The history of Beta Beta Beta is a story of growth --not one of promotion. It is an account of the cooperative efforts and contributions of many persons who have seen the need for a certain type of organization, and who have coordinated their efforts to bring it about. TriBeta, therefore, is a product of evolution rather than of special creation.

The first two decades of this century was the founding departmental fraternities in most of the well established academic fields. For some undetermined reason no recognition or honor society had been established for undergraduates in biology other than the local organizations that were carrying on successfully on many campuses.

In the fall of 1922, I was a young college teacher who had joined the faculty of Oklahoma City College Four years before, when that college was founded. There was five majors in the first senior class, and, since starting things was in the air in the young rapidly growing college, it seemed appropriate that a biology fraternity should be organized. Since the five seniors were enrolled in my course in cytology, that class, together with Mrs. C. L. Furrow, my first faculty colleague, formed the embryonic chapter. The names of the student members of the founding group and something about their later careers have historical interest: Neil Woodward, the first president, is now a medical physician in Oklahoma city; Geraldine Gabel became the a high school biology teacher and as Mrs. W. J. Buzbee, now lives near the campus at Oklahoma City; J. Franklin Campbell is a medical physician, specializing in dermatology, in Forth Worth, Texas; Charles F. Rutledge is a state Boy Scout executive in Dallas, Texas. Lucy E. Thompson took her master's degree at Smith College and returned to her Alma Mater as a biology instructor. In 1927 she married Mr. Willard L. Millner of Oklahoma City; by her death, in 1943, TriBeta lost one of its most loyal members.

The group of founders had hopeful visions of their organization becoming national in scope and gave much attention to drawing up the constitution and by-laws and designing the insignia. Frequent meetings we held during the remainder of the school year and, by spring, with the addition of five new members initiated in March, the chapter was going forward in full stride and continued its activities into the summer.

It happened that Mr. Wendell Smith, a biology major at Simpson College, Iowa, was enrolled in the first term summer session at Oklahoma City College. He was initiated into the chapter; when he returned to Simpson that fall, he interested Doctor Doty in applying for the Beta chapter, This was done and the petition was granted at once.

During the latter part of that summer I was in attendance at the Rocky Mountain Biological Station operated in connection with Western State College at Gunnison, Colorado. Finding that Dean John C. Johnson, Director of the station and head of the Biology Department of the college, had been thinking along the lines of a biology organization for his department, I suggested that they apply to TriBeta for a charter. Application was made the next fall and since the installation of the Beta chapter was delayed until 1927, Gamma Chapter was actually the first additional chapter.

In the spring of 1924, the Oklahoma Academy of Science held a joint meeting with the Kansas Academy at Norman, Oklahoma. I had some correspondence with Dr. William M. Goldsmith and a group of his students, therefore, stopped off at Oklahoma City to hear more a bout the organization. This visit resulted in Delta Chapter being published at Southwestern.

The control of the fraternity affairs during these early years rested entirely in the hands of the Alpha Chapter. The 1925 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science was held in Kansas City. It was proposed that the counselors of the several chapters get together during the meetings to effect a national organization. Doctor Johnson, Dr. Goldsmith, and I met in a hotel room for what was to be the first convention. Various proposed changes in the constitution and by-laws were discussed and agreed upon, including provisions for biennial conventions; the matter of expansion was discussed. Finally we came to the election of the first national officers. There were three of us. We elected three Officers! Doctor Goldsmith was elected President, Doctor Johnson was made vice president in charge of expansion, and I was elected secretary-treasurer.

Doctor Johnson had a leave of absence from Western State College and spent the remainder of the year at eastern universities. Through his personal contacts and letters, several colleges became interested in TriBeta and petitioned for charters. When it came time for the first biennial convention provided for by the constitution, chapters had been installed at Missouri Wesleyan College, Iowa Wesleyan College, Marietta College, Thiel College, William Jewel College, Carroll College; petitions had been approved for chapters at Birmingham Southern College, Wittenberf College, Peru College, Gettysburg College and the University of Chattanooga. The convention met at Nashville, Tennessee. There were about fifteen delegates present. A single meeting, sans luncheon, was held in a room of Peabody College. The most important legislation passed by the convention was the creation of four geographical districts, each to be under the guidance of a regional vice president. The regions thus created and the first regional vice presidents elected were: Northeastern Region, Prof. H. R. Eggleston; Southeastern Reagion, Dr. W. R. Green; Mid-Western Region, Dr. R. S. Nanz; and Western Region, Dr. J. C. Johnson.

