Zeta Tau Alpha became an official WSU (then WSC) campus sorority in February of 1928. Their sorority house's address was 1607 Ruby, the southwest corner of Ruby and Colorado (catercorner from the Edison School, or the Adams Mall in 2013). It should be noted that the city of Pullman renumbered street addresses in the early 1970s, so 1607 Ruby then is 725 Ruby today. The age of the original building is unknown, but based on Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, it seems likely to have been built somewhere between 1896 and 1908. WSC's Zeta Tau Alpha chapter closed at the end of the 1939 school year; they remained in the same building and location during their entire time of existence. The house was purchased that fall by the Acacia fraternity; in 1963 a new wing was added and in 1976 the central, oldest, portion of the building was torn down and replaced. Acacia closed their campus chapter in 1996, and sold the house in 1998. In 2013 the location is occupied by the Pi Kappa Phi house.
The collection consists of architectural drawings and blueprints, landscape drawings, and pencil sketches, most approximately 2'x3' in size. These document the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority house and the surrounding land. There are drawings of the original building and an early 1930s expansion, as well as plans for an entirely new building which was apparently never constructed. The majority of these drawings were created by Stanley Smith, who was WSC's campus architect in the 1920s and 1930s, and who is responsible for most of the significant campus buildings built during that era.
The collection is arranged in two folders, the first containing drawings related to the original building, and the second containing items to the proposed new building.
This collection is open and available for research use.
Copyright may apply.
[Item Description] Zeta Tau Alpha House Architectural Drawings, 1926-1930 (Archives 335)
Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections, Washington State University Libraries, Pullman, WA.
The drawings were found by Chrisi Kincaid in 2013 among the belongings of her father, former Washington State University Business Professor Irving Field, who was a longtime faculty advisor to the Acacia fraternity. They were received at the WSU Libraries' Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections on October 7, 2013 as accession UA2013-12.
This collection was processed on October 7, 2013 by University Archivist Mark O'English.
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings.