materials related to fraternal organizations and their membership, with an emphasis on organizations that are extinct or without stable historical repositories. We promote research into the history of fraternal organizations in service of the university’s teaching, research, and service mission. 

The center provides three types of scholarly support to IU students and faculty, non-IU scholars, and the public:

  • Collecting and stewarding rare fraternal organization materials donated to Indiana University for the sake of scholarly research.
  • Creating and supporting research related to fraternal studies at the student and faculty scholarly levels.
  • Disseminating research and information related to fraternal studies via public events, academic symposia, exhibitions, media presentations, and publications.

Items donated to the CFCR are unique or rare due to their content, subject, and other special importance; therefore, they're considered special collections. Unfortunately, materials that are not protected with preventative measures will eventually deteriorate. It is our goal to save this history. 

Thank you for joining us in this effort!

Your giving matters

The history of American fraternalism is not some abstract academic pursuit. It's the story of your family, your town, and your community. It's how your father built his business. It's how your grandfather grew a family. Without the social safety net that fraternalism provided, we wouldn't have the America that we know today.

Seth Anthony Board Member, CFCR

Important Disclosures

Please note, the name and purpose of the fund displayed on this page constitute the authorized description of the fund by the Indiana University Foundation, Inc. Your gift supports the fund as described herein.