Last Friday was a very special day for me. I attended the convention of Ohio State Chapter of P.E.O. My Kappa Kappa Gamma friend, Kylie Smith, presided. We are both history nerds and we have attended the Fraternity and Sorority Archivists meeting. Several years ago, when she told me that she was on the Ohio State Chapter’s Executive Board, I marveled that she would be presiding during P.E.O.’s 150th year.
At some point, she asked if I would consider speaking at the President’s Banquet and I, of course, said yes. As the date grew closer and a formal invitation to speak was sent to me, my life was not my own. I was in the throes of taking care of my father and I had to decline most every opportunity to do much of anything. Kylie said not to worry. She had a Plan B if my life situation prohibited me from being there. She’s flexible that way and I said yes.
And so it was that I ended up at the hotel in Worthington, Ohio. After quickly making my way to my room, I took the stairs down to the first floor and ended up in the middle of nowhere. That was a good thing because as I walked down a hall, I heard my name. Lo and behold, it was Kylie. I had happened upon the room where the Executive Board was meeting prior to convention and they were just finishing up lunch. She suggested we get a picture before things began.
I’ve written about the first President of Ohio State Chapter of P.E.O., Julia Bishop Coleman. She was also a founder of Delta Zeta. Kylie follows in the footsteps of at least one other Kappa. Sue Baker, the current President of International Chapter of P.E.O., is a Kappa and Past President of Ohio State Chapter. The official visitor to Ohio State Convention was Kay Ebert. Her biological sister Gail Owen, an Illinois P.E.O., is currently serving as President of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Current Kappa Kappa Gamma President Gail Owen, Kylie Smith, and Kay Ebert, nominee to the P.E.O. Executive Board. If elected in September, she will be in line to be President of P.E.O.’s International Chapter.
I know there were many sorority women among the attendees at the convention. After my talk a number of Pi Phis came up to introduce themselves. And I sat at a table with several of Kylie’s Kappa friends, including one of whom’s mother was a Pi Phi.
It was wonderful seeing Kylie preside with her humor, grace, and loving concern for her Ohio sisters. I enjoyed meeting her mom, aunt, friends, and husband, too. My thanks to Kylie and the Ohio State Chapter board and members for inviting me and making it one of the highlights of my year.
Kylie Smith and the founders front of the Memory Room backdrop
The Beta Eta Chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has an interesting history which I wrote about in my Master’s thesis. The chapter can trace its its lineage to 1923. It was in that year that a local organization, Epsilon Beta, was founded. In 1926, Epsilon Beta gave SIU a stone bench in front of Wheeler Library. It is still in the same spot, although Wheeler Hall has long ceased housing the University’s library.
Epsilon Beta became the Alpha Delta chapter of Delta Sigma Epsilon on May 11, 1928. It was the first national sorority on campus. “With this action comes a distinction to the college here in that it will have the only national sorority in a Normal school or Teacher’s college in Illinois,” boasted the May 11, 1928 issue of the Carbondale Free Press. A tea, the initiation of members and patronesses, and “the presence of guests which numbered students, faculty members and those from town were the major features of the program”
During World War II, the chapter did its part selling defense stamps and bonds and its national service project was the Seeing Eye Fund. The chapter also adopted a therapy wing of O’Reilly General Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. After the war, SIUC entered into a period of rapid growth. The returning servicemen attempted to nationalize the local men’s fraternities. The men’s and women’s fraternities provided the members with a healthy social life. Delta Sigma Epsilon seemed to be in the thick of things, enjoying its opportunity to shine as the oldest women’s fraternity on campus.
In August of 1956, four Delta Sigma Epsilon members, collegians Billie Sue Norris and Sheila Pflanz, and alumnae, Betty Mitchell and Hilda Stein, attended the national convention in New Orleans. At the convention, Delta Sigma Epsilon accepted an invitation to merge with Delta Zeta. Both organizations had been founded at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Nationally, Delta Zeta was the older of the two having been founded in 1902, 12 years before Delta Sigma Epsilon’s founding. Delta Zeta had, early in its life, joined the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) rather than the Association of Education Sororities (AES).
