Brother Edward Wright Peet, Alpha #18
Brother Peet’s pin dating to May, 1881 was recently acquired.
The Acquisition
About 2 years ago, we were alerted to a pin collector on Facebook that had this pin in his collection. After doing some initial research it was realized that this may be the oldest existing piece of Gamma Delta Psi history dating to May of 1881, a little over 2 years after Gamma Delta Psi’s founding on April 13, 1879. The New Haven Museum has Alpha Chapter photos dating back to 1885 in their Hillhouse High School collection but this item predates those items by 4 years.
Brother Dave Bartlett (Gamma alpha) reached out to the collector and asked if was willing to sell the pin. His answer was that at that time he was not ready to sell it.
The collector recently posted a Gamma Delta Psi stick pin dating back to 1899 that was for sale suggesting that we buy it. Brother Bill Schmitt (Gamma Xi) reached out to him to see if he’d do a package deal with the 1881 Peet pin. They negotiated a price and made the deal.
Some history about Brother Peet
Brother Peet was born in 1862. He was inducted into Alpha Chapter on May 20, 1881 as Brother #18, 14 Brothers after Alexander Jay Wurts (#4C). Brother Peet was in the 3rd pledge class after the Founders. here is Brother Peet’s find-a-grave page:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/134483547/edward-wright-peet
Reactions to and the future of the pin
Brother troy Adams (Gamma Alpha) posted on Facebook his thoughts of being able to handle the pin:
“At the 147th founders day social yesterday, I was fortunate to put the Peet pin in my hands. It is our oldest pin in the fraternity’s possession. Likely 145 years old. Brother James de Wit and I were in awe with handling a pin that dates back to almost day 1 of GDP. Pin #18 Alpha chapter. What a beauty! Nice find brother Bill Schmitt.”
Brother Schmitt intends to bring the pin to any Alumni function he attends to show off this acquisition.
