The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), the umbrella organization for women’s fraternities and sororities, was founded on May 24, 1902. Eleven of the first twelve NPC meetings took place in Chicago. The 1911 NPC meeting was held in Evanston on the Northwestern University campus.
Patten Gymnasium
A Panhellenic luncheon at Northwestern’s Patten Gymnasium was one of the highlights of the meeting. There were 350 women in attendance. The table decorations were the flowers of the different fraternities, each delegation being seated near its special flower.
The Panhellenic Luncheon at Northwestern University’s Patten Gymnasium, October 1913.
The composition of NPC in 1911 was a little different than it is today. The members in rotation order were
Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Delta Gamma, Alpha Phi, Gamma Phi Beta, Alpha Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Zeta Tau Alpha, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Delta Pi, and Delta Zeta.
The flowers of the 26 organizations that today comprise NPC are:
Alpha Chi Omega – Red carnation
Alpha Delta Pi – Woodland violet
Alpha Epsilon Phi – Lily of the valley
Alpha Gamma Delta – Red and buff roses
Alpha Omicron Pi – Jacqueminot rose
Alpha Phi – Lily of the valley and the blue and gold forget-me-not
Alpha Sigma Alpha – Narcissus and aster
Alpha Sigma Tau – Yellow rose
Alpha Xi Delta – Pink rose
Chi Omega – White carnation
Delta Delta Delta – Pansy
Delta Gamma – Cream colored rose
Delta Phi Epsilon – Lovely purple iris
Delta Zeta – Pink Killarney rose
Gamma Phi Beta – Pink carnation
Kappa Alpha Theta – Black and gold pansy
Kappa Delta – White rose
Kappa Kappa Gamma – Fleur-de-lis
Phi Mu – Rose colored carnation
Phi Sigma Sigma – American Beauty rose
Pi Beta Phi – Wine carnation
Sigma Delta Tau – Golden tea rose
Sigma Kappa – Wild purple violet
Sigma Sigma Sigma – Purple violet
Theta Phi Alpha – White rose
Zeta Tau Alpha – White violet
The graphic that Delta Gamma posted on May 24, the date NPC was founded.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2016. All Rights Reserved. If you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/