At the time of the merger, Delta Sigma Epsilon had 44 active chapters. There were ten campuses where both Delta Sigma Epsilon and Delta Zeta had chapters; SIUC was one of these campuses. The women of Delta Sigma Epsilon were very upset with the implications of the merger. The group was the oldest on campus and the Delta Zeta chapter had been installed in 1953, shortly after the merger of AES groups into NPC.
The collegians and alumnae of the Delta Sigma Epsilon chapter felt betrayed by the national Delta Sigma Epsilon organization, according to a conversation I had with Betty Lou Mitchell, who was in the thick of things during this time and for decades afterwards. Mitchell was an icon on the SIUC campus and her influence is still felt among generations of Alpha Gamma Delta alumnae.
The former Delta Sigma Epsilon chapter became a local organization, Nu Delta Sigma. On April 17, 1957, it signed an agreement with Alpha Gamma Delta stating that it desired to become one of its chapters. Rosita Nordwall, Secretary of the National Panhellenic Conference, wrote Lulu Good Vogelsang, Alpha Gamma Delta National President, outlining NPC’s major concern “that the matter be settled as quickly and harmoniously as possible, for the good of the whole fraternity system as well as those immediately involved”.
The bone of contention between Delta Zeta’s National President, Evelyn Costello, and the former Delta Sigma Epsilon chapter at SIU was the ability of previously initiated Delta Sigma Epsilon members to affiliate with another NPC group. On September 21, 1957, after much effort and with President Delyte W. Morris’ intervention and talk of SIUC Board of Trustee action, Nu Delta Sigma became the Beta Eta chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta. Both Costello and Vogelsang made trips to SIUC to discuss the situation. I remember Mitchell telling me that Vogelsang paid many visits to the campus, stopping by during her travels to and from places. Although other NPC groups had made overtures to the Nu Delta Sigmas, Mitchell told me it was Vogelsang’s personal touches that made Alpha Gamma Delta the desired choice.
Costello wrote Morris on June 19, 1957, and in closing said, “We cannot change the past however and the only thing to do is to proceed in the future being wiser and we hope not sadder.” The alumnae were released from their obligation to Delta Zeta.
Beta Eta was the 67th chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta. Ninety-seven alumnae and 43 undergraduates were initiated. A presentation tea at the Elks Club and a banquet at Woody Hall were part of the festivities.
We have made the drive from home to Florida dozens of times over the years my parents lived in Florida. Each time I saw the sign for Wesleyan College, I thought how nice it would be to visit the home of the Macon Magnolias, the two NPC organizations, Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Mu, founded at Wesleyan College.
However, traveling with the Becques means that you will get in a car and drive, stopping only for fuel. On our last trip to Florida, we had no reason to hurry, and Macon, Georgia, was a reachable goal for us leaving home at noon. I made a reservation at a pet friendly hotel in Macon. As we left the hotel in the morning, I set the gps for Wesleyan College and we took the dogs on a walk around campus.
Phi Mu plaque at the front gate
My husband kept saying, “Fran, what are we looking for?” and I kept telling him I’d know it when I saw it. We found it! The Alpha Delta Pi Memorial Fountain is located in the center of Wesleyan College’s quadrangle; it was a gift to celebrate the college’s centennial in 1936. Made of Georgia marble, the Alpha Delta Pi coat-of-arms is engraved on the large slanting block at center. The names of the Alpha Delta Pi founders are engraved on the stairs leading up to the fountain. Other elements of the fountain were added on other commemorations including two lions, the mascot of Alpha Delta Pi, given in 2011 to celebrate the College’s 175th anniversary.
Alpha Delta Pi FountainTo get from the hotel to Wesleyan College, we had to turn onto Tucker Road. I suspect there could be a connection to Eugenia Tucker.
Those traveling east on Interstate 24 near Chattanooga might have seen something that has intrigued me for years. There is monument just off the highway, but seemingly in the woods, near mile marker 176. It’s white with the words “New York” on it. I tried to take a picture of it, but at 70+ miles an hour, this is what happens.
So I started sleuthing. To the best of my efforts, it appears to be a Civil War monument to the New York Troops. The inscription reads, ” To the New York Troops in Howard’s Eleventh Corps of Hooker’s Command, 11th and 12th Corps, Army of the Potomac, at Wauhatchie, October 28 – 29, 1863.
