Happy 100th Birthday Delta Sigma Theta!

Posted on January 11, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

January 13, 2013 marks the 100th birthday of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. To commemorate the occasion, the sorority celebrated with a float entered in the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade. The theme of the float was “Transforming Communities through Sisterhood and Service.” Delta Sigma Theta was the first African-American women’s organization and the first National Pan-Hellenic Council Greek-letter organization to sponsor a float in the parade. The National President, Cynthia M. A. Butler-McIntyre, and Past Presidents as well as the Executive Board, rode on the float. Marching alongside it were 122 Deltas wearing red and white, 100 marking each year of public service and 22 in honor of the founders.

Delta Sigma Theta was founded at Howard University by 22 collegians – Winona Cargile Alexander, Madree Penn White, Wertie Blackwell Weaver, Vashti Turley Murphy, Ethel Cuff Black, Frederica Chase Dodd, Osceola Macarthy Adams, Pauline Oberdorfer Minor, Edna Brown Coleman, Edith Mott Young, Marguerite Young Alexander, Naomi Sewell Richardson, Eliza P. Shippen,  Zephyr Chisom Carter, Myra Davis Hemmings, Mamie Reddy Rose, Bertha Pitts Campbell, Florence Letcher Toms, Olive Jones, Jessie McGuire Dent, Jimmie Bugg Middleton, and Ethel Carr Watson.

Nearly two months later, on March 3, 1913, the women took part in the historic suffrage march in Washington, D.C. They were the only African-American women’s group to participate. Honorary member Mary Church Terrell joined them in their march.

In 1923, at the fifth national convention, Mary McLeod Bethune, a prominent educator, became an Honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta.

The daughter of former slaves, Bethune worked in the fields at age five. Due to the generosity of a benefactor, she graduated from Scotia Seminary (now Barber-Scotia College). Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Florida can trace its history to 1904, when Bethune opened a school for African-American girls. There were five girls in the first class.  In 1923, the school merged with the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, Florida to become a high school. In 1931, it became a junior college. Ten years later Bethune-Cookman became a four-year college. Bethune served as the college president from 1923-42 and 1946-47.  She was also a leader in the National Association of Colored Women and served as its national president. In addition, she founded the National Council of Negro Women and served as a Cabinet member in Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration.  Her push to upgrade the libraries at historically black institutions during her tenure as Director of the Negro Division of the National Youth Administration, and her firm belief that these libraries needed to be improved, played a part in Delta’s first national project. She died in 1955. In 1993, Bethune was inducted posthumously into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Mary McLeod Bethune and some of her students during the early years of her school. Photo courtesy of Bethune-Cookman University.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. 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/

Posted in Delta Sigma Theta, Founders' Day, Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Notable Sorority Women, NPHC, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Happy 100th Birthday Delta Sigma Theta!

Happy Birthday, Carrie Chapman Catt!

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Pi Beta Phi’s 1890 Convention attendees. Carrie Chapman Catt is in the second row, fifth from the left, wearing what appears to be a black velvet dress.

“Carrie Chapman Catt, the person who was instrumental in getting women the right to vote, was in a sorority? You’ve got to be kidding me!,” exclaimed a student in the women’s studies discussion session I led years ago as a graduate student. Well, technically Catt was a member of a women’s fraternity, but the terms “sorority” and “women’s fraternity” are essentially the same, so yes, in fact, she was.

Carrie Lane (Chapman Catt) was among the first females to graduate from Iowa State University. While there she became a member of Pi Beta Phi. Although she worked her way through school, she made time to be a member of the chapter. After graduating as valedictorian and the only woman in her class, she started teaching.  While she was teaching in Mason City, Iowa, she posed for pictures wearing her Pi Beta Phi arrow badge.

After graduation, Catt remained an active member of Pi Beta Phi and she utilized her fraternity connections. In 1887, she wrote the Iowa Beta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi at Simpson College offering to speak in Indianola, where Simpson College is located. She attended Pi Beta Phi’s 1890 convention in Galesburg and spoke about “The New Revolution.”

