Carrie Chapman Catt Attends Panhellenic Day at the 1939 World’s Fair

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Genevieve B. Earle –  Kappa Alpha Theta, Carrie Chapman Catt – Pi Beta Phi, Josephine Schain – Pi Beta Phi and Eloise Davison – Gamma Phi Beta, at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.

July 13, 1939 was Panhellenic Day at the New York World’s Fair. The event took place in the Executive Suite of the Pennsylvania Building. Prominent fraternity women discussed “Freedom for women in the world of tomorrow.”

Carrie Chapman Catt, an early initiate of the Iowa Gamma Chapter of Pi Beta Phi at Iowa State University, discussed opportunities for women in light of the past struggles. She knew those struggles first-hand and her insight must have been fascinating!

Genevieve Beavers Earle was another speaker. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta’s Alpha Kappa Chapter at Adelphi College. A social worker, she served as head of the Brooklyn branch of the League of Women Voters. In 1937, she was elected to the New York City Council, where she served as minority leader. She was also the only woman on the Council at that time.

The third speaker was Eloise Davison, Gamma Phi Beta. She was the Director of the New York Herald Tribune Home Institute. After the meeting, the group had a buffet supper on the Executive Suite porch overlooking the Lagoon of Nations and they viewed the nightly fountain display.

Two winners of the nationwide essay contest sponsored by the Fraternity Women’s Committee for the New York World’s Fair were the guests of honor. They were Jean Powell, a junior at Grinnell College. She had pledged Alpha Omicron Pi while at the University of Wisconsin during her sophomore year. Henrietta Herzberger, a Kappa Kappa Gamma and Phi Beta Kappa, had graduated in June 1939 from the University of Colorado. They were entertained for a week in New York City and stayed at the Beekman Tower Hotel.

The Beekman Tower Hotel, whose story is chronicled in a page at the top of this blog, served as a hostess center to welcome the fraternity women who came to New York to attend the Fair. The Fraternity Women’s Committee also staffed the College Hospitality Center at the Fair.

Posted in Alpha Omicron Pi, Beekman Tower (Panhellenic), Carrie Chapman Catt, Fran Favorite, Gamma Phi Beta, GLO, Greek-letter Organization, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, National Panhellenic Conference, Notable Fraternity Women, Pi Beta Phi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Carrie Chapman Catt Attends Panhellenic Day at the 1939 World’s Fair

The History of Women’s Fraternities at the University of California at Berkeley from 1880-1902

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

This is from one of the sections of my dissertation. It is from the chapter that looks at individual campuses that had either five, six, or all of the seven founding National Panhellenic Conference organizations prior to the 1902 founding of NPC. What is most fascinating about these narratives is the manner in which the chapters were chartered. There were no hard and fast rules about extension in the late 1800s.

University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California*

Gamma Phi Beta, UC Berkeley Chapter

The University of California at Berkeley was chartered by the state of California on March 23, 1868. Women were admitted to the university in 1870 and their admittance took place without significant controversy (Stadtman, 1970). By 1880, there were 55 women and 213 men enrolled.

Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first women’s fraternity founded on the Berkeley campus. It was chartered on May 22, 1880. The chapter faced strong faculty opposition. Two female students ignored the anti-fraternity sentiment and set upon bringing a women’s fraternity to campus. An application was first made to Kappa Alpha Theta but the group opted to become a Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter. The charter was returned in 1885 due to the isolation of the chapter from other Kappa Kappa Gamma chapters and the faculty’s strong anti-fraternity stance. The charter was regranted on August 5, 1897, after a three-year effort on the part of a local group, Sorosis, that was organized under the patronage of the San Francisco Sorosis, as well a persistent group of the original 24 chapter alumnae (Burton-Roth & Whiting-Westermann, 1932).

On June 2, 1890, Kappa Alpha Theta installed a chapter. A charter member of the chapter at the University of the Pacific and two other former University of the Pacific students who had been part of the group vying for a Kappa Alpha Theta charter, but left the school before the chapter was installed, applied for the charter (Wilson, 1956).

The convention body of Gamma Phi Beta discussed a chapter at Berkeley 10 years before it became a reality. Tau Delta, a local organization, was founded in the fall of 1893. The Tau Delta members were impressed with the information given them by a new faculty member who was a graduate of the University of Michigan as well as a Gamma Phi Beta alumna. Three Gamma Phi Beta alumnae living 50 miles from Berkeley served as a committee to investigate Tau Delta. On April 29, 1894, the four Gamma Phi Beta alumnae installed the chapter at Berkeley (“History of Eta Chapter,” 1913).

Two women’s fraternities, Delta Delta Delta and Pi Beta Phi, were installed at Berkeley in 1900. In the case of the Delta Delta Delta chapter, a group of women read a magazine article about fraternities and corresponded with Delta Delta Delta. A University of Nebraska Delta Delta Delta member studying at Stanford University installed the chapter on April 14, 1900 (Priddy, 1907).

In the spring of 1900, a Pi Beta Phi from the University of Wisconsin visited her cousin, a student at Berkeley. The cousin and her friends were encouraged to apply for a Pi Beta Phi charter. The chapter was installed on August 27, 1900. The ceremony took place in a chapter house that the women rented (Spring, 1936).

Alpha Phi came to Berkeley via Palo Alto. The Stanford University chapter was installed prior to the Berkeley chapter. In 1900, four Berkeley students rented a house together. They had the idea to become a chapter of Alpha Phi. The original four students were joined by five other female students. The group was approached by another national women’s fraternity but they held out for an Alpha Phi charter. The chapter became a reality on May 9, 1901 (Alpha Phi Fraternity, 1931).

*From – Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902, by Frances DeSimone Becque, Dissertation, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2002, pp. 110-12.  All rights reserved

Citations are in the dissertation’s bibliography.

Posted in Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta, Fran Favorite, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, National Panhellenic Conference, University of California at Berkeley, Women's Fraternities | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Back Home Again in Ann Arbor – Happy Centennial Convention Theta Phi Alpha!

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

Theta Phi Alpha Founders and initiates

This week, from July 10-15,  Theta Phi Alpha is celebrating its Centennial in Ann Arbor, Michigan, the place where it was founded. How fitting that an organization founded by a Catholic Bishop for Catholic women began at a state institution that was co-founded by a Catholic priest, Father Gabriel Richard.

Theta Phi Alpha’s roots can be traced to the 1909 establishment of a local organization, Omega Upsilon. Father Edward D. Kelly, a Catholic priest and the pastor of the student chapel at Michigan, felt that there should be an organization that could provide the Catholic women at Michigan with an environment that “resembled the Catholic homes from which they came.” This was in a time and place when Catholics were not always welcome in the other fraternal organizations on campus.

By 1912, after Father Kelly left campus and became the Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit, Omega Upsilon was struggling, likely because there were no alumnae to guide the organization. Even without him being in Ann Arbor, Bishop Kelly’s vision that the Catholic women at Michigan should have a place to call their own was still alive. He enlisted the assistance of Amelia McSweeney, a 1898 University of Michigan alumna. Together with seven Omega Upsilon alumnae, plans were made to establish a new organization. Theta Phi Alpha was founded on August 30, 1912 at the University of Michigan. The ten founders were seven Omega Upsilon alumnae, two Omega Upsilon undergraduates and Ms. McSwenney.

Hill Auditorium, now a fixture on the University of Michigan campus, was just being built in 1912. Fielding Yost was the football coach and he led the team to a 14-0 win over Ohio State University. More than 10,000 football fans attended that game. The Michigan-Ohio State rivalry is as strong today as it was a hundred years ago.

According to a 1912 University of Michigan catalog, all Catholic students were “expected to become members of the Students’ Catholic Club, which meets twice a month in St. Thomas Parish Hall. The society is under the personal supervision of the pastor of St. Thomas Church. Its object is both social and religious. A fund is being collected with which to erect a Catholic Club building.”

In 1912, women were also under strict rules as to where they could live and what they could do. They could not live in the same rooming houses as men and their housing choices were to be approved by Myra B. Jordan, Dean of Women. A matriculation fee of $10 for legal Michigan residents and $25 for all others was required before a student could enter the University. An outdoor physical education fee of $5 was assessed to each student on a yearly basis. Locker rentals were $2 per year and the graduation fee was $10.

Theta Phi Alpha remained a local organization until 1919 when the Beta Chapter was formed at the University of Illinois. In addition, chapters at Ohio State University, Ohio University and the University of Cincinnati were chartered that year.

In 1921, Pi Lambda Sigma was founded as a Catholic sorority at Boston University. On June 28, 1952, Pi Lambda Sigma merged with Theta Phi Alpha. Its members at Boston University and the University of Cincinnati became members of the Theta Phi Alpha chapters on the two campuses. The chapter at Creighton University became the Chi Chapter of Theta Phi Alpha in the fall of 1952 and the Quincy College chapter became the Psi Chapter of Theta Phi Alpha in 1954.

Today, just as other organizations have accepted Catholic women, Theta Phi Alpha is open to women from all religious backgrounds. Congratulations to Theta Phi Alpha as its members celebrate the past 100 years and plan for the next century.

 

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“If My Father Were Your Father, You Would.” – Calvin Coolidge, Jr.

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

July 7, 1924 was most likely one of the worst days of Grace and Calvin Coolidge’s life together. Their youngest son, Calvin, Jr., died at the age of 16. On June 30, he had played tennis on the White House court. He wore tennis shoes, but for whatever reason, he did not wear socks. After playing against his brother John, he developed a blister on his right foot. The blister tuned into blood poisoning.  Drugs to combat the infection were not yet available.

The young Calvin was a student at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. When his father became President of the United States after Warren Harding’s death, Calvin, Jr. was working in a Massachusetts tobacco field. Another young worker remarked to him, “If my father was President, I would not work in a tobacco field.” Calvin, Jr. replied, “If my father were your father, you would.”

In a July 1932 letter to her son John, now in the collections of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation, Grace Coolidge described the dreadful day,  “I leaned over his bed knowing that he was fast slipping beyond the reach of my voice, perhaps even then would not hear, and I said,  ‘You’re alright, Calvin,’ as I said so many time in the days when he was in trouble about some little matter. Without opening his eyes, he nodded his head, ever so little and the flicker of his old smile came and was gone. Then, they began giving him oxygen and kept his heart beating but his spirit had slipped away. All that afternoon, dark, awe-inspiring clouds had rolled across the sky, the lightening was almost constant and thunder followed it in mighty roars of majestic power. Calvin’s delirium seemed to be a part of it all and, for a long time, he seemed to be on a horse leading a cavalry charge in battle. He called out, ‘Come on, come on, help, help!’ And, for a time, he thought he was sitting backwards on his horse and asked us to turn him around. Father put his arms under him and tried to persuade him that he had turned him but he thought he was still wrong side around. Finally he relaxed and called out, ‘We surrender, we surrender!’ Dr. Boone said, ‘Never surrender, Calvin.’ He answered only, ‘Yes.’ And some how I was glad that he had gone down still fighting. After it was all over, Dr. Coupal broke down and cried. I found him at the window and I put my arms around him and told him that everything was alright that he and the other doctors had done everything within their power and we must comfort ourselves with the thought that courage such as Calvin had shown us all must now be our example.”

His casket was taken by train from Washington to Northampton for services at Edwards Congregational Church.  From there the train continued to Ludlow, Vermont. The last 12 miles were in a car with a cavalry escort to Plymouth and the Coolidge homestead. Boy Scouts holding roses stood at the last third of a mile. After the service, they placed the roses on the grave.

It is said that when Calvin, Jr. died, his father suffered deeply and sorrowfully. Grace Coolidge, her heart broken, carried on almost as if she thought it was her duty.

Grace, a charter member of Pi Beta Phi’s Vermont Beta Chapter at the University of Vermont, had a group of Pi Phi friends with whom she kept in contact with a Round Robin letter. After her son’s death, she wrote her Round Robin friends addressing them as “Dear Robins on the Wing.” She then wrote, “I thus address you feelingly and enviously because you all can come and go as you will. When I wrote the word I was looking out the window and wishing I could steal away without being seen and have one day unaccompanied just to go about unrecognized all by myself. The poor Prince! Someday I will again be a humble citizen while he can never be just himself….I want to say a word in appreciation of all your kind words of sympathy. I did not try to reply except by the little card but knew you would understand. I knew that the Robin would come along before a great while and that I could then tell  you how deeply I felt your loving sympathy. No longer can we see and touch Calvin but in a very real sense he is with us and has his place in our family circle. Two years ago this year he taught me how to swim – not because I wanted to learn but just because he wanted to teach me. He put his hand under my chin and I just had to do my best to please him. I’ll never forget how happy he was when I took a few strokes, and I hear his encouraging voice and I am not going to disappoint him.”

On the fifth anniversary of her son’s death, the First Lady wrote a poem that was published in Good Housekeeping magazine.

THE OPEN DOOR

You, my son,
Have shown me God,
Your kiss upon my cheek
Has made me feel the gentle touch
Of Him who leads us on.
The memory of your smile, when young,
Reveals His face,
As mellowing years come on apace.
And when you went before,
You left the gates of heaven ajar
That I might glimpse,
Approaching from afar,
The glories of His Grace.
Hold, son, my hand,
Guide me along the path,
That coming,
I may stumble not,
Nor roam,
Nor fail to show the way
Which leads us-Home.

