The Robbie Page Memorial Fund Honors a National President’s Son

Posted on April 19, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Sigma Sigma Sigma was founded on April 20, 1898, at the State Female Normal School in Farmville, Virginia (now Longwood University). The founders are Lucy Wright, Margaret Batten, Elizabeth Watkins, Louise Davis, Martha Trent Featherston, Lelia Scott, Isabella Merrick, and Sallie Michie.

Mabel Lee Walton, a charter member of the Gamma chapter at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, served as the sorority’s third National President from 1913-1947. She also served as the President of the Association of Education Sororities before Sigma Sigma Sigma became a member of the National Panhellenic Conference in 1947.

Tri Sigma’s fourth president, Mary Hastings Holloway Page (Lovejoy), was Walton’s niece.  A member of the Alpha chapter, she was initiated with the gold Tri Sigma badge that belonged to her “Aunt May.” While working in Washington, D.C., she met a gentleman from New Hampshire, Robertson Page, and they married in April 1940.

The Pages’ son, Robertson Page II was born on May 1, 1946. According the Years Remember of Sigma Sigma Sigma 1898-1953, “Robbie was six weeks old when he attended his first Sigma officers’ conference, two months old when his father first saw him (his father was on special assignment in Germany), and six months old when he attended the Regional Meet at Richmond, Virginia, where his mother was officer-in-charge.” A devoted Tri Sigma from the minute she pledged the organization, she was elected National President in 1947.

The Pages lived in Massachusetts when Robbie attended his first day of kindergarten. It was also his last day of school. The next morning he had what the doctors described as an overwhelming case of bulbar poliomyelitis, a form of polio. Four days later, on September 15, 1951, he died in an iron lung. His bereaved parents wanted to help spare other parents the pain they so intensely felt at the loss of their precious young son and Tri Sigmas the country over wanted to do something to ease the family’s pain. The Robbie Page Memorial Fund was created to fund medical research.

Robertson “Robbie” Page II

Today’s collegians have no idea what the world was like when polio could strike in the blink of an eye. The Robbie Page Memorial Fund became Tri Sigma’s official philanthropy in 1954. The Fund helped during the Salk vaccine trials. When polio was essentially defeated in the United States, the focus of the Fund changed to “therapeutic play,” when that was a relatively new field. Today, the fund helps supports play therapy for hospitalized children and libraries, playrooms, and programs at hospitals where children undergo long-term care. The National Therapeutic Recreation Society has recognized Tri Sigma for its support of Child Life and Play Therapy programs.

(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013

 

 

Posted in Founders' Day, Longwood University, Mabel Lee Walton, National Panhellenic Conference, Notable Sorority Women, Sigma Sigma Sigma | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Robbie Page Memorial Fund Honors a National President’s Son

Happy Founders’ Day, Alpha Xi Delta (and a Connection to Carl Sandburg)

Posted on April 17, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Alpha Xi Delta was founded at Lombard College in Galesburg, Illinois on April 17, 1893. Its founders are Cora Bollinger Block, Alice Bartlett Bruner, Bertha Cook Evans, Harriett Luella McCollum, Lucy W. Gilmer, Lewie Strong Taylor, Almira Lowry Cheney, Frances Elisabeth Cheney, Eliza Drake Curtis Everton, and Julia Maude Foster. At age 15, Alice Barlett Bruner was the youngest of Alpha Xi Delta’s founders; Eliza Curtis Everton, a 25-year-old widow, was the oldest founder.

Coeducational from its beginning, Lombard College was founded in 1853 by the Universalist Church. Originally called the Illinois Liberal Institute, its name was changed in 1855, after a fire damaged much of the college. Businessman and farmer Benjamin Lombard gave the college a large gift to build a new building and the institution was named in his honor. Among Lombard’s students was Carl Sandburg.

The book Alpha Xi Delta, A 100-Year History recounts an interesting story which Jessie Brown Robson recalled many years after it happened. Early in its history, the chapter opened a bank account in preparation for the organization’s desired expansion to other campuses. Founder Frances Cheney, whom Robson called “a saint,” wanted to lend some of the savings to the boy who mowed the Lombard College lawn for him to use for his tuition. “Cora (Bollinger Block) was indignant and said the money was for expansion,” wrote Jessie. “She said, ‘Can’t you see when Alpha Xi Delta will be in every first-rate college? How can we do that if we give money to Carl, who would probably hop a freight train to Heaven knows where?'” Robson added, “If Cora had known that the same Carl Sandburg would be known all over the world as one of America’s greatest writers, maybe she would not have been so stingy with the money.”


