The History of Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity: 1910-1935

M the history of Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity 1910–1935 Ninth Edition by Sally Mathis Cutler, Alpha Chi, Butler Published by Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity 2014

contents 1...... Background

57... Our Heritage

• Preface • Setting

• Hera

the Scene

• Our

Badge Symphony • This and That About Conventions • Ceremonies Take Shape • Marks and Medals • Scholarships for Children • The MacDowell Colony • My

5...... Learning the Ropes • Turning

a Corner • The Number Three • Influence of Grecian Culture • Prospering – Early ’30s

13.... The Times

75.... Growing and Functioning

• The

Effects of War • The Great Depression • 50th Anniversary Celebration

25.... Conventions and Council Meetings 39.... Alumnae Luminaries • Beloved

Leader: Alta Allen Loud • Gretchen Starr • Florence A. Armstrong • Mary Emma Griffith Marshall • Marcia Clapp De Rocco • Estelle McFarlane Dunkle • Nella Ramsdell Fall • Fay Barnaby Kent

• Organizing

Ourselves • Engaging Our Alumnae • A Strong Financial Footing • Scholarships for Members • NPC • Membership/Rush • New Members • The Lyre • Chapter Housing • Scholarship – A Top Priority • Central Office – Taking Care of Business

101.. Alumnae Groups, 1885-1935 102.. Collegiate Chapters, 1885-1935

Editor’s Note and Dedication I offer a special thank you to the Alpha Chis in my family for their inspiration and belief in me and in each other: Katherine Nitchman Mathis, Alpha Chi, Butler; Nancy Nitchman Leonard, Alpha Chi, Butler; Sara Huntsman Leonard, Gamma Pi, Tampa; Lisa Stewart Leonard, Alpha Chi, Butler and Suzette Bewley Mathis, Alpha Beta, Purdue. – Sally Mathis Cutler, Alpha Chi, Butler

M preface

A

prescient. As you will find, in many instances there was no need to rewrite or rephrase what they said. Their words are impressive, forthright and compelling.

I had the opportunity to review twenty-five years of Heraeums, several volumes of Alpha Chi Omega histories, records from the 1935 Golden Jubilee, and twenty-five years of Lyres (which, as a former Lyre editor, I particularly enjoyed). In doing so, two main themes stood out to me: 1) the adage that “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” held true and 2) our early leaders showed tremendous vision.

Speaking to the first point—the records from this era, 1910-1935, show that many of the issues relevant to Alpha Chi Omega today have always been important. Things like recruitment of members, academic excellence (my, how they were not satisfied with members’ grades!), finances, and service (which was incredibly vital in this war-time era) were of paramount importance, just as they are now.

And, to the second point—I was amazed at how committed the organization was to growth and expansion.

It couldn’t have been easy, that’s for sure. Without air travel or (gasp) email, time and distance must have provided real obstacles. But the Alpha Chis were undeterred--the organization continued to grow and members developed close ties to each other, to their own chapters, and to the national organization.

We have organized this installment with a series of articles that, I hope, will set the scene for the many changes and challenges of this era, describe some of Alpha Chi Omega’s greatest leaders, illustrate how many of our traditions were shaped, and explain how the Fraternity became more organized and professional as it began to offer expanded services to members.

There are many inspiring stories from this era, which was marked by war, the Great Depression, establishment of the Star Studio at the MacDowell Colony, and the wonderful celebration of Alpha Chi Omega’s fiftieth anniversary in 1935. I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I have enjoyed bringing them to you.

few years ago I read a lovely historical novel titled The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Yes, I know, it’s a rather unusual title and quite a mouthful (no pun intended), but that’s not what I found most intriguing. Before I dive into a book I like to start with the background—the preface, author’s note, acknowledgements, etc.—to get a feel for the author and their perspective. And it was the author’s note in this book that captured my interest. You see, the book was co-written by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. Mary Ann Shaffer was an editor and librarian, and Annie Barrows was her niece. Mary Ann wrote the initial manuscript, which was accepted for publication, but before the book could be completed, she became quite ill. She asked her niece, Annie Barrows, to make the final edits and see the book through to completion, which she did. Mary Ann Shaffer died in 2008.

So I couldn’t help but think of this when, in 2012, my own aunt, Nancy Leonard, who was at the time completing the first installment of Alpha Chi Omega’s historical anthology, herself became seriously ill. I knew she had been working tirelessly on the “history project,” as we referred to it, and how important and dear it was to her. When she asked if I might be interested in working on the next installment, I wasn’t sure what to think or say. I am not a historian… I was working full-time… but I was prepared to try if Alpha Chi Omega was willing to let me. The initial installment, chronicling the first twenty-five years of Alpha Chi Omega’s marvelous existence, was published just prior to Nancy’s passing in July of 2012.

