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There are many posts on this blog. Use the search button to find the posts about your organization.
Welcome!
Welcome! Chances are good you found this blog by searching for something about fraternities or sororities.
I was the last person anyone would have suspected of joining a sorority in college. I am sure I would have agreed with them, too.
When I made my way to Syracuse University, I saw the houses with the Greek letters that edged Walnut Park, and wished I could tour them. My roommate suggested I sign up for rush (as it was then called, today it’s known as recruitment) and go through the house tour round and then drop out of rush. It sounded like a plan. I didn’t realize that I would end up feeling at home at one of the chapters. And that I would become a member.
In this blog I will share the history of GLOs and other topics. I wrote a dissertation on “Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902.″ It chronicles the growth of the system and the birth of the National Panhellenic Conference.
My Master’s thesis details the history of the fraternity system at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1948-1960. The dates are significant ones and the thesis is available on the top menu.
I have done research at the Student Life Archives and have written several histories of University of Illinois fraternity chapters for the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing.
Thanks for stopping by.
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- #notablesororitywomen ALL IN ONE PLACE
- BIO AND PUBLICATIONS
- Fraternity and Sorority Members Competing in the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics
- GRACE GOODHUE COOLIDGE – A LOYAL PI BETA PHI
- HERE’S TO THE FRATERNITY HAT BANDS!
- PANHELLENIC HOUSE TO BEEKMAN TOWER HOTEL
- POSTS ABOUT THE P.E.O. SISTERHOOD
- SORORITY WOMEN COMPETING IN MISS USA 2026 AND MISS TEEN USA 2026
- SORORITY WOMEN ON THE ROAD TO MISS AMERICA 2027 (2026 STATE WINNERS)
- SORORITY WOMEN WHO HAVE WON EMMY AWARDS
- SORORITY WOMEN WHO HAVE WON MISS AMERICA AND MISS USA
- STATE GOVERNORS WHO HAVE BEEN SORORITY WOMEN
- THE ILLINOIS STATE CHAPTER OF P.E.O. AND THE LULU CORKHILL WILLIAMS FRIENDSHIP FUND
- The State by State Tour of Graves, Founding Sites, and HQs for NPC GLOs
- U.S. PRESIDENTS AND FRATERNITY MEN – FIRST LADIES AND SORORITY WOMEN
Posts about #NotableSororityWomen
10 + 2 Sorority Women with Pulitzer Prizes
10 Authors Who Are Sorority Women (Hint – Caddie Woodlawn, Kinsey Millhone, Atticus Finch, Too)
10 GLO Authors for Children’s Book Week
10 Sorority Women from the Golden Age of Television
Doctors Who Wore Badges: Fraternity Women in Medicine 1867-1902
Female Senators and Their Sorority Affiliation – 2019 Edition
For International Women’s Day, Another 10 Amazing NPC Women!
Fraternity Women Who Were Lawyers, 1867-1902 (When Women Could Not Vote!)
Hidden Figures on Alpha Kappa Alpha Founders’ Day
Sorority Women Writing Stories Whose Characters Are Sorority Women
NPC
Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Delta Pi
Alpha Epsilon Phi
Ruth Bader Ginsburg and http://wp.me/p20I1i-1Mj
Alpha Gamma Delta
Alpha Omicron Pi
Grace Humiston
Alpha Phi
Alpha Sigma Alpha
Alpha Sigma Tau
Elsie Katherine Bergegrun, M.D.
Alpha Xi Delta
Chi Omega
Delta Delta Delta
Dr. “Mattibelle” Boger Shattuck
Delta Gamma
Carlotta Joaquina Maury, Ph.D.
Delta Phi Epsilon
Delta Zeta
Crown Princess Martha of Norway
Gamma Phi Beta
Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Delta
Kappa Kappa Gamma
Meghan Markle, HRH The Dutchess of Sussex
Phi Mu
Phi Sigma Sigma
Pi Beta Phi
Mary Elizabeth Lasher Barnette
Marguerite “Peg” Lindsley (Arnold)
Sigma Delta Tau
Sigma Kappa
Sigma Sigma Sigma
Theta Phi Alpha
Mildred “Millie” Lonergan McAuliffe
Zeta Tau Alpha
NPHC
Alpha Kappa Alpha
Delta Sigma Theta
Sigma Gamma Rho
Zeta Phi Beta
Category Archives: Colleges and Universities
Sarah Ida Shaw Martin and the Triangle Windows at 5 Cobden Street
As Sarah Ida Shaw she studied, as best she could with the resources that were available at the time, the other men’s and women’s fraternities. She was an excellent student. In 1885, she was valedictorian of her Girls’ Latin School class. She … Continue reading
1887 – When Illinois Was the West
It always catches me off guard when I see Illinois referred to as “the West.” In 1867, when Pi Beta Phi was founded and in 1870 when Kappa Alpha Theta and Kappa Kappa Gamma were founded, Illinois was the western frontier. … Continue reading
A Messy Desk Must Mean I’m Laboring on Labor Day
I’ve been writing. In fact, I’ve been writing a lot. Ice pack and Advil a lot. As a freelance project, I am writing about the history of a chapter of a men’s fraternity at a particular university. I love learning … Continue reading
8/30/1912 + Bishop Kelly + 10 Founders = Happy 102 Years Theta Phi Alpha!
A few men have had roles in the founding of National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) sororities. Dr. Wellesley P. Coddington (Syracuse Triad), George Banta (Delta Gamma), and Dr. Charles Richardson (Chi Omega) are some whose names quickly come to mind. Of that small … Continue reading
The G.I. Bill Changed Higher Education
Monday’s post, “A Memory of Fraternities” came back to me as I was reading a 1945 report from a fraternity chapter at the University of Illinois, “As did everyone, we had the strange problem during rushing of not knowing some of … Continue reading
A “Memory of Fraternities” and Nile Kinnick in a 1945 Hawkeye
As I was working the Friends of Carbondale Public Library book sale on Saturday, I took a break and looked through the yearbooks we have for sale. Most are Obelisks from Southern Illinois University, but there was a copy of … Continue reading
Celebrating Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ΑΕΦ, and Mary Knight Wells Ashcroft, ΓΦΒ!
On August 10, 1993, Ruth Bader Ginsburg took the oath of office as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. She is the first and only sorority woman to serve on the Supreme Court.* She enrolled at Cornell University in Ithaca, … Continue reading
R.I.P. James Brady, Significant Sig
Yesterday, James “Jim” Brady, died. A few months after becoming President Reagan’s Press Secretary, he was seriously wounded in the assassination attempt on the President’s life. Since that time, Brady and his wife, Sarah, have been staunch advocates for gun control. Brady, a … Continue reading
8/3/1923 – A ΦΓΔ and a ΠBΦ Become President and First Lady
On Friday of last week, I was in Northampton, Massachusetts, the city in which a young University of Vermont Pi Beta Phi member met a young Phi Gamma Delta, an Amherst College grad. She was working at the Clarke School … Continue reading
Sorority Women Who Have Won Pulitzer Prizes
In sorting books for the upcoming Friends of Carbondale Public Library Book Sale, I came across a vintage copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. It has a “Pulitzer Prize Novel” prominently displayed on it. That got me to thinking about sorority women … Continue reading