Carl Sandburg, pictured second on the right in the second row, was captain of his Lombard College Basketball Team. (Photo courtesy of the Carl Sandburg Home National Historic Site in Galesburg, IL)

In 1902, Iowa Wesleyan College’s Chapter S of the P.E.O. Sisterhood became the Beta Chapter of Alpha Xi Delta. With this move, Alpha Xi Delta became a national organization, rather than just a local on the Lombard campus, and the P.E.O. Sisterhood became an organization of community adult women.

The 1929 stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression hit Lombard College extremely hard and the college closed its doors. The last class graduated in 1930. Knox College invited the Lombard students to transfer to Knox, with the same tuition cost as Lombard, and without loss of academic standing. Knox also incorporated the Lombard alumni into the Knox Alumni Association.

Ladies Hall, Lombard College


 

To read more about the history of the Illinois State Chapter of P.E.O. visit the link to the page about it and Lulu Corkhill Williams  http://wp.me/P20I1i-Qf .

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013.

Posted in Alpha Xi Delta, Founders' Day, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Iowa Wesleyan College, Lombard College, National Panhellenic Conference, P.E.O., Sorority History | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Happy Founders’ Day, Alpha Xi Delta (and a Connection to Carl Sandburg)

Happy Founders’ Day to FarmHouse and Triangle Fraternities, 2 of the 3 NIC Organizations Without Greek Letters

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Acacia, FarmHouse and Triangle Fraternities are the only members of the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC) that do not use Greek-letters. The latter two celebrate Founders’ Day on the same day. What’s also interesting to note is that both were formed for students in certain majors. In FarmHouse’s case it was agriculture. For Triangle it was engineering. Both organizations have since expanded membership eligibility criteria.

FarmHouse was founded on April 15, 1905 at the University of Missouri. D. Howard Doane, one of the seven founders, conceived the idea for the fraternity. The other founders are Melvin E. Sherwin, Robert F. Howard, Claude B. Hutchinson, Henry H. Krusekopf, Earl W. Rusk, and Henry P. Rusk. The young men were attending a Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) Bible study in the spring of 1905. They discussed organizing a club and renting a house so that they could live together. It was Doane who envisioned a “farmers club,” and developed a plan. A second chapter was formed at the University of Nebraska in 1911 and a third chapter was chartered at the University of Illinois in 1914.

At the 1978 Conclave, the fraternity revised its membership criteria to include students whose subjects of study “can be applied toward a degree in agriculture or related fields, or he has a rural background, or he shares an agricultural interest; or he demonstrates qualities of character, scholarship and professional excellence to which FarmHouse men aspire.”

Triangle Fraternity was founded at the University of Illinois in the fall of 1906.  It celebrates Founders’ Day on April 15, the date in 1907 on which the Incorporation papers were granted by the state of Illinois. Sixteen civil engineering students conceived the idea to foster fellowship while in college and later as working professionals. Triangle’s founders are Edwin B. Adams, Wilbur G. Burroughs, Stanley G. Cutler, Ruby O. Harder, Theron R. Howser, Robert Emmett Keough, Thomas E. Lowry, Milton H. McCoy, Meryl S. Morgan, Ernest B. Nettleton, Raymond C. Pierce, Franklin N. Ropp, Arthur Schwerin, Charles M. Slaymaker, Charles E. Waterhouse, and Emil A. Weber.

Triangle became a national organization when similar groups at Purdue University and Ohio State were installed as Triangle Fraternity chapters in 1909 and 1911, respectively. At first, membership was limited exclusively to civil engineering students. In 1920, architecture and all engineering majors were added by a national referendum. In 1961, science students in chemistry, mathematics, and physics became eligible for membership. In 1981, computer science was added to the list.


 

Posted in FarmHouse, Founders' Day, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, NIC, North-American Interfraternity Conference, Triangle, University of Illinois, University of Missouri | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Happy Founders’ Day to FarmHouse and Triangle Fraternities, 2 of the 3 NIC Organizations Without Greek Letters

Musings on a Western Union Telegram from Chi O to Pi Phi

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

This gem was found in a 1957 scrapbook. Evidently the Syracuse University Greek Week skit competition was fairly intense that year. The gracious ladies of the Chi Omega chapter sent a telegram to congratulate the winners, the sisters of the Pi Beta Phi chapter. The telegram’s message was  also phoned to the chapter according to the red stamp on the right side. While today’s collegians send tweets, e-mails and texts, the women back then sent Western Union telegrams.

The graphic on the telegram is what caught my eye, but the Panhellenic mindedness of the note is what tugged at my heartstrings. The 26 National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organizations are sisters of a sort and this telegram embodies that message. And although it is a few days later than Sibling Day (who knew there was even a Sibling Day!) I think it’s a perfect reminder that we NPC groups are in this together.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com

 

Posted in Chi Omega, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, National Panhellenic Conference, Pi Beta Phi, Syracuse University | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Musings on a Western Union Telegram from Chi O to Pi Phi

Fraternity Women Who Were Lawyers, 1867-1902 (When Women Could Not Vote!)

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

During the time frame of this study, 1867-1902, women had few legal rights.  Therefore, it is interesting to note that several of these early fraternity women became lawyers at a time when women were not yet allowed to vote.  In 1870 there were five female lawyers in the United States. A year earlier, the first woman was admitted to the Bar. (Newcomer, 1959).

In 1875, Susan Farrow, a member of the DePauw University chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma, was a lawyer in Indianapolis (“Iota roster,” 1919).

Grace Raymond Hebard was an engineering major at the University of Iowa; she was also a member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter.  In 1882, she became the first woman to receive a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa.  After graduation, she moved to Wyoming, became a draftsman in a Cheyenne surveyor’s office and worked her way up to deputy state engineer (Scharff, 1989).  Hebard was the first woman admitted to the Bar in the state of Wyoming (“Pi Phis in the public eye,” 1922, June). 

Dr. Grace Raymond Hebard

Jessie E. Wright Whitcomb, a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta chapter at the University of Vermont, graduated from Boston University Law School.  She was admitted to the Bar in Kansas.  In 1888, she married a fellow Boston Law School student and they established a private practice (“Personals,” 1889). 

Emma Eaton White, a University of Iowa Pi Beta Phi member from the class of 1884, earned her LL.D. from the University of Michigan.  She served as a legal editor from 1895 to 1900 for both West Publishing and Bobbs-Merrill and was the first woman to hold that position (Bartol-Theiss, 1919).  Eaton served as Assistant Attorney General of Indiana and was elected reporter of the Supreme Court of Indiana (“Personal,” 1925, January).  Nellie Peery, another Iowa Pi Beta Phi member, this time from Iowa State University in the 1890s, was also a lawyer (“Some women we want to know,” 1894 ).

Elva Hulburd Young who was initiated into the Cornell University chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta in the 1890s practiced law in Springfield, Massachusetts (Bell, 1902).  Alice Boarman Baldridge, a Pi Beta Phi from the Sophie Newcomb College (Tulane) class of 1893, was an attorney (Howes, 1939).

E. Jean Nelson Penfield, a DePauw University Kappa Kappa Gamma member from the class of 1893, was a suffragist, lawyer and parliamentary law expert.  From 1910 until 1912 she served as chairman of the Woman’s Suffrage Party of New York City (“Kappas known to fame,” 1913, February).  She completed her law course at New York University (“Kappas known to fame,” 1914).  She and Pi Beta Phi member Carrie Chapman Catt toured the West working for the ratification of the woman’s suffrage amendment.  Catt and Penfield helped found the League of Women Voters.  Penfield also served her fraternity as Grand President from 1900-1902.

E. Jean Nelson (Penfield)

In 1898, Barnard College Kappa Kappa Gamma Jessica B. Garretson Cosgrove earned a law degree from the New York University Law School.  She was admitted to the New York State Bar shortly thereafter (Randle, 1913; Foley, 1977).

One of the first women to graduate from the Minnesota School of Law was Marie Antoinette Palmer Bond, a University of Minnesota Pi Beta Phi.  Bond was admitted to the Minnesota Bar in 1900 (Theiss, 1906).

Ohio State University Delta Delta Delta Ivy Kellerman Reed, class of 1898, was a graduate of the Washington College of Law.  She was on the faculty of Iowa State University and chairman of the Esperanto Association of North America (Priddy, 1932).  Reed also served her fraternity as Grand Treasurer from 1900 until 1902 (Haller, 1988).  Another Delta Delta Delta member Annette Abbott Adams from the University of California – Berkeley chapter was admitted to the California Bar in 1912.  She served as a United States Assistant District Attorney and a District Attorney.  In 1920, she was the first woman appointed as Assistant Attorney General (Howes, 1939).

A University of Missouri Pi Beta Phi, Gratia E. Woodside, was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court of Missouri in June 1900.  At that point, she became the only woman to try a case before that body.  In 1903, Woodside opened a private practice in St. Louis and became the only female lawyer in St. Louis and only one of two female lawyers in Missouri (“Some professional Pi Phi women,” 1904).

Helen McCormick, a St. Lawrence University Delta Delta Delta member, was a prosecutor.  Appointed in 1910, she was one of the first female prosecutors in the greater New York area (Haller, 1988).

Although Alpha Omicron Pi wasn’t a founding member of NPC, one of its founders, Helen St. Clair Mullen, needs to included on this list. A Barnard College alumna, Class of 1898, she graduated at the top of her law class at New York University. She also installed the organization’s Nu Chapter at NYU. She later served on the New York Board of Education and as a Barnard Collelge Trustee.


 

 

 

* I only included information about members of the seven founding NPC groups since my aim was to study the growth of the system between 1867 and 1902, when the need for an umbrella organization became very evident. If there are additional women from the organizations that joined NPC after 1902, I would be happy to add their names to the post. Legendary Chi Omega Mary Love Collins is one who quickly comes to mind, but I do not think she became a lawyer prior to 1902.

Pages 173-176, Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902, by Frances DeSimone Becque, 2002. 

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com

Posted in Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta, DePauw University, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, National Panhellenic Conference, Notable Fraternity Women, Notable Sorority Women, Pi Beta Phi, Sorority History, University of Minnesota, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Fraternity Women Who Were Lawyers, 1867-1902 (When Women Could Not Vote!)

Goucher College – Home of a Once Thriving Women’s Fraternity System

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

 

The Women’s College of Baltimore, today known as Goucher College, was founded in 1885 and graduated its first class in 1892.  It was one of the few women’s colleges hosting chapters of national women’s fraternities.  There is evidence of local women’s fraternities at women’s colleges including Smith College, Mount Holyoke College and Wellesley College (Martin, 1907; “Legenda,” 1903; Solomon, 1985), but in those instances, the college administrations forbade national organizations from organizing on campus. Goucher College was an anomaly, with at one time, eight active chapters of women’s fraternities.

Alpha Phi’s Zeta chapter was installed on December 1, 1891, with 11 charter members. Blanche Caraway and Cora Allen McElroy, members of Alpha Phi’s chapter at Northwestern University, installed the chapter (McElroy, 1913).

In 1891, Delta Gamma once again entered a women’s college with its Psi II chapter. It took this name,  in part, because it was south of the Mason-Dixon line and was located at a woman’s college.  Psi had been the name of the founding chapter at the Lewis School; that chapter closed two years earlier.

In 1893, the Zeta chapter of Gamma Phi Beta was installed. Five charter members were contacted by the Alpha chapter and on March 24, 1893, the Zeta chapter became a reality (McCurley, 1913). It was followed by the Alpha Delta chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta in 1896.

The Maryland Alpha chapter of Pi Beta Phi was organized by Elizabeth K. Culver, from the University of Colorado chapter, Helen and Elizabeth Lamb, from the Swarthmore College chapter, and Loe Mary Ware, from the Nebraska Methodist College chapter.  It was installed by Florence P. Chase [Cass], Grand Secretary, on January 9, 1897 (Helmick, 1915).

The Xi chapter of Delta Delta Delta was founded as a local organization, Tau Delta.  It was, according to Haller (1988), “the first of Tri Delta’s southern chapters” (p. 503).  The institution was also the first women’s college to host a Delta Delta Delta chapter.  Xi chapter was installed on November 25, 1898.  In 1942, Delta Delta Delta was the first NPC group to leave campus when the university made overtures that the fraternities would not be welcome when the college moved to Towson (Haller, 1988).

Although Tri Delta was the first to leave the campus, all the women’s fraternities, including two additional ones installed after 1902, Alpha Gamma Delta in 1908 and Kappa Kappa Gamma in 1933, were disbanded in the 1940s and 1950s. When the college moved from downtown Baltimore to suburban Towson, Maryland, the administration told the NPC groups that they would no longer be welcomed on campus (Musser, 1990). My husband’s mother, an Alpha Phi, was a student a Goucher when the campus made the move. The Alpha Phi chapter closed prior to her graduation.

 

Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter members enjoying a sunny day, circa late 1930s/early 1940s (courtesy of Kappa Kappa Gamma Archives)

 

Goucher College was also one of the few campus without housing for women’s fraternities.  According to  Musser (1990) the group’s physical facilities “usually consisted of little more than a rented floor and a furnished clubroom in a nearby townhouse where members could meet and hold dances and parties” (p. 133).  However, in providing a central meeting spot for members, interaction was fostered between on-campus students and commuters.  This benefit of the women’s fraternities was not recognized until after they were abolished (Musser, 1990).

Goucher is no longer a women’s college. Its trustees voted in 1986 to admit men.

 May Lansfield Keller was a charter member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at the Women’s College of Baltimore (Goucher College).  She earned a Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg.  Dr. Keller was the first dean of Westhampton College (lovingly known as the “Iron Dean”), the University of Richmond’s coordinate college, and she had a leadership role in the Southern Association  of College Women, a forerunner of the American Association of University Women.  Consequently, she played an integral role in  the education of women in the south.  She also served as Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President from 1908-1918 and attended several NPC meetings as Pi Beta Phi’s delegate.

(c) Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com. Much of this information is from my dissertation, Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities, 1867-1902.

Posted in Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta, Fran Favorite, Gamma Phi Beta, GLO, Goucher College, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Kappa Alpha Theta, Pi Beta Phi, Sorority History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Goucher College – Home of a Once Thriving Women’s Fraternity System

The Syracuse – Michigan Match-Up, the Non-Athletic Version

Posted on April 6, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Syracuse and Michigan play a basketball game tonight. It’s part of the coveted Final Four of NCAA basketball. The Final Four usually not a big deal in the Becque household (well, at least not in my life – my sons are the sports fanatics). This time it’s personal. I am the Syracuse graduate; my husband the Michigan alumnus. Our daughter has a Syracuse Master’s degree and is an alumna initiate of the University of Michigan Pi Phi chapter.

You can get the scoop on the basketball teams at other web-sites, but this one is about things I find fascinating.

The Michigan Wolverine goes head to head against Otto the Orange. Maize (a fancy word for corn yellow) and blue versus orange. Michigan’s alma mater is the Yellow and Blue, whose lyrics were written by a Michigan professor, Charles Mills Gayley, in 1886. The fight song, The Victors (Hail to the victors valiant! Hail to the conq’ring heroes! Hail! Hail! to Michigan, the leaders and best. Champions of the West!) was written by a Michigan student, Louis Elbel, in 1898.  Syracuse’s alma mater (Where the vale of Onondaga, Meets the eastern sky, Proudly stands our Alma Mater, On her hilltop high.) was written by Junius W. Stevens in 1893.

Three National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) organizations were founded at Syracuse. They are called the Syracuse Triad. Alpha Phi was founded in 1872. Gamma Phi Beta followed in 1874 and Alpha Gamma Delta was founded in 1904. One NPC organization, Theta Phi Alpha, was founded at Michigan in 1912.

Acacia, a men’s social fraternity, was founded at Michigan in 1904 and Alpha Phi Delta was founded at Syracuse in 1914.

The two campuses also shared a President, Dr. Erastus Otis Haven; his daughter Frances was a founder of Gamma Phi Beta (for more on Dr. Haven, see http://wp.me/p20I1i-e5).

The Michigan diploma’s first line, “To all who may read these letters, Greetings” is a favorite of mine. Syracuse’s diploma has a similar first line, “To all who read these presents, Greeting.” The closely worded diplomas harken back to a time when graduates carried their diploma with them to prove their educational status. But they are not playing diplomas; they’re playing basketball. Let’s go Orange!

