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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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- 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: Fran Favorite
Goats and Goating in Early Sorority History
I was recently asked about the significance of “the goat” in sorority history. The long, thesis type answer is complicated, but suffice to say, goats show up regularly in the lore of sororities from the 1870s until about the 1930s, when … Continue reading
#4 Gehrig, Phi Delt, and #30 Coolidge, Fiji, for the Fourth
Three U.S. Presidents, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe died on the fourth of July, but only one, John Calvin Coolidge, Jr., was born on this day. The year was 1872 and the place was Plymouth Notch, Vermont. As a … Continue reading
Happy Canada Day and a Glimpse of the Bigwin Inn
Happy Canada Day, the national day of Canada! Greek-letter organizations (GLOs) have been a part of Canadian higher education since 1879 when Zeta Psi chartered its chapter at the University of Toronto. The first National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) women’s organization in Canada … Continue reading
A Century of Progress 85 Years Ago and the NPC Women Who Visited Chicago
The world was a different place 85 years ago. The 1930s, the years between two world wars that saw most of the United State in a depression, often given capital letters and a title, The Great Depression. Meeting up with … Continue reading
Two Letters from Kappa Kappa Gamma, 1890 and 1904 – One “Keyless” and One By a Leading Suffragist
Beth Dees Applebaum, Tri Delta’s Archivist, shared with me this fabulous letter written in 1904 to Elizabeth Luetscher, who was then the Grand President of Delta Delta Delta. It was written by E. Jean Nelson Penfield. It was preserved in the … Continue reading
A Week in the GLO Twitterverse
An alumna of Delta Delta Delta at the University of Oregon, Lila Bell Acheson and her husband DeWitt Wallace created Reader’s Digest. I am the daughter of an immigrant and their magazine was always in our house. It was how … Continue reading
Justify! Salukis Breaking Records
I have spent more of my life in Carbondale, Illinois, than any other place. It doesn’t make me a southern Illinois native, but I believe in celebrating southern Illinoisans. Kudos to Kenny Troutt, Tau Kappa Epsilon at Southern Illinois University … Continue reading
Frank Lloyd Wright, Phi Delt, and His Fraternity House Designs
Frank Lloyd Wright was born on June 8, 1867, in Richland Center, Wisconsin. His parents divorced the year Wright graduated from high school. In 1886, Wright enrolled at the University of Wisconsin – Madison to study civil engineering. He became … Continue reading
Sorority Recruitment – To Be Or Not To Be
My advice to those who are going through recruitment this year. Be prepared. If recommendations are strongly encouraged on your campus, make the effort to obtain recs from as many of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) groups on your campus as … Continue reading
Alpha Gamma Delta, Syracuse and Emily Butterfield, May 30, 1904
Alpha Gamma Delta was founded at Syracuse University on May 30, 1904 at the home of Dr. Wellesley Perry Coddington, a Syracuse University professor. Alpha Gamma Delta is the youngest of the Syracuse Triad, the three National Panhellenic Conference organizations … Continue reading
