This year Illinois State University’s Gamma Phi Circus celebrates its 90th anniversary.
Gamma Phi was first established by Clifford “Pop” Horton in 1929 as a gymnastic fraternity with the objectives to “promote physical education among the students of the university” and to “honor gymnastic excellence in the individual members of the student body.” It wasn’t until the 1931-1932 school year that Gamma Phi expanded from a gymnastics fraternity to a collegiate circus.
Gamma Phi Circus: 90 Years of Tradition celebrates the history, tradition, and growth of the oldest collegiate circus in the country. This exhibit showcases the many milestones in Gamma Phi Circus history through artifacts, documents, and photographs found in the Gamma Phi Circus Archive at Milner Library.