In May 1902, Elizabeth Gamble, Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President wrote to a friend, “While in Chicago station I met Mrs. Catt on her way from Montana – Had a long talk. She is going to try to get the N.Y. City – Pi Beta Phi together for a meeting Saturday morning before I sail, to organize. Have you met Mrs. Catt? I liked her.”  When Gamble arrived in New York City a few days later, prior to boarding a ship for Europe, she received a letter at the St. Denis Hotel where she way staying. The Pi Beta Phi Alumnae in New York City had not yet organized an official alumnae club. Catt wrote to Gamble, “We talked with the Manager of the St. Denis over the telephone and secured their consent to hold our meeting in the reception room near the elevator, on the second floor, from 9:30 A.M. to 11:00 on Saturday morning. I then sent a letter to the seventeen names whose addresses were given on the list. There will not be time for them to send replies to me, and therefore, I did not ask them to do so. I do not know how many will come or whether any will come. I would suggest that you speak to the management on Saturday morning, mentioning the fact a promise was given for this room, and that they should inform the elevator boy that the persons wishing to see Miss Gamble should be shown to this reception room. It would be well for you to be there a few moments before half past nine. I shall expect to be there promptly if possible, but as I live a long ways away, I may be delayed. We must arrange to dismiss you at eleven o’clock sharp so that you many have the full hour for you to reach your Steamer. Hoping to see you Saturday, I am, Yours Fraternally,”

At the 1924 Eastern Conference of Pi Beta Phi, when the portrait of Vermont Beta and First Lady Grace Goodhue Coolidge was presented to the nation, Catt was the keynote speaker at the banquet. She was the first fraternity woman to receive Chi Omega’s National Achievement Award, a gold medal presented to a woman of notable accomplishment. In 1939, she was one of the speakers at the Panhellenic Day at the New York World’s Fair.

In Catt’s honor, Pi Beta Phi celebrates Chapter Loyalty Day on her birthday, January 9.

The inside of the favor for the Founders’ Day Luncheon of the New York Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club. It took place at the Hotel Astor on April 15, 1924. Catt signed each favor.

 

Posted in Carrie Chapman Catt, Chi Omega, Founders' Day, Fraternity meetings, GLO, Grace Coolidge, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Notable Sorority Women, Pi Beta Phi, Sorority History, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Happy Birthday, Carrie Chapman Catt!

“My Sorority,” A Surprise Gift

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

A surprise gift from my Alpha Gamma Delta and P.E.O. friend, Nann Blaine Hilyard, set me on a quest to find out more about her delightful gift. It was wrapped in star paper and tied with a yellow ribbon, harkening, I’m sure, to our ties in P.E.O., a philanthropic, educational organization.

The book is one I have seen before. There’s a copy in the Pi Beta Phi archives, carefully filled in, with a few pictures pasted down, chronicling an alumna’s life in her chapter. The one Nann sent me is blank. Her note, “Just think how convenient it would have been for the Founders* (*Yours, mine, ours, or others’!) to have this handy volume, perfect for the next time someone says, ‘Let’s start a society of our own!.'”

Entitled My Sorority, it was published in Chicago by Reilly and Britton. Louise Perrett illustrated it. Born in Chicago, she studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she later became an instructor.

A 1910 Publisher’s Weekly gave a description of the book, “A memory book for girls who belong to the well-known ‘Greek-letter’ societies in high school or college. Exquisite decorated headings on every page by Louise Perrett – name, colors, secret motto, pin, grip, initiation, spreads, banquets, ‘rushing’ parties, officers, convention, chapters, etc. Printed in colors on tinted stationery, decorated half-crash binding, dainty cover design, beautiful box, Large 8 vo., 200 pgs. List price $1.50 edition deluxe. Full Monaco binding, gold edges, silk marker, exquisite, boxed $3.00.”

An advertisement in the back of a 1912 copy of Flying Girl and Her Chum, a book by Edith Van Dyne (a pen name of Lyman Frank Baum, author of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz), also mentions a “Swiss velvet ooze” edition for $2.50.

In case you’re curious, as I first was when I read the term, “german” (in “Germans, Proms, Dances,” on page 125) refers to “an intricate dance for many couples,” or “a party for dancing at which this dance is featured.”  I have come upon that phrase “german” as a form of social event in two other instances. Both related to events on the University of Illinois campus.  One was in conjunction with the founding of the Illinois Zeta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi, “The first social event given in honor of the chapter was a ‘German’ with Capt. And Mrs. Thomas J. Smith of 407 West University Avenue as hosts. It took place on Saturday, January 25, 1896 from four to six p.m.”