For more information on Grace Coolidge and the manner in which she handled her son’s death, I suggest reading Cynthia Bittingers’s book Grace Coolidge Sudden Star. Several years ago, Ms. Bittinger read the letter about Calvin’s death for a Vermont Public Radio focus on Vermont history series. Every time I hear it, I am moved to tears.


 

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Happy Birthday Morrill Land-Grant Act and a Snippet About Carrie Chapman Catt

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Land-Grant Act on July 2, 1862. Iowa was the first state to accept the terms of the Act. The funding went to Ames College which is now Iowa State University. Among the early female graduates of Iowa State University was young Carrie Lane (Chapman Catt). She would go on to be a major force in the women’s suffrage movement. What few know about her was that she was a member of Pi Beta Phi. After graduation, she spoke at alumnae club meetings, at chapter events, conventions and she was the keynote speaker at the Eastern Conference when the portrait of Grace Coolidge was presented to the United States.

You can read more about her and her life as a member of Pi Beta Phi in a post I wrote for Pi Beta Phi.

http://piphiblog.org/2012/01/09/chapter-loyalty-day-celebrated-january-9-in-honor-of-carrie-chapman-catt/

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The ELF That Was Born After the P.E.O.s Met in St. Louis in 1904

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

One of the oldest loan funds sponsored by a women’s organization has its roots in the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair, the name by which the Louisiana Purchase Exposition is better known. Although the fair was planned for the centennial year of the Louisiana Purchase, it took place a year later.

P.E.O., a philanthropic, educational sisterhood founded at Iowa Wesleyan College in 1869, had sponsored a room in the Women’s Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. Minnie Osgood, from Illinois Chapter A in Chicago, was in charge of the room. The room cost $234.03 to maintain and it was “an efficient way of bringing P.E.O. to the attention of many people who were unaware of it,” according to historical accounts. A registration book contained the names of hundreds of P.E.O.s who visited the room during the fair.

At P.E.O.’s 1902 convention, Missouri Chapter O from St. Louis proposed a P.E.O. building at the fair, an idea which was turned down. What ultimately occurred was a “P.E.O. Day at the Fair” on June 18, 1904. Seed money of $200 was authorized by the convention. Chapter O was also given permission to solicit other chapters for contributions and to take charge of the project.

After the close of the fair, there was a surplus of $658.88. At the 1905 convention, it was suggested that the funds be used for a memorial to P.E.O.’s seven founders. The convention body increased the amount of to $800 and chapters were asked to contribute additional funds. Definitive suggestions were sought for the use of the funds and a decision was slated to be made at the 1907 convention.

Three projects were presented in 1907. The ideas included a P.E.O. home in Colorado, a plan for starting a printing company, and scholarships for young women. Lillian Pollock Parmele, Plattsmouth (Nebraska) suggested scholarships for young women. Luella A. McHenry, Des Moines, mentioned a loan fund instead of scholarships. The rational was that a loan fund would be able to help many more women since the money would be in a revolving account; as women repaid their loans, other women could be assisted. An amendment to change “scholarships” to “loans” passed, as did the subsequent motion.

Additional contributions during that convention increased the fund to $2,000. The fund grew from $5,000 in 1909 to $40,000 in 1916. By the 1919 golden jubilee convention, the total surpassed $111,500. In 1923, it topped $200,000.

P.E.O.’s Educational Loan Fund (ELF) has helped more than 70,000 women. Assistance totaling over $126,000,000 has been given to worthy individuals. Moreover, this initial foray into education gave P.E.O. a focus that would expand over time. Today, P.E.O.’s educational projects, including Cottey College, the only American college for women owned by women, have helped women worldwide achieve their educational goals.

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The Only President Born on the 4th of July. And He’s a Phi Gamma Delta!

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

Calvin Coolidge, a Phi Gamma Delta, and Grace Goodhue Coolidge, a Pi Beta Phi, were both natives of Vermont. They married in the Goodhue family home in Burlington. Although they spent their married life living in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C. , Vermont seemed to be always in their hearts.

The 30th President’s full name was John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. and he was born on July 4, 1872 in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. In September of 1928, the Coolidges traveled to Vermont to survey damage from the devastating flood of the prior year. They stayed at the Coolidge homestead in Plymouth Notch and visited family graves, including the one of their son Calvin, Jr. who died at age 16 in July, 1924. At the last train stop in Vermont, the President spoke eloquently and from the heart:

Vermont is a state I love. I could not look upon the peaks of Ascutney, Killington, Mansfield, and Equinox, without being moved in a way that no other scene could move me. It was here that I first saw the light of day; here I received my bride, here my dead lie pillowed on the loving breast of our eternal hills.

