Center for Fraternal Collections & Research

The Center for Fraternal Collections & Research (CFCR) is devoted to the collecting, protecting, and sharing of fraternal collections for the sake of research and public engagement. CFCR hopes to improve scholarship and understanding of fraternal groups, explore their impact on American society, and elucidate their importance across time and to different social groups.

Whether you are interested in famous fraternal traditions such as Freemasonry, influential women's auxiliaries and orders, fraternal groups that served important roles in African American or other communities, or other orders that have served as cornerstones to American cities and towns, we hope that you will find the Center for Fraternal Collections and Research to be an exciting and welcoming place for your academic and personal inquiry.

Scholarly support

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

  • The collection and stewardship of 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 publication.
Learn more about CFCR
A lithograph of  the Oddfellows Record.
A lithograph from the Independent Order of Odd fellows.