The other mention of it was from an 1894 issue of Sigma Chi Fraternity’s magazine. The entry for the  Kappa Kappa Chapter, also at the University of Illinois, noted, “On the evening of May 31 (1894) the young ladies, headed by Miss Mary Burnham, gave to Kappa Kappa a complimentary german in the Champaign Opera House.”

Louise Perrett also illustrated several other books similar to My Sorority. One was My Fraternity, “a memory book for boys with additional illustrations by Ja. O. Smith.” Others books she illustrated include:  The Girl Graduate Her Own Scrapbook; Recipes: My Friends’ and My Own; and Our New House: How We Plan to Build It: A Book for Sketches, Ideas and Suggestions which was published in 1906.

 

Posted in American Association of University Women, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, P.E.O., Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Chi, Sorority History, University of Illinois, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on “My Sorority,” A Surprise Gift

The Circle of Sisterhood – Sorority Women Helping Women Worldwide!

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

“Why can’t we have a sisterhood (society/sorority) of our own?”  is a theme that can be found in most of the histories of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) women’s fraternities/sororities. It was a similar kind of thought that led to the creation of the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation, a non-profit organization whose goal it is to use the collective power of millions of sorority women to help women around the world.

In November 2009, Ginny Carroll, a consultant who has extensive experience working with Greek-letter organizations, was watching an Oprah Winfrey interview. Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, authors of the book Half the Sky, were discussing their visits to poor countries around the world. They told of how women were victims of oppression and violence simply because they were women. Carroll felt compelled to do something. She discussed it with some of her friends who were sorority women. Within five months, the Circle of Sisterhood became reality and five months after that, the IRS granted it 501(c)3 status.

In their book, Kristof and WuDunn noted that, “One study after another has shown that educating girls is one of the most effective ways to fight poverty. Schooling is often a precondition for girls and women to stand up against injustice, and for women to be integrated into the economy. Until women are numerate and literate, it is difficult for them to start businesses or contribute meaningfully to their economies” (page 168).

The Circle of Sisterhood Foundation’s mission is to “to uplift girls and women from poverty and oppression through education.” To date, it has invested in the education of women and children in impoverished areas around the globe including Tanzania, Zambia, Ethiopia and the highlands of Peru.

Campuses where there are two or more NPC groups have College Panhellenics which govern the groups on that campus in accordance with NPC Unanimous Agreements. Many College Panhellenics have adopted the Circle of Sisterhood as a philanthropic focus.  The Southeastern Panhellenic Association (SEPA), an organization of College Panhellenics at Southeastern colleges, raised $13,000 at its March 2012 conference. That amount will provide a year of schooling for 250 young girls. SEPA’s 2013 conference at the end of March will mark the third year that SEPA has supported the Circle of Sisterhood. It is anticipated that the amount raised will top last year’s contribution.

In October 2012, the Public Broadcasting System aired the film Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. There were more than 1 billion tweets with the hashtag #halfthesky between October 1-3. Many of these were from sorority women who had gathered in chapter houses and on campuses across North America.

For more information about the Circle of Sisterhood Foundation, visit www.circleofsisterhood.org.

Posted in Fran Favorite, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC), National Panhellenic Conference, Notable Sorority Women, Sorority History | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on The Circle of Sisterhood – Sorority Women Helping Women Worldwide!

Maria Leonard, Alpha Lambda Delta Founder and Illini Dean of Women

Posted on January 4, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Maria Leonard

Maria Leonard was an alumna of Butler University. After studying voice at Butler, she earned a Master’s degree in mathematics from Colorado College. Her intention was to be a mathematics teacher. Educational administration was then a relatively new field and, in 1910, she became Dean of Women at Idaho State Normal College in Albion. Two years later, she became Dean of Women at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a position she held until 1923 when she became Dean of Women at the University of Illinois. She was on the UIUC campus for 22 years, from 1923-1945.

In 1914, she wrote, “What are we doing today, college women, for the social uplift that is permeating and pulsating through our land? We, who are receiving the fullest light possible for the world to give? Are we living up to that light,- if not, why not?  We find from statistics that one, only, from every 700 girls has the distinction of being a college girl.

“According to that we represent one of seven hundred girls, who have had to lay aside youthful hopes and ambitions, aspirations as high as ours perhaps, in order to earn their living at an early age. These are the years, which should have been spent in school, to give them a fair start for the world’s competition. One of every seven hundred being prepared for leadership, -think of it! These are the facts to-day, and this, the responsibility which faces the college girl. During her four years of college education and afterward-does she owe anything to anyone? Is she debtor in any way to her college or to the community? Yes, decidedly yes, not only to live up to the ideals of womanhood – the vision she has caught, by contact with living personalities, but she must pass it on to the other 699, who, by circumstance have been denied her chance. Nothing is truly ours until we share it.”

She founded Alpha Lambda Delta in 1924; it was originally an honorary to recognize academic excellence among freshmen women. A year earlier, University of Illinois Dean Thomas Arkle Clark founded its male counterpart, Phi Eta Sigma. In the mid-1970s, both organizations became coeducational.

According to the 1933 Illio yearbook, “Counsel and help are always available at the office of the Dean of Women for all the University women, students, parents, chaperons, town house-mothers, and anyone interested in youth. Presidents of organizations, committee chairmen, and individual students may call any hour of the school day at the office to discuss with Dean Leonard and Miss Pierson personal or group needs. Many confidential questions, such as finance, working hours, the home where each student lives, adjustment to new study environments, are considered individually as each student seeks counsel. Building toward better living conditions, fine incentives for scholarship, and intellectual living for individual students, their group and the campus in general, is the aim of the office of the Dean of Women.”

According to her obituary, “She once remarked that she saw about 3,000 students per week.” In 1940, she was one of four deans of women rated most outstanding in the Middle West. That year, Dean Leonard was a speaker at the Pi Beta Phi convention; her topic was “Fraternity Service in the Preservation of Democracy.” She also spoke to many other organizations including the World Congress of Business and Professional Women’s’ Clubs and the International Federation of University Women.

In 1945, she retired, a milestone that was recognized in an editorial in the Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, “Pi Phis who have known Maria Leonard, Indiana Gamma, in person, or who have followed her study programs which chapters used in stimulating discussions of general interest, will hear with regret that Miss Leonard is retiring as Dean of Women at the University of Illinois. Her influence as a Dean has been a far-reaching one; everywhere she has spoken she has brought inspiration. Her work for girls has been a steadying and an uplifting force, not only on her own campus, but far beyond.”

After retiring, she moved to Palo Alto, California. She traveled extensively. She died in Livermore, California in 1976 at the age of 96.

I offer my gratitude to the Student Life Archives at the University of Illinois for providing me with a copy of Maria Leonard’s obituary. It is also interesting to note that there is another Pi Phi following in Maria Leonard’s footsteps. Ashley Dye, an alumna of the University of Illinois is its current Assistant Dean of Students.

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Posted in Butler University, Colorado College, Fran Favorite, Fraternity meetings, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, National Panhellenic Conference, Notable Fraternity Women, Notable Sorority Women, Pi Beta Phi, Sorority History, The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, University of Illinois | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Maria Leonard, Alpha Lambda Delta Founder and Illini Dean of Women

Happy Birthday to My Favorite First Lady, Grace Coolidge!

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

January 3 is the birthday of Grace Goodhue Coolidge. Gracious and humble, she was a dedicated member of Pi Beta Phi, having been a charter member of the chapter at the University of Vermont. She also served as Alpha Province Vice President. One of my favorite letters written during her years as First Lady is a handwritten one to Pi Beta Phi’s Grand President, Amy Burnham Onken, in response to an invitation to attend the 1927 convention at the Breezy Point Lodge, in Pequot, Minnesota. On April 22, 1927 she wrote on White House stationery, “I should be happy indeed, were I able to write and tell you that I would see you all at the Convention at Breezy Point in June. Unfortunately it is most difficult if not absolutely impossible for me to step aside from the beaten path and I must therefore content myself with wishing for Pi Beta Phi the most successful Convention in its glorious history. From one of its loyal members.”

Grace Goodhue Coolidge (center) with Pi Phi friends at the 1915 convention in Berkeley, California.

As a collegian,  Grace Coolidge was her chapter’s delegate to the the 1901 Syracuse convention.* She attended the 1915 Berkeley convention as a fraternity officer. From that journey on the train from Boston to Berkeley, she and a group of Boston University and University of Vermont Pi Phis formed a Round Robin letter that lasted until the end of their lives.

*Phi Kappa Psi Woodrow Wilson, a member of his fraternity’s chapter at the University of Virginia, was among the collegians present at the 1880 Grand Arch Council meeting. President Wilson and Mrs. Coolidge may very well be the only President or First Lady who attended, as a collegian, their respective organization’s national meeting.

For more information on Grace Coolidge, click on the links to the right. Today, my favorite Coolidge blogger posted a wonderful birthday greeting to Mrs. Coolidge including the story about how the pair met http://kaiology.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/remembering-grace-goodhue-coolidge/.

 

Posted in Boston University, First Ladies, Fran Favorite, GLO, Grace Coolidge, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Notable Sorority Women, Phi Kappa Psi, Pi Beta Phi, Presidents, Sorority History, University of Vermont, Women's Fraternity History | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Happy Birthday to My Favorite First Lady, Grace Coolidge!

New Ocean House, Swampscott, MA, the Site of Many Fraternity and Sorority Conventions

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

From the 1920s until the 1960s, the  New Ocean House in Swampscott, Massachusetts, was the site of many conventions, including those of fraternities and sororities.

Alpha Chi Omega’s 1924 convention took place at the New Ocean House. Kappa Kappa Gammas gathered there in 1932. Delta Gamma’s 1948 Diamond Jubilee Convention* was held there, too. Delta Delta Delta celebrated its Golden Anniversary at the New Ocean House in 1938. It was the site of Pi Beta Phi’s 1946 and 1958 conventions.

Fraternities also used the New Ocean House for their gatherings. Phi Gamma Delta’s 1929 and 1958 Ekklesiai took place there as did Kappa Sigma’s 1949 Grand Conclave.

The March 1946 Arrow of Pi Beta Phi issued a call to convention: “

We meet at Swampscott almost next door to Boston, on the exclusive North Shore which is frequently referred to as the ‘Eden of New England.’ Swampscott, which in the language of the Natick tribe of Indians means ‘at the Red Rock,’ is one of the most beautiful towns on the North Shore, and attractive estates, splendid boulevards and picturesque scenery add to the charm of this favorite resort. ‘White Court,’ the summer home of the late President Coolidge,** as well as the old Humphrey House, said to be the oldest house in New England, built in 1637, are located in Swampscott. Historic localities such as Lexington, Concord, Marblehead, Salem, Gloucester, Plymouth, and Cambridge are all easily accessible from the New Ocean House.

The hotel is itself situated right at the water’s edge on Puritan Road, known as the ‘Path of Peace,’ the oldest and most famous Indian Trail along the North Shore; and the coast line broken by many massive rock formations and jutting points of land furnish some of nature’s most glorious scenery. From the broad sandy beach in front of the hotel or from the spacious flagstone promenade along the seawall many points of interest can be seen. Looking toward the right, four miles distant, Nahant, a rolling green peninsula, reaches out into the ocean.

Delegates to the 1948 Pi Beta Phi convention paid $8.00 daily per person for a double room with a bath and twin beds. The daily meal rate was $8.50.

The Ocean House was built in 1835, and in 1864, it was destroyed by fire.  Another hotel was moved to the site and took on the name Ocean House. It, too, was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1882. R.W. Carter who had purchased the hotel a year earlier, rebuilt it and in 1884, it debuted as the 250-room New Ocean House. R. W. Carter sold the hotel in 1895. In 1902,  Allen Ainsile and Edward Grabow purchased it. Among the amenities were electric call bells in the rooms, a telephone and an elevator. An even more improved and bigger hotel opened in 1904 after another fire. In 1917, the seven-story Puritan Hall was opened, increasing the number of rooms to more than 500.

