Women's fraternity magazines as they looked in 1910
The University of Kansas holds a unique distinction within the fraternity magazine world. Three of the seven founding National Panhellenic Conference organizations had the first issue of their magazines published by their respective chapters at Kansas. The three groups are Kappa Alpha Theta, founded at Indiana Asbury (now DePauw University) in 1870, and the Monmouth Duo, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Kappa Gamma. Pi Beta Phi was founded in 1867 and Kappa Kappa Gamma was founded three years later on the same campus, Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois.
The Key of Kappa Kappa Gamma was the first women’s fraternity magazine published. Its existence was authorized by Kappa’s 1881 convention. The first issue appeared in May 1882 and was titled The Golden Key. The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Alpha Theta both debuted in 1885. Perhaps the creation of these two magazines came in response to the publication produced by the Kappa Kappa Gamma chapter. The Pi Beta Phi and the Kappa Alpha Theta women on the University of Kansas campus likely heard of or saw The Golden Key. The magazines of the other NPC organization quickly came into existence. In fact, Delta Gamma’s magazine, The Anchora, was the second NPC magazine to be published but it wasn’t created at the University of Kansas.
Read more about fraternity journalism in my dissertation, Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities, 1867-1902. Subscribe to the blog and you’ll be notified when the dissertation is published on this web-site. I hope to have it available soon.
