Alpha Kappa Delta Fraternity, Pennsylvania State College, 1910

A front porch photo for the Vintage Photos Theme Park.

A group of 36 men and women assembled on and in front of the porch of a fraternity house. I found this photo at an antique mall in Pennsylvania, and judging by the "AKD" banner, the "State" pillow, and the "S[tate] 1910" pillow, this is probably the same men's social fraternity that William Raimond Baird described in Baird's Manual of American College Fraternities, 7th ed. (New York: College Fraternity Publishing, 1912), p. 572:

"Alpha Kappa Delta--Organized May 4, 1909, at Pennsylvania State College [now Pennsylvania State University]. The membership is about 50. The badge is an oblong shield displaying the letters forming the society's name in the center in vertical order. The colors are orange and blue. It rents a house."

Perhaps that's the house that the fraternity was renting. The AKD banner on the porch, interestingly enough, includes a skull and crossbones in its upper left-hand corner. And who are the young and middle-aged women in the photo? Girlfriends and chaperones? Students and profs?

Today, Alpha Kappa Delta is the name of a sociology honor society founded in 1920. It would be interesting to know, however, what happened to this fraternity in the decade after this photo was taken.