Basil Lewis Essays

Early Leaders of Rotary

• "The First President of Rotary" Silvester Schiele

  • The seven Schiele brothers in a pre-1900 photo

• What did Abe Lincoln, his assassin John Wilkes Booth and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have in common? And how did former RI president Arch Klumph get involved?

• Another "Early Leader" who sold membership and brought Rotary across the sea.

• Background on Hiram Elmer Shorey

• The obituary of founding member Hiram Shorey and a "Horse Story."

• Ches Perry and Rufus Chapin - Rotary's First Secretary and First Treasurer

• The "Gang of Four" (Harris, Schiele, Loehr and Shorey - plus #5 Ruggles)

  • Gus Loehr, background and his death

• Jim Davidson

  • Davidson goes to Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Israel, and Palestine

• Dr Eduardo Moore, past VP of Rotary International

• John Innes of Leeds, who was Treasurer of RIBI

• Willem De Cock Buning

• Frederick Warren Teele

• Frank Molloy

Presidents of Rotary

• Paul P. Harris 1910-12

  • Paul Harris in England, by Basil Lewis

  • The Paul Harris "study" maintained by Rotary International at its headquarters in Evanston, IL, USA

  • What Paul Harris was telling clubs in England and Europe in 1928

  • The "Rawlins Survey" and how Rotary may have became non political

    • Cedar City asks questions

  • Paul Harris on the "Mayflower?"

  • Paul Harris in Britain (early RIBI article)

  • Paul and Jean visit Wallingford, England

  • History of the Wallingford Club

  • Paul Harris' Signature

  • The publisher of Harris' third book, "My Road to Rotary"

  • Paul Harris' office, now in Evanston

    • A special gift of a painting from RC of Cheltenham Spa, UK

  • Harris and Perry listen to the RIBI-RI difficulties in 1934

  • The tale of a photo (?) of Paul Harris

  • Reference to the Victor Hugo autographs

  • The Paul Harris "Study" project

  • British Memorial Service

  • The Founder's visits

    • Liverpool

    • Manchester

    • London

    • Glasgow

    • Dublin

    • Belfast

    • Edinburgh

    • Newcastle

    • Douglas, Isle of Man

    • Fort Myers, Florida, USA

      • The other Ches Perry

      • 1937 Fort Myers Speech

• Bill Huntley 1994-95

  • The interesting story of UK's RI president Bill Huntley and his presidential year theme.

  • Remembering Bill Huntley

Conventions of Rotary

• 1910 Chicago

  • Story of the official car

• 1930 Chicago

Women in Rotary

• Women in 1912?

• Women's Auxiliaries

General History

• Rotary Bibliography

• Genealogy contributions http://www.rotarylibrary.org/genealogy/

  • Jean Thomson Harris' Parents

• Early critics of Rotary. http://www.rotarylibrary.org/critics.htm

• Issues of Club Business

  • Do Rotarians everywhere sing?

  • Do all clubs meet every week?

  • The question of extending new clubs

    • "Why One Only"

  • Rotary the World Over - types of clubs/meetings

• Famous Rotarians

  • Harlan Sanders (Kentucky Colonel)

  • British Stage Stars of Rotary

  • SIR NIGEL GRESLEY

    • Rotary and the Railroads

• Rotary during global conflicts

  • Rotary in World War I

  • Onset of World War II

  • End of World War II

  • The Outpost Club of Rotary in England

  • Revival of Rotary in Estonia

• Friendship Trees

  • The first tree, according to Walsh

  • Trees in the "Harris Study"

• Other Organizations

  • Free Masonry

    • Rotary "Lodge" #4195

  • Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Region History

• History of Rotary in Australia

  • AN ENQUIRY LEADING TO A LINK BETWEEN THE UK AND AUSTRALIA: TEN POUND POMS

• History of Rotary in Africa

• History of Rotary in Asia

• History of Rotary in Europe

• History of Rotary in Poland

• History of Rotary in Russia

  • Re-entry of Russia

   

• ROTARY IN BELARUS (BYELO-RUSSIA)

• Rotary Club of Liechtenstein, the First Club of Liechtenstein

• Rotary Club of Luxembourg, the First Club of Luxembourg

• History of Rotary in UK and Ireland

• History of Rotary in The Netherlands

The early clubs

• DISTRICTING IN RIBI, amended 3 August 2006

  • RI RIBI Peace Initiative

• Early notes to Australia from President Greiner and Secretary Perry

• How clubs are chartered and numbers? Notes on the UK & Ireland

• The Allied Rotary Club of France Where America's World War One Soldiers gathered

• Rotaryclubhistory?  "#100" -- was there more than one?

• 13 Kansas City "Stand Together Club"

• 50 London

  • Early Clubs of London

• 60 Glasgow

  • Harry Lauder, Glasgow's famous Rotarian

• 66 Manchester UK

• Birmingham, UK

• Brighton, UK

• Newcastle, UK

• Battersea, UK 1926, home of RIP Carter 1973

• The formation of RC of Tokyo, the war and reconstruction

• Wolverhampton

  • The constitutional "vacation" issue

• Amsterdam, Holland

• Hilversum, Netherlands. Home of RI President C. P. H. Teenstra 1965-66

• One of the first Clubs in community of less than 25,000 "Galesburg"

First Club of Rotary Countries (Also see Terminated Clubs)

• Sofia, First Club of Bulgaria

• Praha (Prague) first of Czechoslovakia 1925

  • History of Rotary in Czechoslovakia

• Cardiff, First Club of Wales (1917)

  • Paul Harris Visits Cardiff

• Isle of Man (first club of country) (including a visit from Paul Harris)

• Åland  Islands – Mariehamn

• Kenya – Nairobi

• Zimbabwe – Harare

• Channel Islands – Guernsey

• Rotary Club of Tallinn, the First Club of Estonia

• Rotary Clubs of Kaunas & Vilnius, the First Clubs of Lithuania

• Rotary Club of Riga, the First Club of Latvia

• Rotary Club of Bucharest, the First Club of Romania

  • Letter from Harris to an RID from Bucharest

• Rotary Club of Budapest, the First Club of Hungary

• Rotary Club of Belgrade, the First Club of Yugoslavia

• Rotary Club of Nanking, first club of Nanking

• Rotary Club of Tripoli, the First Club of Libya

District Histories

• D1090 UK

• D1110 UK

• D1130 UK, partial

• D1170 UK

• D1230 UK

• D1270 UK

Histories of Global Networking Groups

• Esperanto

• RGHF History