Living memory: What it portends when the founders still live

What informs an organization’s identity? Older organizations have annals that record the history for posterity, but what of newer organizations? Their history has yet to be made and much of it is as open to negotiation as their future unfolds. To explore this contingency, I delve into one organization, a young fraternity, during an occasion in which memories are exchanged and organizational identity is expanded. What I discovered elucidates the power of living memory and the fecundity of an occasion such as a national convention for keeping it alive.