1905 Society

The 1905 Society of RGHF – Rotary Global History Fellowship

“He uniformly over-estimated his prospective income and under-estimated his prospective outgo. He was frequently surprised at times to learn on how small an income a man could live and retain his standing as a lawyer in a great city. But he was one of many. One of his associates, Lewis Dalton, a graduate of an Indiana university, had learned much about hard times in Chicago and he gave Paul many valuable pointers; for instance, he introduced him to a place down a half-flight of stairs on Fifth Avenue which Lew had appropriately named ‘Hell’s Half Kitchen.’ Its chief recommendation lay in the fact that it dispensed a ‘stack of wheats’ with syrup for the modest sum of a nickel. It was an excellent place to get breakfast.” Paul P. Harris, 1928 “The Founder of Rotary“

In August of 2001, attended a North American presidential conference, in Salt Lake City, Utah USA. Trying to bring awareness of his new idea to Rotary leaders, decided to locate some 1905 Liberty “V” Nickels (the year acknowledged as the founding of The Rotary Club of Chicago) at local Salt Lake City coin shops.
These rare coins to some of the leaders present at that conference. In the next three years, these coins were presented, to leaders in Rotary (below) who showed stewardship in learning and preserving the history and philosophy of Rotary.
RGHF has one tangible connection with the start of the first Rotary club. Paul Harris and his close friends Silvester Schiele and Harry Ruggles most likely carried many of these nickels in 1905.

I thank all of you for so honoring me.

Best regards,

George C. McKinnis

Irv Kaplan, 2011

RIP 13/14 Ron Burton and RIP 02/03 Jon Majiyagbe and four more RGHF members were inducted in 2013.

RI President Sakuji Tanaka, Bangkok 2012

31 Aug 2011 Richards P. Lyon, Napa, California, USA

Presentation of 1905 Society Awards at the 100th convention, Birmingham, UK 2009 More….

 2010 – Our 1905 Society Awards at our 10th anniversary went to five RGHF members

There were three members of RGHF inducted into the “1905 Society” at the 2007 Salt Lake City Convention. PDG Geri Apple, USA; PDG Eddie Blender, USA; and RGHF Senior Historian Basil Lewis, UK. Story here…

Donald Murphy, 2007

Dick McKay was one of the four founders of the Rotary Global History Fellowship project and served as secretary/treasurer from 2001 to 2004. In 2004 he was named the first emeritus member of the organization, 5 January 2004, as “Founding Secretary Treasurer Emeritus” while continuing to sit on the fellowship board. As the 2003-04 president of Rotary Club of Chicago, he was the first club president to ring Rotary International’s centennial bell on 1 July 2003.

 Glenn Estess, Sr. Glenn led Rotary during its centennial year and planned to honor the founders and the history of Rotary. 2004-2005

 Bhichai Rattakul A former delegate to the United Nations from his native country, Thailand, Bhichai was president in 2002-2003.Shown with Rotary Global History Fellowship founding member PDG Eddie Blender

Frank Devlyn Frank endorsed the history fellowship and became an advisor of the project in 2003. He called history an “instrumental tool for those forward-thinking people who wish to learn from our history, in order to guide our future.” Frank Devlyn was RI president 1999-2000. Shown with Rotary Global History Fellowship founding member PDG Geri Appel.

 Luis Giay Luis worked with a history fellowship after his presidency. 1996-1997.

 Gary Huang Vice President of Rotary in 2000, RIP 2014/15

 Floyd Olson Floyd was RI director for Zones 23-24 from 2001-2003 and supported the project on his zone website

 Jerry Meigs Jerry represented zones 27-28, 2001-2003, during the formative years of the history fellowship and was a strong supporter. Shown with Rotary Global History Fellowship founding member PDG Geri Appel

 David Michaux David represented zones 34-35 from 2000-2002 and supported the project on his zone website.

 Robin K. Dillow, Formerly RI Archives Department

 Danny Brock 2001-2002 Utah DG, Danny was active in the building of the history fellowship.

Garth Stevens While dying of cancer, Garth completed the first 10 histories of his county, New Zealand. He died shortly after the last was published. A true hero, gentle-man and friend. His work will forever be his tribute. He received his “coin” award shortly before he died.

 Cyndi DeBock Cyndi, (right) former assistant archivist at Rotary International, was invaluable in the formation of this project. Her work and touch is found throughout. She is one of our best friends in Evanston.

 Davit Liddiatt President of R.I.B.I in 2001-2002; RID 2009/11, and a contributor to the knowledge of British and Irish history on this project.

RIPE 2022-2023 Gordon McInally, member of the Rotary Club of South Queensferry, Lothian, Scotland.

Presentation was made  in Sweden June 21 2023, on a boat trip in Stockholm archipelago, by Kent Vesterberg, RC Stockholms-Västa, board member of RGHF