Publication of First Society National Membership Directory Now Underway: Seeking to Contact 50,000 Alumni

For the first time in its 100-plus-year history, the National Society of Scabbard and Blade has published a national directory of members and alumni, and captured its membership on an electronic database. What’s more, if all goes well, an updated database of over 100,000 current and former members will be available to the Society’s alumni association members on-line through the organization’s web site.

From the database, over 50,000 alumni were contacted by Harris Connect, a New York and Virginia based firm that specializes in college, high school, and especially military organization directories, and membership programs.

"Virtually overnight, Scabbard and Blade hopefully will develop a large and viable alumni association, thanks to the marvels of modern technology," said Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Douglas Dollar, National Executive Director.

History of Project

Dollar noted that for several years Scabbard and Blade officers have wanted to build an alumni association worthy of the Society’s membership, something the organization never developed over the years. What was to become a gold mine for the group is pretty low-tech – 4-by-6-inch cards completed by each new member of the Society for almost 100 years.

"For most of Scabbard and Blade’s history, meticulous records were maintained of ROTC cadets and midshipmen as they became members," recalled Ed Glover, past Scabbard and Blade National Commander. "Unlike what has happened with many similar organizations, these records survived essentially intact over the years." The directory will be dedicated to Ed Glover who passed away recently. He has worked tirelessly to advance the Society over the years.

The paper records seemed economically useless, notes Dollar, until correspondence with the Harris Connect revealed that computers can be used to track down a significant percentage of the living alumni. Harris Connect has produced directories for high schools, colleges and universities, and military groups such as The Association of the United States Army and The Reserve Officers Association.

"We inventoried the member index cards to find that about 100,000 exist for the years 1905 through about 1985," said Dollar. "From 1985 until 1993 when an electronic database of new members was begun, records consist essentially of lists of initiated members on paper reports. However, in all we probably are looking at 120,000 total members throughout the Society’s history, many more than previously estimated."

Effort to be Ongoing

Exact numbers will not be available until the member database is completed – over 80,000 records have been entered – followed by the follow-up search conducted by Harris Connect. It may take years to fully reconstruct the Society's membership scope, but at least the process in fully underway.

Under development is a new Society web site on which new members and alumni may register to establish active membership, and receive information about Scabbard and Blade activities, order merchandise, post news, participate in discussion forums, and set up personal profile pages.

Once the alumni database is updated with information gathered through the directory project, it is hoped that a large number of alumni will want to participate in a Scabbard and Blade alumni association.

"Our alumni can then search for class mates and other friends on line," noted Lt. Col. (Ret.) Chuck Olson, National Alumni Advisor. Olson and Dollar both add that the Society must mobilize in order to take advantage of this opportunity.

"We plan to launch a Scabbard and Blade Alumni Association membership campaign in conjunction with the directory project," said Olson, adding, "We cannot arouse the interest of 20- to 30-thousand alumni and not be ready to offer viable services, and that will take special resources to get started."

Needed income certainly will be raised in the Alumni membership campaign, say Olson and Dollar. However, they say to take the Society to the level at which it can properly serve alumni and current members and rebuild the organization with new companies will require a viable alumni program.