In the spring of 1928, Dr. Burton E. Livingston of Johns Hopkins University, then permanent secretary of the A.A.A.S., received a communication from Dr. Chenfu F. Wu of Yenching University of Peiping China, saying that they had heard of a biological fraternity in America and asked if a chapter might be secured for their university. Since I was spending the year of 1927-28 as a graduate student at Johns Hopkins, Doctor Livingstone turned the letter over to me. The Chinese Alpha chapter was installed at Yenching later that same year and was followed by the Beta Chapter of China at Soochow University and the Gamma Chapter of China at Shangai College. These were all highly effective chapters from the time of their installations. TriBeta came to mean much on the pre-war campuses of these institutions and heroic stories could be told of the chapters and their members during the western exile.

The next biennial convention was held in Des Moines in 1929. There were then twenty-one chapters and 688 members. Many members had expressed their desire for a TriBeta publication and one or two attempts had been made by individuals or chapter to get one started. Typical of these efforts was THE RATTLER edited for Alpha Chapter by Miss Pauline Savage. The Des Moines Convention authorized the publication of BIOS which was to be a quarterly journal where matters pertaining to TriBeta, winning papers in the Undergraduate Competition, other articles by undergraduate members, and articles of popular scientific interest could be published. The first issue appeared in March 1930 and the publication had proceeded without interruption since that time.

I shall not attempt to trace the remainder of the history of TriBeta year by year or by conventions.Growth was gradual. It was rather usual for three chapters a year to be added. Only three or four chapters have died our or have had their chapters withdrawn. As the grew in size, it developed other ways through leadership and contributions of many different persons. Dr. R.S. Nanz has acted as ritualist since he was appointed by the Nashville Convention to be chairman of a committee to improve the initiation ritual, written originally by an undergraduate member of Alpha chapter; he has since been responsible for the design of our coat-of-arms. Dr. V.M. Tanner took charge of the Undergraduate Competition in thesis writing shortly after it was started in the late twenties, and he continues to maintain this activity on high level. Dr. P.H. Yancey has made valuable contributions to our educational service program. Dr. G.E. Potter, an early regional vice president of the South Central Region, carried the idea of TriBeta to Puerto Rico where he installed chapters at the two foremost educational institutions of the island. Dr. A. Richards has contributed numerous valuable ideas to BIOS and has made the book review section of our journal one of the most analytical and most highly respected of its kind.

There have been two interruptions in our schedule of biennial conventions. In 1933 the A.A.A.S. me in Boston. It was mid-depression and since Boston was far from the center of the geographical distribution of our chapters, it was found that few delegates would be able to attend. Although TriBeta continued to add both chapters and members each year during the depression, its rate of growth had slowed down and there was little fraternity business to be transacted. By cabinet action the convention was canceled. During war all conventions we forbidden by the United States government; our 1943 convention, therefore, could not be held. A cabinet meeting, however, was held in Philadelphia in May of 1944; to this meeting counselors from chapters nearby were invited.

Important factors in the development of TriBeta were the inspiration and the guidance of Dr. C.E. MCClung. Doctor McClung was elected to the presidency, on the nomination of his former student, Dr. W.R. Green, at the first Saint Louis Convention. He served as president from 1935 until his death in 1946. His belief in TriBeta and the importance of the role it has to play inspired confidence. His willingness to do whatever he could for the fraternity and for its members set a valuable precedent.

The second St. Lewis convention, held in April 1946, elected Dr. Lloyd M. Bertholf as president. Doctor Bertholf's leadership has been active and aggressive. His experiences, both as a chapter counselor and as a regional vice president, have acquainted him with the fraternity and its various functional aspects. Coming to the presidency of TriBeta at the Beginning of the post-war period and at the close of its policies at the beginning of a new era. TriBeta is entering its young adulthood. There is natural satisfaction in seeing living organisms grow strong. This accounts for the pleasure experienced by gardeners, by parents, and by teachers. As I have served through these twenty-five years as an officer of TriBeta, my efforts have been well rewarded: I have seen TriBeta grow from a single chapter with five students and two faculty members to an organization that has taken its place among the societies that are meeting here in Chicago this week for the advancement of the sciences and for the welfare of mankind.