Photo by Dale K. Benington
And because I love carnations and find it easier to write with them nearby, here are the ones I am enjoying this morning as I write this. It’s a shout out to my Gamma Phi Beta friends. Here’s a refresher on the flowers of the NPC groups.
On Memorial Day, one sometimes hears the haunting poem, In Flanders Fields. It was written by John McCrae, M.D., a Lieutenant Colonel in the Canadian Army during World War I. He was a Zeta Psi from the University of Toronto chapter. Although it was written by a Canadian in response to the death of his friend and former student, the poem is a fitting one to print on Memorial Day, the day for remembering those Americans who have given the ultimate sacrifice and died during their service to the country.
McCrae wrote the poem after the May 2, 1915 death and burial of his friend and former student Lieutenant Alexis Hannum Helmer. McCrae died of pneumonia on January 28, 1918, while commanding No. 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) at Boulogne.
In Flanders Fields In Flanders fields the poppies blow Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields.
A memorial on the John McCrae Memorial Site, Boezinge, Ypres, West Flanders, Belgium.
The Poppies at the Tower of London, November 2014 (Photo by Linda Smith Tabb)
Frank E. Hering, an initiate of the Phi Gamma Delta chapter at Bucknell University, wrote response to Dr. John McCrae’s poem.
Frank Hering’s poem as it appeared in the Gold Star Honor Roll: A Record of Indiana Men and Women who died in the service of the United States and the Allied Nations in the World War, published in 1921.
On Memorial Day weekend, I thank the men and women who gave their lives so that others could live. World Wars I and II had a profound effect on the fraternity system. Many fraternity men went off to war. The options for sorority women were much more limited during those two wars. Some women enlisted in the avenues of service which were open to them, but the vast majority kept the home fires burning and did what they could here at home.
The following article “Service in Common” was published in the March 1945 Arrow of Pi Beta Phi. Nita Day Carmin, the Exchange Editor, had digested the information in the other the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) magazines. Although this was published toward the end of the war, I suspect the information presented dated from 1943 and 1944:
Practically every magazine of the women’s fraternities features their women in service and their war time philanthropy and work. The men’s magazines all have long lists of men in service and now each issue has a casualty list of wounded, dead, and missing – Sigma Alpha Epsilon has the longest column with 279 deceased and 57 missing in action and 55 prisoners of war.*
She then went on to enumerate the programs of the National Panhellenic Conference organizations:
Delta Delta Delta‘s two war projects are funds for the United China Relief and a General War Service Scholarship Fund to train leaders for the post-war world.
Conferences at Colorado Springs and Chicago took the place of Conventions for the Alpha Phis during the past summer. Their 4 point program – afghans, stamps, emergency fund, and war nursing scholarships, has continued with enthusiasm and cooperation from individuals and chapters. They are discontinuing their Cadet Nursing Corps scholarships and embarking on work with the Chaplain Service Corps.
Lt. Commander Nancy V. Forsman, University of Nebraska, is Kappa Delta‘s highest ranking officer. She acts as liaison officer in the Ninth Naval District. They feature their magazine agency as a money raising project and last year realized over $3,800.00 in commissions for their Chapter House Fund.
Pi Beta Phis Amelia Alpiner Stern and her daughter, Dorothy Stern Washburn, served in the American Red Cross. Both were Pi Phis at the University of Illinois. Amelia Alpiner Stern, a charter member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter, was one of the first Jewish students at the University. In 1923 she founded its Moms Association. An award in her name is given yearly. She also served as Pi Beta Phi’s Grand Secretary.
Kappa Kappa Gamma‘s war interests are around their ten Service Women’s Centers located in strategic cities where women in service find hospitality.
Alpha Chi Omega is the sponsor of Nursery or Child Care Centers in Detroit and Milwaukee. The majority of the children enrolled have mothers who are working at essential war jobs. At the National Council Meeting of Alpha Chi Omega, a training school for province officers was held in lieu of a Convention.
The Billet Fund of Alpha Gamma Delta, when completed, will provide a home spot available to any member of the fraternity.
Delta Gamma‘s fraternity project is the Nursery School for Visually Handicapped Children. Afghans for hospitals have been an alumnae project. Their province conference centered around a discussion of the justification of the ‘Fraternity System in Time of War.’