There are several other posts about these campuses including:

http://wp.me/p20I1i-6h (The history of the women’s fraternity system at Syracuse)

http://wp.me/p20I1i-cC (The history of the women’s fraternity system at Michigan)

Posted in Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi, Fran Favorite, Gamma Phi Beta, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Syracuse University, Theta Phi Alpha, University of Michigan | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Syracuse – Michigan Match-Up, the Non-Athletic Version

The ΧΩ Connection – Founders’ Day and a Greek Theater at the University of Arkansas

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Happy Founders’ Day to Chi Omega!  With the help of a Fayetteville dentist, Kappa Sigma Dr. Charles Richardson, Chi Omega was founded by Ina Mae Boles, Jean Vincenheller, Jobelle Holcombe, and Alice Simonds on April 5, 1895 at the University of Arkansas. Dr. Richardson is considered a founder and is lovingly known as “Sis Doc.” He crafted the first badge out of dental gold. The founding chapter at Arkansas is the Psi Chapter.

(Photo courtesy of Lyn Harris, Chi Omega’s Archivist)

On June 28, 1930, Chi Omega presented a gift to the University of Arkansas to commemorate its founding at the university. Dr. Richardson and Mary Love Collins, Chi Omega’s National President for 42 years and NPC Chairman from 1919-1921, conceived the idea. Their vision was to create a replica of the Theatre of Dionysus which sits at the foot of the Acropolis in Greece. The cost of the theatre in 1930 was $31,225 (more than $400,000 in 2013 funds).

The theatre’s five aisles honor the five Chi Omega founders and the columns represent the fourteen original members of the Psi Chapter. Chi Omega’s ideals are expressed in the words on the frieze above the columns – KNOWLEDGE, INTEGRITY, COURAGE, CULTURE and INTELLIGENCE. A tablet bears the inscription, “Given to the University of Arkansas by Chi Omega as an expression of appreciation for its founding and as a symbol of its devotion to the human struggle for enlightenment.”

In 1992, the Chi Omega Greek Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places. It  is used for Panhellenic Council Bid Days, concerts, plays, convocations, commencements, and pep rallies during football season.


 

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2013. All Rights Reserved.

Posted in Chi Omega, Founders' Day, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Mary Love Collins, Sorority History, University of Arkansas | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on The ΧΩ Connection – Founders’ Day and a Greek Theater at the University of Arkansas

A Bittersweet Day in the Archives

Posted on April 3, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Upon my arrival at the Pi Beta Phi Archives yesterday, I was met with about 30 boxes of various sizes and shapes. They were the remains of my own chapter, the New York Alpha Chapter of Pi Beta Phi. Its roots on the Syracuse campus are deep. The chapter was founded in 1896 and it hosted the 1901 Pi Beta Phi Convention (the one where Grace Goodhue [Coolidge] was the University of Vermont chapter’s delegate). The chapter was closed once before – from 1984-1988.

Quite by chance, the first box I opened happened to be from my own years in the chapter. I knew immediately when I saw the cover of this history who the artist was – the very talented Marilyn Stevens (Smith). Arrow Annie, a Raggedy Ann doll, was a chapter award we gave to the member who needed a little comfort. How very appropriate that Annie found me as I started the task of sifting through and preserving the chapter’s treasures.

To realize that every member of each fraternity and sorority is but one little link in a chain is not usually the first thought of a new member. It comes slowly to some and never reaches others. The ones who get it stay involved giving of their time, talents and treasures, as they are able, to preserve that chain.

As I quickly skimmed the more than a century of history, I saw the bright faces of young college women frozen in time. Much of the scenery remained the same – the house at 210 Walnut Place – but the fashions, hairstyles and photographs themselves reflected the norms of the day. My years at 210 Walnut Place were all too short, but the lessons I learned there and the people I met helped me become who I am today. For that I am very grateful. And I am sorry that, for the time being, Syracuse women will not have the opportunity to be members of Pi Beta Phi.

Posted in Grace Coolidge, Pi Beta Phi, Syracuse University | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on A Bittersweet Day in the Archives

Champaign’s Virginia Theater – Home of Ebertfest

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

(This blog was posted a week or so before Roger Ebert’s death. I am so sorry to hear of his passing. I also discovered that a P.E.O. friend and Knox College alumna was Ebert’s childhood friend and neighbor. What a small world it is!)

The 15th Annual Roger Ebert Film Festival (EbertFest) will take place April 17-21, 2013, at the Virginia Theatre in Champaign, Illinois. Roger Ebert, a University of Illinois alumnus grew up in Urbana. As a student, he joined Phi Delta Theta Fraternity and was a reporter and Editor for the Daily Illini. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize and have a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame. EbertFest is organized by the College of Media at the University of Illinois.