In 1914, while a student at Harvard University, Clement Kennedy applied for a summer job. In 1926, Colonel Kennedy, as he was known, was elected President and General Manager of the hotel. In 1949, a newspaper article boasted that his job included keeping happy and contented 45,000 guests a summer season. It was also noted that the New Ocean House paid its property taxes on the day the town issued tax bills. President John F. Kennedy, Helen Keller, Harpo Marx, Lucille Ball, Babe Ruth, Herbert Hoover, Walter Brennan, and Sinclair Lewis were among the hotel’s honored guests over the years.

In 1961, a million dollar renovation was completed. On May 8, 1969, at about 10 p.m., the lobby was engulfed in flames. Firefighters from all of New England helped fight the fire and pool water was even used to help combat the blaze.

Pi Beta Phis enjoying an outdoor Cookie Shine at the 1958 convention.

After the 1969 fire, condominiums were built on some of the land. The only visible remnant of the New Ocean House is the cement exedra seat on the Puritan Road side of the street where the swimming pool had been.

* Enroute to Swampscott from her home in Urbana, Illinois, Alta Gwinn Saunders, Anchora Editor, full professor and head of the Business English Department at the University of Illinois, was killed in a plane crash near Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania.

**In 1925, White Court served as the summer White House when the Coolidges rented it for a year. Grace Coolidge, an avid walking enthusiast, would often walk her dog to the New Ocean House.

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

Posted in Alpha Chi Omega, Calvin Coolidge, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, First Ladies, Fran Favorite, Fraternity meetings, GLO, Grace Coolidge, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Kappa Sigma, Phi Gamma Delta, The Anchora of Delta Gamma, The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on New Ocean House, Swampscott, MA, the Site of Many Fraternity and Sorority Conventions

December 24 Through January 2 – A Busy Time in Fraternity and Sorority History

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

It’s hard for today’s collegians to contemplate spending December 24 through January 2 on campus. Most higher education institutions shut down for the holiday week. However, that week has been a significant one in the history of Greek-letter organizations.

Delta Gamma was founded over the Christmas holiday in 1873 when three young women were stranded at the Lewis School due to inclement weather. Alpha Omicron Pi began on January 2, 1897. Delta Gamma celebrates Founders’ Day on March 15, the date of Eta Chapter’s founding at Akron University. It is Delta Gamma’s oldest continuous chapter. Alpha Omicron Pi celebrates on or around December 8, founder Stella George Stern Perry’s birthday.

Chi Phi traces its history to the Chi Phi Society established on December 24, 1824 by Robert Baird at the College of New Jersey (later known as Princeton University). Phi Delta Theta, one of the Miami Triad was founded on December 26, 1848. Its Founders’ Day is celebrated on March 15, the birth date of founder Robert Morrison.

Zeta Beta Tau was created on December 29, 1898 when a group of young men attending several New York universities met at the Jewish Theological Seminary and formed an organization called ZBT. Sigma Nu became a Greek-letter organization on January 1, 1869. It was founded at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia by three young men who were opposed to the hazing that was a part of a cadet’s life at VMI. Delta Tau Delta celebrates its 155th anniversary on January 1. It was founded at Bethany College in 1858.

It is also hard to believe that any organization would plan a convention during the holiday season, but I know of several that occurred at that time. A convention that took place in Troy, New York from December 26-28, 1931, resulted in the creation of Phi Iota Alpha, the oldest Latino fraternity still in existence.

One of Pi Beta Phi’s conventions started in 1907 and ended in 1908. It took place in New Orleans over New Year’s Eve. Phi Gamma Delta held an Ekklesia that took place from December 31 through January 3, 1925 in Richmond, Virginia; there were 374 registrants. Another Ekklesia took place from December 29, 1933 through January 1, 1934 in Washington, D.C. Phi Gam held several Ekklesiai in the week between Christmas and New Year’s; these took place in 1916, 1917, 1920 and 1921.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank all of you who read these posts. May you have a wonderful 2013!

*For the first several hours that this post was up, it contained a typo. I thank the reader who alerted me to it. I had typed Alpha Delta Pi when it should have been Alpha Delta Phi. Alpha Delta Pi is a women’s organization that belongs to the National Panhellenic Conference. For a very short time, it was known as Alpha Delta Phi and that is a story chronicled in another post http://wp.me/p20I1i-ay. Hamilton College was an all-male institution when Alpha Delta Phi was founded there.

