Alpha Mu Sigma (ΑΜΣ) was an historically Jewish fraternity founded in March 1914 at Cooper Union. It disbanded in 1963.

Alpha Mu Sigma
ΑΜΣ
FoundedMarch 21, 1914; 109 years ago (1914-03-21)
Cooper Union, New York City
TypeSocial
AffiliationIndependent
EmphasisJewish
ScopeNational
PublicationThe Shield
Chapters23
Merged?Scattered
Headquarters
US

History

Alpha Mu Sigma was founded at Cooper Union on March 21, 1914. According to Baird's (20th), "The original plan was to limit membership to men of the Jewish faith and the first expansion was limited to similar engineering institutions."[1][2][3][4]

Its Founders were:

  • Henry I. Gilbert
  • Theodore F. Haynes
  • Julius Liebing
  • Benjamin Rothstein
  • Saul Shaw
  • Samuel H. Solodar
  • Jonas I. Speciner
  • Joseph Spies

Baird's goes on to further describe that, "With the prosperity of the 1920s expansion took place quickly, but many of the chapters did not survive the [G]reat [D]epression."

Demise

The national fraternity disbanded in 1963, with the remaining four chapters becoming inactive or being absorbed by other, larger Jewish fraternities. Alpha chapter at Cooper Union functioned until 1971.[3]

Total membership in 1945, 1,500.

Symbols

Chapter List

These were the chapters of Alpha Mu Sigma. Active chapters that withdrew or merged into other organizations shown in bold; dormant chapters shown in italics.[3]

Name Chartered Institution Location Status Notes Reference
Alpha March 21, 1914–1971 Cooper Union Institute of Technology New York, NY Dormant
Beta 1917–1930, 1948–1963 City College of New York New York, NY Dormant
Gamma 1917–1925, 1935–1938 Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (Tandon, NYU) Brooklyn, NY Dormant
Delta 1919–1926 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA Dormant
Epsilon 1920–1921 Columbia University New York, NY Dormant
Zeta 1921–1940 New York University New York, NY Dormant
Eta 1922–1923 Harvard University Cambridge, MA Dormant
Theta 1922–1923 Bellevue Hospital Medical College (Grossman, NYU) New York, NY Dormant
Iota 1922–1923 Yale University New Haven, CT Dormant
Lambda 1923–1925 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Dormant
Mu 1925–1926 University of Maryland College Park, MD Dormant
Nu 1925–1926 University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA Withdrew (ΤΕΦ) [a]
Omicron 1926–1927 University of Southern California Los Angeles, CA Dormant
Xi 1927–193x ? Union College Schenectady, NY Dormant [b]
Rho 1927–1928 University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL Dormant
Pi 1928–1956 Long Island University Brooklyn, NY Withdrew (ΤΔΦ) [c][d]
Tau (1) 1928–1930 Roanoke College Salem, VA Dormant
Kappa 1929–1930 Boston University Boston, MA Dormant
Sigma 1930–1931 Lewis Institute (IIT) Chicago, IL Dormant
Tau (2) 1937–1938 George Washington University Washington, DC Dormant
Upsilon 1937–1960 Brooklyn College (CUNY) Brooklyn, NY Dormant
Phi (1) 1939–1963 St. John’s University Queens, NY Dormant
Phi (2) 1958–1962 Pratt Institute Brooklyn, NY Withdrew (ΤΕΦ) [e]

Notes

  1. ^ Became the Tau Nu chapter of ΤΕΦ in 1936.
  2. ^ Xi chapter originated as Sigma Lambda Chi (local) in 1925.
  3. ^ Pi chapter originated as Lambda Iota Upsilon (local) in 1927.
  4. ^ Became the Tau Xi chapter of ΤΔΦ in 1956. Some of ΤΔΦ's records were lost; While Baird's Archive notes in the listing for ΤΔΦ that the Alpha Mu Sigma chapter from which it evolved dates to 1920, this appears to be an error. A 1928 start date for Pi chapter of ΑΜΣ is more likely, confirmed by Baird's chapter list for ΑΜΣ and the date of the originating local.
  5. ^ Became the Epsilon Omicron chapter of ΤΕΦ in 1963.

See also

References

  1. ^ Going Greek:Jewish College Fraternities in the United States, 1895-1945
  2. ^ JEWISH NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES 1937-1938
  3. ^ a b c William Raimond Baird; Carroll Lurding (eds.). "Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities (Baird's Manual Online Archive)". Student Life and Culture Archives. University of Illinois: University of Illinois Archives. The main archive URL is The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage.
  4. ^ "Interfraternity Notes and Statistics". The Palm of Alpha Tau Omega: 179. April 1930.
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