A few months later, I began working with ever-supportive and patient Alpha Chi Omega headquarters staff liaisons, Janine Wampler, Marketing and Communications Director; and Vicky Harrison, Archivist/Ritual Coordinator; on conveying the story of the next twenty-five years of Alpha Chi Omega heritage. Thankfully, the Fraternity maintains amazing records from our early years, and many of our organization’s leaders were incredibly eloquent and

Sally Mathis Cutler Alpha Chi, Butler June, 2014

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M setting the scene

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magine being a women living in the United States during the years 1910-1935. You would celebrate the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution and be eligible to vote in national elections. You might read Seventeen by Booth Tarkington, the 1916 best seller, or read poetry by newly

famous poets Carl Sandburg, Robert Frost or Amy Lowell. You

could drive an automobile, as the invention of the self-starter made hand cranking a thing of the past. You might even own an automobile since the Model T arrived via the assembly line and cost less than half what earlier models cost. You would enjoy replacing your carpet beater with an electric vacuum cleaner and discover that electric refrigerators, washing machines and irons make life much easier. You

might wear your first “store bought” clothes and purchase canned goods from the shelves of a grocery store. You and your family would spend many hours listening to a wide range of radio programs now broadcast coast to coast. You might tackle crossword puzzles, participate in dance marathons, read TIME and Cosmopolitan. You would feel the impact of World War I by working in jobs left vacant by the many men who served in the military or be one of over 11,000 American women who served in the armed forces. You

likely cut your Victorian locks in favor of shoulder-length styles and, ultimately, bobbed hair. You would choose looser styles, brighter colors and lighter fabrics for your clothes. And, believe it or not, your hemlines stopped at your knees. You would see Prohibition come—and go—and live in “The Jazz Age.” You would experience the stock market crash and feel the weight of the Great Depression. You would sing “The Star Spangled Banner,” the country’s new national anthem. You would come to “know” Greta Garbo, Babe Ruth, Charlie Chaplin, Rudolph Valentino, George Gershwin and Shirley Temple. You

would shop at J. C. Penney and Piggly Wiggly.

You would listen to “Amos and Andy,” “George Burns and Gracie Allen,” “Fibber McGee and Molly” and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. You would see your life expectancy numbers increase from 51.8 to 63.9 years.

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R anecdote

From The Lyre, July 1914

No. 1

THE STUDENT AND THE MOVING PICTURE

The moving picture in its psychological influence upon the mind is assuming a large importance in university centers.

The question is, shall the moving pictures influence the student body, or shall the student body influence the moving picture?

The majority of films that are presented in university towns are of a melodramatic type. They tell, for the most part, of improbable, if not impossible, situations. These have an incredible effect upon the student mind.

Students of university age are at a period of development when impressions are easily made—and less easily forgotten. Romance is uppermost in their minds. For this reason these melodramatic scenes influence them against their better judgment.

Shall we, as students, allow this condition to continue? Are we going to develop our taste for this kind of film, or are we going to take a stand for better and more instructive entertainment.

If each student would appoint himself a committee of one to see to it that he attends nothing but beneficial and wholesome amusement, it would soon do much to raise the standard of moving pictures in university towns.

Click the image to view the full piece at the end of this book.

M learning the ropes Turning a Corner The Number Three Influence of Grecian Culture Prospering – Early ’30s

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Turning a Corner As Alpha Chi Omega rounded the corner of the first twenty-five years of existence, the Fraternity’s leadership appeared both proud of the organization’s accomplishments and ready for future growth and challenges. Grand Historian Grace Hammond Holmes shared this message in 1911: We have touched upon all the present activities to give the alumnae some definite idea of what Alpha Chi Omega is doing. The twenty-fifth anniversary of her founding was celebrated last year. If we review her accomplishments, we shall see that through discouragement and self-sacrifice upon the part of many loyal members, step by step a steady gain has been made. In asking for your continued interest, let us consider the great motive back of women’s fraternities, which, briefly stated, is the development of womankind along broad, democratic lines. You might say that Fraternity is one factor in her emancipation; a factor in the ‘finding of herself.’ The very fact that our council is drawn from the alumnae, and not from the active body, proves that we should be a strong, productive organization. May we live up to our open motto— ‘Together, let us seek the heights.’

and with this view we have earnestly stressed three points: Scholarship, a loyal participation in college activities and an earnest representation in the Christian life and work of the various institutions where we are represented. I am confident that the ruling as to the required participation in college activities and our deferred initiation with a definite scholarship requirement have furnished the necessary impetus to our younger girls and have brought us the kind of recognition we desire from student bodies and university authorities. The list of honor students for 1914-15 is most encouraging. It has been gratifying to learn of the growing interest in the Christian life of the school on the part of most of our chapters.

The past three years have in the opinion of your president been the best in the history of the fraternity.

Progress has marked every phase of the work. The work of my office could not have been continued without the splendid support of my co-workers and the loyal response of our thirty-three chapters.

And the greatest needs of the Fraternity in 1915?

They were described generally as: • More

volunteers • Altruistic work by all collegiate chapters • Clearly defined alumnae organization structure • A refined extension policy • An aggressive campaign for chapter housing • Selection of a sole official jeweler • A requirement of life subscriptions to The Lyre • Establishment of a scholarship fund • New editions of the constitution and the history

An article in the January 1911 issue of The Lyre remarked on the Fraternity’s twenty-five years of existence: The quarter century that is past spells out plainly two things: that fraternity greatness does not happen; it comes from clear-eyed conception of an ideal; and that fraternity effectiveness does not happen, but comes from the outpouring of energy toward reaching that ideal. For a fraternity to have a goal is not enough; a fraternity must be reaching its goal.

