Description
The collection documents Sacramento's Knights of Pythias lodges 11, 42, 78, and 157, through meeting minutes and financial
records. Material dates from 1882 to 1933.
Background
The Knights of Pythias is a fraternal organization and secret society founded in 1864 by Justus H. Rathbone in Washington
D.C. It was the first fraternal organization to be chartered by an act of U.S. Congress. The society originally only accepted
white men; black men created their own Knights of Pythias organization.