Posted in Alpha Delta Phi, Alpha Omicron Pi, Chi Phi, Delta Gamma, Founders' Day, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Greek-letter Organization History, Miami University, National Panhellenic Conference, NIC, North-American Interfraternity Conference, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Gamma Delta, Phi Iota Alpha, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Nu, Sorority History, Women's Fraternity History, Zeta Beta Tau | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on December 24 Through January 2 – A Busy Time in Fraternity and Sorority History

Walt Disney World and Fraternity Connections?

Posted on December 28, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is a magical place, at least that’s how my family and I regard it. For decades, Greek-letter organizations have had conventions in or near the Disney Parks. Sometimes the organizations spend a “day at the park” as part of the convention; a sea of people wearing the same Greek-letter shirts might be a clue that there might be a convention going on nearby. Two of my favorite Pi Phi conventions took place in Orlando. The 2011 Pi Phi convention was adjacent to Downtown Disney and I loved taking early morning walks through it when plants were being watered, deliveries were being made, and the quiet hustle and bustle of a well orchestrated group of workers readied the area for a busy day.

Angels from the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Of course I like to think they are Pi Phi angels!

Walt Disney’s two daughters, Sharon Disney Lund and Diane Disney Miller are Kappa Alpha Thetas. Sharon was initiated into the Beta Delta Chapter at the University of Arizona and Diane is a member of the Omicron Chapter at the University of Southern California. Some say that the song “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” was written to honor Sharon and Diane. That is only a rumor and not based in fact according to Jane Shepherd Dick in an article, “Kappa Alpha Theta Myths,” that appeared in the organization’s Summer 2011 magazine. Walt Disney’s daughters were initiated in the early 1950s. The song from Mary Poppins, a movie based on an earlier novel by P.L. Travers, was written by the songwriting team of brothers Richard and Robert Sherman. The inspiration for the song seems to have been their father. He was a “fantastic kite maker,” according to his sons.

Visiting WDW can also be a terrific opportunity to people watch and see fraternity letters on shirts, tote bags and sweatshirts. Others like to locate the symbols of fraternities and sororities. Although they are likely random occurrences, it’s fun to make a connection. Wine carnations, Pi Beta Phi’s flower, greeted me as I checked in for our recent visit (Coincidence? I think not!). Pansies are rampant this time of year and can be found throughout the park. Dolphins, penguins, keys, kites, lions, elephants, pandas and other symbols of Greek-letter socieities can be found throughout the park. Finding “Hidden Mickeys” is a game we often play when we walk through the park. Finding fraternity and sorority symbols is a game that I find just as fun!

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

Posted in Fran Favorite, Kappa Alpha Theta, Men's Fraternities, Sorority History | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Walt Disney World and Fraternity Connections?

Happy Birthday Delta Gamma – Founded During a Christmas Holiday!

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Delta Gamma was founded at the Oxford Female Institute, also known as the Lewis School, at Oxford, Mississippi. The school was established before the Civil War and eventually was absorbed by the University of Mississippi. Delta Gamma’s three founders, Eva Webb [Dodd], her cousin Anna Boyd [Ellington], and Mary Comfort [Leonard], all from Kosciusko, Mississippi, were weather-bound at the school over the Christmas holidays in December of 1873 (Leonard, 1909).

Mrs. Hays, the lady principal and their host for the holidays, had a son who was a fraternity member at the University of Mississippi. He and the women’s other gentlemen friends may have imbued the girls with the idea to start their own Greek-letter society. According to founder Dodd (1909): When the idea first came to three homesick girls during the Christmas holidays of 1873 to found fraternity or club as we then called it, little did we realize that we were laying the cornerstone of such a grand fraternity as Delta Gamma. The school we attended at Oxford, Miss., was not much more advanced than a high school of today. During the week we decided on our motto and selected the Greek letters to represent it. We did not know that there were any other fraternities for girls in the United States known by Greek letters when we gave our club its name. We spent the holidays deciding on our pin and initiation and writing our constitution. In January 1874, we had our first initiation. We initiated four girls. The initiation was in one of the rooms of the house where we were boarding. We were careful to select only the girls we thought would be in sympathy with us and make our fraternity worthy of its name. (p. 226)