Highlight of the Workshop conducted by National and Province officers of Alpha Delta Pi, in June in Chicago at the War Service Brunch was the talk given by their Ensign Lois Swabel of the Waves on ‘Contributions College Trained Women Are Making to the Armed Services.’ All Alpha Delta Pis have participated with zest in the organization’s national projects – the pre-Pearl Harbor ‘Thumbs Up’ campaign, the maintenance of an ambulance in the British Isles, the Red Cross kit bag program of recent date. As community members Alpha Delta Pis have cooperated on all projects designed to meet local emergency needs-serving as air raid wardens, plane spotters, canteen workers, nutrition instructors and other needed volunteer personnel.
Alumnae of Sigma Kappa have interested themselves in making U.S.O. scrapbooks. Their goal is 50,000 and more than half that number have been finish and delivered.
National Council and province conventions substituted for a national convention with the Phi Omega Pis. Plans were made to sponsor a money making project for their Ambulance Fund.*
Recommendation for a continuance of their war work with children was made by the Grand Council of Alpha Omicron Pi. They established a chairmanship of public affairs to create an interest in citizenship in their active chapters.
Purchase of a Mobile Canteen is the war project of Theta Upsilon, to be given either to the Red Cross or the Salvation Army.*
‘Preparation for Tomorrow and the Four Roads to Reconstruction’ was the theme of the Officer’s conference of Phi Mu. In addition to philanthropies they propose to award scholarships in the four fields of occupational therapy, social service, medicine, and nutrition. They also have worked out a national hostess plan, designed to help Phi Mus who must travel or change their residence during the war emergency. Their magazine publishes a complete list of Phi Mu hostesses in the leading war centers of the U.S.
Chi Omega‘s National Achievement Award for 1944 was awarded to Dr. Florence B. Seibert for her distinguished research in the field of tuberculosis. Feeling that winning the peace is the most vital issue of our time, their Eleusis contained the Dumbarton Oaks Proposals.
The first organization permitted to sponsor the symbolic campaign for rehabilitation of the wounded is Gamma Phi Beta. Their goal is to sell $1,000,000 in War Bonds.
Not all of us can be founders but we can all be builders. We can work on behalf of an organization and make it better. Lambda Chi Alpha just lost one of its best builders with the passing of George Spasyk at the age of 95.
George Spasyk was the son of immigrants, the youngest of nine children. He grew up in western Massachusetts. He might have had a career as one of the country’s finest chemists, but after working on the Manhattan Project and serving in the U.S. Navy, he changed his career path and earned a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Michigan (M Go Blue!). At Michigan he became a member of Lambda Chi Alpha. That decision had a profound effect on his life.
In 1950, after graduation, he was hired as Lambda Chi Alpha’s Traveling Secretary. From there he served in a variety of fraternity staff jobs until he replaced Cyril F. “Duke” Flad as Lambda Chi’s Executive Director in 1968. He served in that capacity until his retirement in 1990. He was the force behind replacing pledges with Associate Members. In 1970, he put his thoughts into words for an article in the Cross and Crescent.
On his 90th birthday in 2013, an alumnus said, “Had the distinct pleasure of hearing Brother Spasyk speak at my chapter’s 40th Anniversary celebration a few years ago. having my picture taken with him was one of the highlights of my fraternal experience. Unquestionably one of the best dinner speakers I’ve ever listened to.”
This one is a bit longer, but well worth the time.
George Spasyk was recognized by the interfraternal world for his efforts. My condolences to Lambda Chi Alpha on the loss of one of its influential builders. Mike Raymond offered his reflections this morning.
It’s been a while since I’ve done an update post, but now seems as good a time as any. Enjoy!
One of my favorite GLO paintings is of Tade Hartsuff Kuhns who served as Kappa Kappa Gamma’s first Grand President in 1881. When Kappa moved its headquarters, the painting received a refreshing. It’s back in its new permanent home. Elizabeth Gowdy Baker, the woman who painted it was a Kappa, too, and there is an interesting backstory.
Congratulations!
Carrie Underwood is a member of Tri Sigma. On Friday night, Alex Leavenworth, also a Tri Sigma, will be singing with Underwood as the winner of a contest.