I love Vermont because of her hills and valleys, her scenery and invigorating climate, but most of all because of her indomitable people. They are a race of pioneers who have almost beggared themselves to serve others. If the spirit of liberty should vanish in other parts of the Union, and support of our institutions should languish, it could all be replenished from the generous store held by the people of this brave little state of Vermont.

In a Vermont Standard newspaper article Jennifer Harville, the Coolidge’s great-granddaughter, gives a glimpse of the Coolidge family’s modesty and humility, “One year, cousin Chris (Jeter) and our grandfather (John Coolidge) were cleaning up around the Coolidge gravestones the day before the July 4th ceremony. A passersby remarked that it must be such an honor for them to be tidying up the president’s gravestone. Both of them simply nodded and continued working, never disclosing their true identities.”

If you have no plans for this 4th of July, set your GPS for Plymouth Notch. The day’s activities include a march starting at noon from the center of the village to the cemetery. It will be led by the Vermont National Guard’s Color Guard and members of the Coolidge Family. A wreath sent by the White House will be laid on the President’s grave. Excerpts from his 1926 speech ‘The Inspiration of the Declaration of Independence’ will be read and the playing of taps will conclude the ceremony.

A chicken barbeque in the village follows the ceremony. Wagon rides and a wine and cheese tasting at the Plymouth Cheese Factory are also planned. Sounds like a wonderful way to honor the 30th President of the United States.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2012

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About Lloyd G. Balfour

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

Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Lloyd Garfield “Bally” Balfour, a Sigma Chi from the Lambda Chapter at Indiana University, remains one of its most illustrious members.

Although he earned a law degree, Balfour spent five years as a travelling sales representative for a college fraternity jewelry manufacturer. He was disgusted with the lack of standardization which plagued the industry. Itinerant salesmen peddled substandard jewelry at chapter houses across the country.

On June 13, 1913, Balfour started his company in Attleboro, Massachusetts. That year he also married Ruth DeHass, a Pi Beta Phi from Butler University’s Indiana Gamma Chapter. Pi Beta Phi became his first fraternity account when his company became the official jeweler after a vote of the 1913 Pi Beta Phi Convention. Other accounts followed, including Culver Military Academy in Culver, Indiana.

Ruth and her husband visited many Pi Phi chapters selling badges. A talented violinist, she spoke about her musical talents at Pi Beta Phi’s 1918 Charlevoix Convention. Sadly, she died of pneumonia in 1919, six years after their marriage. In 1921, he gave the Balfour Memorial Cup to Pi Beta Phi in his wife’s memory. To this day, the Balfour Cup remains Pi Beta Phi’s top chapter honor.

Balfour married again in 1921. His bride, Mildred McCann, had once been a student at the University of Illinois. On November 22, 1933, she became an  alumna initiate of Pi Phi’s Illinois Zeta Chapter at the University of Illinois. Balfour visited Sigma Chi’s Kappa Kappa Chapter while his wife was occupied at the Pi Phi house that day.

Balfour served as Sigma Chi’s Grand Consul from 1937–39 and helped start its foundation.  He served as National Interfraternity Conference Chairman from 1940–41. Balfour was named a Significant Sig in 1941. During his lifetime he was awarded numerous fraternal honors including the National Interfraternity Conference Gold Medal in 1947. Sigma Chi’s International Balfour Award, established in 1929, is presented to an outstanding graduating senior member who has given of himself to Sigma Chi Fraternity, his campus and his community. He established Sigma Chi’s Balfour Leadership Training Workshop and considered it one of his great projects.

May 21, 1961 was L. G. Balfour Day at Culver Academy. A garrison parade was held and Balfour was presented with an engraved sabre. Also attending was Colonel C.A. “Jerry” Whitney who hadn’t seen Balfour since the two of them met in the University of Maine’s Sigma Chi house in 1915.

From the first contract with Pi Beta Phi in 1913, more fraternity accounts were acquired. At one point, the company held contracts with 90% of all Greek-letter organizations.  The company soon branched out to schools and multi-year contracts with the schools helped grow business. The company supplied war-time medals during World Wars I and II. It produced press badges for the World Series, recognition award for companies and products for sports champions including Super Bowl rings.