A local general contractor, Almond* Whitfield (A.W.) Stoolman, commissioned the Virginia Theatre. A.W. built his first house at 14, attended the University of Illinois and then went on oversee the construction of many campus and community buildings.  He built fraternity and sorority houses on the University of Illinois campus including homes for Beta Theta Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Kappa Sigma, and Kappa Kappa Gamma. He also built the University of Illinois President’s home and the local Masonic Lodge, among many others.

The Class of 1897 section in the 1922 University of Illinois Alumni News reported, “One of the most admired playhouses in the central part of the state is the new Virginia Theater, State and Park Streets, Champaign, which opened December 28 (1921). A.W. Stoolman is one of the partners. It is a reproduction of the new Chicago theater and is under the same management as the Rialto. Mr. Stoolman is the husband of Lois Franklin, ’03.”

Lois Gertrude Franklin was born in Streator, Illinois. She enrolled at the University of Illinois; on November 8, 1902, she became a member of Pi Beta Phi’s Illinois Zeta chapter. she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 1903; two years later, she earned a Master’s. From 1903-08, she taught at Champaign High School. On February 13, 1909 she became Mrs. A.W. Stoolman.

Lois was involved in her husband’s business. The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi reported that during World War I, she “personally supervised the construction of the finest building on the University of Illinois campus while her husband was away building a cantonment.”

Lois was a lifelong volunteer for Pi Beta Phi. She served as Illinois Zeta’s House Corporation President for four years. In 1905, she was one of the five members who as the Pi Beta Phi Improvement Company,  financed and built one of the chapter’s previous houses at 807 South Third Street . She also served as Chairman of the Building Committee that helped the chapter move into the home it still occupies at 1005 South Wright Street. She became Grand Treasurer of Pi Beta Phi in 1925 and served until 1946. Previous to her election to Grand Council, she spent two years as treasurer of the Settlement School Committee and three years as President of the Champaign Alumnae Club. She was chairman of the chapter’s Alumnae Advisory Committee. The chapter won the fraternity’s top award, the Balfour Cup, in 1925. When Lois became Grand Treasurer that same year, it was noted that she had “made a careful study of the fraternity situation at the University of Illinois and has a broad viewpoint, a splendid sense of humor, and exceptional business ability such as is needed to pilot the financial affairs of Pi Beta Phi.”

Charles C. Pyle, or “Cash and Carry” Pyle as he was known, is intertwined in the story of the Virginia Theatre. A.W. was a clean-cut straight-arrow pillar of the community. It is a peplexing how he became mixed-up with a partner who, a few years later, would be known as one of the most flamboyant showman in America. When A.W. realized the predicament he was in after partnering with the somewhat shady and big talking Pyle, he made good on all that had been promised, likely at a great financial risk for his business and family. At least two books on Pyle devote a page or two to Stoolman and the Virginia Theatre. The Virginia would be where Pyle found Red Grange, the football player he would represent and in doing so became one of the country’s first sports agents.

Theater architects C. Howard Crane and H. Kenneth Franzheim designed the Virginia Theatre. They were assisted by local architect George Ramey. The building’s exterior is done in the Italian Renaissance style and the interior is decorated Spanish Renaissance style. The first production was a live stage show The Bat written by Mary Rinehart and Avery Hopwood. The Boat, a movie starring Buster Keaton, was shown on the second night.

The Virginia Theatre was named for the Stoolman’s daughter Elizabeth Virginia Stoolman (Julian). She was born on January 4, 1910. Betty, as she was later called, became a member of the Illinois Zeta chapter of Pi Beta Phi. She served as Chapter President and was a member of the Phi Beta Kappa.

The Champaign Park District now owns the Virginia Theatre and it has recently undergone an intensive restoration. The Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company (CUTC) holds its performances at the Virginia. The CUTC recognizes its volunteers with Ginny Awards, named in honor of Ginny Stoolman Julian.

* In some publications he is identified as Almon, although his gravestone notes his name as Almond.

 

 

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com

Posted in Beta Theta Pi, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Sigma, National Panhellenic Conference, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Delta Theta, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, University of Illinois | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Champaign’s Virginia Theater – Home of Ebertfest