I think Emily Buice, an Alpha Gamma Delta, might be the first SIUC student chosen to participate in the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition jaunt to Washington, DC. Buice is also the Service to Southern Award winner, a very big deal here at SIUC. She will work for her organization after graduation having been hired as the alumnae development specialist for AGD. Congratulations!
Must Reads
If you haven’t read the latest issue of AFA Essentials, now is a good time to do it. The editor is a very special Pi Phi friend.
Another of my favorite Pi Phis has an instagram of the books she’s read, and she is an avid reader. Follow @becquebooks and get glimpses of my granddog and grandcats.
Condolences to Phi Delta Theta and Beta Theta Pi
Moms and Grads
Delta Zeta’s Mother’s Day post reminded me that DZ Founder Julia Bishop Coleman was the first President of the Ohio State Chapter of P.E.O. The current President of Ohio State Chapter is Kylie Towers Smith, Kappa Kappa Gamma. I’m looking forward to attending the Convention of Ohio State Chapter later this month as she presides.
Another crop of GLO alums are donning graduation gowns, cords, and sashes. Fraternity and Sorority Membership Doesn’t End With Graduation is one of my favorite posts. This post brought me a smile. We all know a few people who must have earned the same degree.
A Special P.E.O. Meeting
I spent two days in Kansas with my daughter and her husband and their fur babies. I attended a meeting of her P.E.O. chapter where the refreshments were appropriate to the time of P.E.O.’s founding. The chapter also restaged this 1888 picture of P.E.O.s. It was a very special meeting. Thanks for hosting me!
Alpha Delta Pi was founded as the Adelphean Society on May 15, 1851 at Wesleyan Female College in Macon, Georgia. In 1905, the Society changed its name to Alpha Delta Phi and installed its second chapter at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. A third chapter was founded at Mary Baldwin Seminary, in Staunton, Virginia, in 1906.
The Delta Chapter at the University of Texas was installed on June 6, 1906. It is the oldest, continuous Alpha Delta Pi chapter. It was the sixth sorority chapter on campus. Alpha Chapter member Jewel Davis (Scarborough) went to the University of Texas as a graduate student with the intention of creating a chapter there. Davis, a Delta Chapter charter member, installed the chapter all by herself. She composed the first whistle and served as National President from 1913-17. Dean Helen Marr Kirby was an Adelphean and proved herself as a valuable friend of the chapter.
During 1908-09, the chapter lived in an eight-room house with a professor and his wife as chaperons. The chapter owned most of the furniture in the house. Mabelle Fuller (Sperry), who served three terms as National President from 1921-27, was an early initiate of the chapter. During 1911-12, the non-sorority women were “the cause of considerable disturbance throughout the year, finally petitioning the state legislature to put the Greek letter societies out of school. The move was unsuccessful and was voted down at a special session of the legislature.” (History of Alpha Delta Pi, 1930).
Mabelle Fuller Sperry
Alpha Delta Phi joined the National Panhellenic Conference in 1909. The installation of the Sigma Chapter at the University of Illinois in 1912 necessitated the organization’s second name change. It came shortly after the installation of Alpha Delta Phi’s Illinois Chapter. Alpha Delta Phi is a men’s fraternity founded in 1832 at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York. In 1912, its chapters were primarily in the northeast. The Illini women made their organization aware of this duplication of name and the problems that surfaced because of it. In 1913, the convention body voted to change the name to Alpha Delta Pi.
Mother’s Day is this weekend. This post by Herff-Jones led me to try to figure out when Mother’s Pins became a thing. Since I am not home and don’t have access to my library, this might be edited at some point, but for now it will have to do.
I could not find much about men’s fraternities and mother’s pins, although this article and illustration which appeared in the March 1934 Fraternity Month appears to be an advertisement for Mother’s Pins. It begins as a letter to “Crystal” from “June.”