The Lewis School was a preparatory school and as such the members of the chapter were seemingly younger than the women at Syracuse University, Monmouth College, Indiana Asbury College, and Boston University. Stevenson, Carvill and Shepard (1973) offered an explanation of the situation: During the early years in Oxford observers from elsewhere note a peculiarity in the Mother Chapter – that the ‘actives’ are in reality the inactive members of the group and the alumnae or inactive members are really most active in the chapter. This is attributed to the youth (those over 13 years of age) of the members, for we must remember that the Institute was really a prep school. In the early ‘eighties when the University began to admit women, many of Psi’s members were entered in classes which is the reason letters to the Anchora are datelined during this period “University of Mississippi.” Actually, the chapter itself was still established at the Institute and was never moved to the University – until it was installed many years later as Alpha Psi. (p. 52)

During the first few years of its existence, Delta Gamma installed several chapters at southern seminaries. These included: Fairmount College in Monteagle, Tennessee, a chapter that was formed in 1877; Water Valley Seminary, in Water Valley, Mississippi, established in 1877; and Bolivar College in Bolivar, Tennessee, a chapter founded in 1878. By 1881, all three of these chapters had disbanded. In 1880, a short-lived chapter was installed at Trinity College in Tehuacana, Texas. It lasted only a year and was the last Delta Gamma chapter installed in the South until after the turn of the century. The “Mother” chapter at Oxford was active until 1889 (Robson, 1968).

It was a man who took Delta Gamma north. Phi Delta Theta George Banta was a student at Franklin College in Franklin, Indiana. He was seeking to have a national woman’s fraternity come to Indiana to even the field for his fraternity during the Indiana State Oratorical Contest. “The fraternity of which I am a member, in those days seemed to always find the delegates belonging to either of the two sororities* then in the state, combined against them at these elections” (Stevenson, Carvill & Shepard, 1973, p. 53). Through a chance meeting with a male student from the University of Mississippi, Banta learned of Delta Gamma’s existence. He began correspondence with the chapter and on May 27, 1879, Corinne Miller of the Alpha chapter wrote Banta to let him know he was voted to full membership. Banta then initiated three women, Mary Vawter, her cousin and Banta’s future wife, Lillian Vawter,** and Banta’s cousin Kitty Ellis.

The chapter at Franklin College was in existence from 1878 until 1885, but even in its short life it provided the impetus to expand in the north and gave new life to Delta Gamma. Banta was later a pioneer in the fraternity publishing world and according to Glover (1909), he attended at least one Delta Gamma convention and shared with the members in attendance his part in Delta Gamma’s history.

The Delta Gamma chapter at Franklin College installed a chapter at Hanover College, in Indiana. It was the first women’s fraternity on Hanover’s campus and it was in existence from 1881 until 1887. Lillian Thompson of the Franklin College chapter was instrumental in locating potential members. MacDonnell (1909) recalled that the meetings were held during the first year or two in the Phi Hall in the yard of the old McKee residence.

The Franklin College chapter also established the Eta Chapter at Buchtel College in Akron, Ohio, on March 15, 1879. It is Delta Gamma’s oldest existing chapter. Banta’s Phi Delta Theta connection proved to be an influencing force in the founding of the Delta Gamma chapter and it was with the assistance of Buchtel College’s Phi Delta Theta chapter that the Eta chapter of Delta Gamma became a reality (Delta Gamma Fraternity, 1966). March 15 is the date that Delta Gamma celebrates Founders’ Day.

*Banta is most likely referring to Kappa Alpha Theta, founded in Indiana, and Kappa Kappa Gamma.

**George Banta and Lily Vawter married. Vawter was “a Franklin girl who became a victim of the White Plague within three years of her marriage” (Peerenboom, 1865, p. 9). After her death, Banta moved to Wisconsin, remarried, and soon began a printing business, with many fraternity magazines among his clientele.

The text is from my dissertation, Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902, by Frances DeSimone Becque. All rights reserved.

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