The Balfours were low-key, generous philanthropists. They had no children, but their legacy lives on in the scholarships and projects they continue to fund through their foundation.

 

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Calvin Coolidge, Pride of the Amherst College Phi Gamma Delta Chapter

Posted on June 26, 2012 by Fran Becque, Ph.D.

1920 was a very busy year for Massachusetts Governor Calvin Coolidge, a Phi Gamma Delta from Amherst College’s Class of 1895. On April 8, he was one of the speakers at a dinner meeting of the College’s Central Massachusetts Alumni Association that was held at the Tatnuck Country Club in Worcester. The Governor spoke on the necessity of developing character in modern education.

The Republican National Convention took place in Chicago from June 8-12. Governor Coolidge rose to national prominence in his handling of the 1919 Boston Police Strike. Although he was never in serious contention for the Presidential nomination, he became the Vice Presidential candidate; the delegates chose him over Wisconsin Senator Irving Lenroot, the favorite of the party bosses.

According to newspaper accounts, an hour after the balloting was successful, the bell at the Edwards Congregational Church in Northampton, the church the Coolidge family attended, proclaimed the news. The streets soon filled with people, “everyone buzzing, all eager with the news.”

A few days later, Governor Coolidge left Boston to travel to Amherst for the 25th reunion of his class and the 99th anniversary of the college. Massachusetts residents turned out to meet him along the way. They decorated the buildings with bunting, and “his picture flashed out everywhere.  Bands and fife and drum corps blared and squeaked and boomed. The College glee club sang. A parade thumped the pavement. And when Governor Coolidge came to his journey’s end at Amherst, it was an ovation.”

During the visit, he dined with the Class of 1895 in Springfield. The next day, a reception in his honor was held at the home of the Alpha Chi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. Invitations had been sent to the faculty, other fraternities, alumni, students and Amherst residents. According to reports, “more than 1,500 persons filed past the then Governor of Massachusetts, who had taken his position in the living room of the colonial home.”

Governor Coolidge also took part in several other Commencements that June. He delivered the principal address at Williams College, Wesleyan University, Bates College and Vermont University. He was awarded the honorary degree of LL.D. by the last three institutions as well as his Alma Mater.

To read more about President Coolidge’s life as a FIJI member, please visit this earlier post: http://wp.me/p20I1i-2L

To read more about his lovely wife, Grace Goodhue Coolidge, a charter member of the Vermont Beta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi, please visit this earlier post: http://wp.me/P20I1i-16 as well as searching the posts using the categories on the right hand of this page. She is one of my favorite people and I write about her often. There are also several posts on the Pi Beta Phi web-site that I’ve written about her.

“Phi Gamma Delta – Calvin Coolidge Fraternity – Amherst College, Mass.”

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A Fun Time for Fraternal Archivists!

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

The Student Life and Culture Archival Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is one of my favorite places to visit. I just returned from a conference for fraternity and sorority archivists. Being among kindred spirits is always a treat, and being with them at a conference hosted by the SLCAP is double the fun! Squeezing in a few hours of research made it even more special.

At the conference, we shared ideas and learned about best practices. We heard from Diana Turk whose Bound by a Mighty Vow is a wonderfully written and researched book. We talked, we listened, and we alternately felt overwhelmed and exhilarated.

Founded in 1989, the Student Life and Culture Archival Program has several collections within it. The first major collection provided the seeds for the collections that followed it. Stewart Howe, a Kappa Sigma and 1928 Illinois alumnus, created the Stewart S. Howe Alumni Service. He provided management, public relations and fundraising assistance to Greek-letter organizations and higher educational institutions in a day and age when the ease of internet research could not have been imagined in any way, shape or form.  His collection of books, newsletters, fraternity magazines, clippings, photos and correspondence dated from 1810. When he died in 1973, his collection of materials pertaining to student life was given to his Alma Mater. A Stewart S. Howe Archival Program Endowment was established and the National Endowment for the Humanities provided matching funds.

There is a wide array of materials that have been given by many organizations and individuals. The SLCAP’s Collections include those of Stewart S. Howe, William Levere, Clyde S. Johnson, Leland Publishers, and Wilson B. Heller among others. In addition, Ellen Swain, Archivist for Student Life and Culture, has conducted oral histories with Illinois alumni from the 1930s. Individual chapter histories for some of the chapters at Illinois have been written with support from the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing. Visit the web-site at http://www.library.uiuc.edu/archives/slc/collections/collectionsguide/ for more information about the SLCAP.

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