I had the most thrilling experiences, Crystal, since I came up here to New England to college! Let me tell you, first, what happened at Grand Central when I climbed off the train in New York after that memorable week-end at the prom and all. The best-looking man (I know he was a fraternity man because he walked through our car once and I saw his badge—Don’s fraternity, too—and also a key with a little gavel on the end of it and his coat of arms in the center) who had been in the coach behind me hurried by me on the platform evidently having to make a very close train connection on the upper level. Just then he happened to see a very distinguished-looking, older woman, who seemed to be confused and upset, unable to find a porter to help her and who evidently was very much lost in the rushing and pushing crowds. Well, Crystal, this fraternity man saw her confusion and turned right around and asked her if he could help her. I just stood there with open mouth watching the whole thing. Our friend, the fraternity man, then said that he saw the little Mother’s pin she was wearing and that he was always glad to help some- body’s mother and he also told her that he was a fraternity man himself and that his chapter was at Cornell. (I’ll have to write Jack at Cornell and find out more about him—he did look interesting!)
This woman was ever so pleased with his courtesy and she said that her son was to meet her at Information. As the two walked over, I followed just to see how this little drama would work out. Then the fraternity man did not leave her there alone, but waited for some few minutes (I’ll bet he lost his train. In fact, I almost did myself) until her son arrived. After suitable introductions were made, the men shook hands very cordially and you can’t imagine how pleased her son was at the kindness shown his mother. It just goes to show what a little pin can do I And, Crystal, I’ve purchased a Mother’s pin for my Mother and I’m going to send it to her for her birthday next week! I just know she will be pleased. It’s a nice way to share one’s sorority associations with one’s mother, isn’t it? I’ve saved the money for a present out of my allowance, too, and I think this is the nicest possible way to spend it, don’t you?
Gamma Phi Beta did not approve a Mother’s Pin in 1919.
Gamma Phi’s Mother’s Pin became a reality at another convention and appears above. The Pi Phi Mother’s Pin was approved in 1923.
This clipping from a 1926 edition of The Palm of Alpha Tau Omega tells about Sigma Kappa’s decision to authorize a Mother’s pin.
Other women’s organizations also have Mother’s Pins and these are a small selection. Beta Theta Pi has a Housemother’s Pin.
Alpha Gamma Delta
Delta Delta Delta
Delta Gamma
Phi Mu
Alpha Xi Delta
Alpha Sigma Tau
Alpha Omicron Pi’s Mother’s pin features the Greek word for “mother.” It was first created for founder Stella George Stern Perry’s mother.
I have an affinity for the fraternity and sorority houses at the University of Illinois. The campus has enamored me from the first time I saw it in the early 1990s as a Province President for the Pi Beta Phi chapter. Later, while doing research for my dissertation, I would walk the campus admiring the beautiful houses. In writing the histories of several GLO chapters, I always tried to get a tour of the houses I was writing about, to get a sense of the history of the building.
My Alpha Gam friend Nann sent me this link this morning and some of you might find it interesting.
Tonight, Miss USA 2018, Sarah Rose Summers will crown Miss USA 2019. Summers represents Nebraska, and she is a member of Zeta Tau Alpha, from the Texas Christian University chapter. There are at least 13 sorority women competing tonight.
Giving Feedback and Doing It Well
If you need a good way to spend 51 minutes (or 35 minutes if you listen to podcasts as my daughter does, on Alvin the Chipmunk mode). Erin Fischer is dedicated to making this world a better place and she does it fabulously.
There are many posts on this blog. Use the search button to find the posts about your organization.
Welcome!
Welcome! Chances are good you found this blog by searching for something about fraternities or sororities.
I was the last person anyone would have suspected of joining a sorority in college. I am sure I would have agreed with them, too.
When I made my way to Syracuse University, I saw the houses with the Greek letters that edged Walnut Park, and wished I could tour them. My roommate suggested I sign up for rush (as it was then called, today it’s known as recruitment) and go through the house tour round and then drop out of rush. It sounded like a plan. I didn’t realize that I would end up feeling at home at one of the chapters. And that I would become a member.
In this blog I will share the history of GLOs and other topics. I wrote a dissertation on “Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902.″ It chronicles the growth of the system and the birth of the National Panhellenic Conference.
My Master’s thesis details the history of the fraternity system at Southern Illinois University Carbondale from 1948-1960. The dates are significant ones and the thesis is available on the top menu.
I have done research at the Student Life Archives and have written several histories of University of Illinois fraternity chapters for the Society for the Preservation of Greek Housing.