In 1919, National President Alta Allen Loud remarked, “In point of achievement, we feel that we are the equal of any women’s fraternity. The best informed sorority woman in America says that Alpha Chi Omega stands with two others at the head of the list. Let’s stand on our merits; let’s rush on our merits.” One can only wonder which “other two” NPC groups she was referring to.

The success of the first twenty-five years clearly set the foundation for high expectations for the next quarter century.

In 1915, National President Alta Allen Loud outlined the state of the Fraternity, so to speak, from her perspective, in her presidential report: For the past three years the Council has worked incessantly for an intensive development of our members,

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The Number Three People often think in terms of sets of three. The ancient Greeks did it centuries ago, and American culture represents a continuation of that tendency. Consider: Past, present and future Me, myself and I Thought, word and deed Animal, vegetable or mineral Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness Beg, borrow or steal Blood, sweat and tears Calm, cool and collected Hook, line and sinker Ready, willing and able Signed, sealed and delivered Tall, dark and handsome Wine, women and song Stop, look and listen Snap, Crackle, Pop! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman!

Ready, set, go Going once, going twice, gone Tell the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth Real. Strong. Women.

exists as of the writing of this anthology, with only minor alterations from the original, was adopted. The symbolic value of the number three was connected with some of Alpha Chi Omega’s most meaningful and enduring symbols: The badge: three stones three intertwined strings; The coat-of-arms: three Parts, three stars; Initiation Ceremony: three Halls, three Golden Keys.

An Alpha Chi Omega experiences three stages of membership: new member, collegiate member, alumna member.

The 1916 History contains this: Like the Greeks, Alpha Chi Omega seeks for physical, intellectual, and spiritual development of self. But she strives for far more. Alpha Chi Omega stresses [1] unity in endeavor; [2] harmony in relation to one’s fellows; [3] symphony in the totality of life.

These symbols and explanations provide proof of how purposeful the early leaders were in instilling in future members the inspiration to work together in harmony for their own betterment and the benefit of others.

A Leonardo da Vinci quotation seems apt here: “There are three classes of people: those who see; those who see when they are shown; those who do not see.”

Is three in a row all most people can remember? No, it goes much deeper than that.

“The Number Three in American Culture” by Alan Dundes submits that a triad is a symbol of universal significance: It is found throughout history and all over the world.

It can be interpreted in many different senses: spirit/mind/body in a circle of synthesis; past/present/future enclosed in the ring of eternity; art/science/religion bound in a circle of culture.

It is unlikely that many members joined Alpha Chi Omega because of its symbols and attachment to things that come in threes. One can but hope that once enlightened, an Alpha Chi Omega [1] realizes the true value of her membership, [2] becomes a better person than she might have been without the connection and [3] lives a life pursuing excellence.

The Greeks who created something that so thoroughly influenced Alpha Chi Omega’s culture believed that.

Alta Allen Loud, National President for nine years, taught Greek on the Albion campus and had extraordinary knowledge of classical Greek culture, customs, mythology and language. During her tenure, the initiation ceremony that

Three cheers for those Alpha Chi Omegas! Hip, hip, hurray!

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Influence of Grecian Culture

Is it All Greek to You? “The impress of Greek culture

Alpha Chi Omega, through her association with the Fraternity, has been exposed in some degree to the teachings and principles of ancient Greece whether she realizes it or not.

A member in the late 1800s would have no issue with such a focus. The study of Greek was part of the classical education of the time. In all likelihood, students who were privileged enough to attend a college or university had received instruction in Greek, Latin and the classics prior to embarking upon their higher education journey.

upon Alpha Chi Omega is palpable. Grecian influence, as one easily may see, goes far deeper than the Greek-letter name and the initiation of members by secret mysteries. It is manifest in the very basis of the fraternity: its purpose, its ideals and its requirements.”

Ever wondered why?

That statement begins Chapter XXIII of the 1916 History of Alpha Chi Omega entitled “Influence of Grecian Culture upon Alpha Chi Omega,” followed by twelve pages devoted to a description of that influence and a mini-course in ancient Greek culture and mythology. A 21st century reader might well skip that chapter, finding nothing current, familiar or relevant in the topic. Yet, each member of

By the time Alpha Chi Omega was founded in 1885, Greek-letter social organizations had become plentiful on college campuses across the country, with most exclusively for men. It is generally believed that Phi Beta Kappa was

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the first Greek-letter society, created at William and Mary in December, 1776—just five months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

The original Phi Beta Kappa had all the characteristics of present-day social fraternities: a secret ritual, oath of loyalty, grip, badge, motto, a desire to share its values through expansion, high ideals of morality, academic achievement and friendship. Within eleven years of its formation, Phi Beta Kappa had expanded to Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth.

Increased military activity in Virginia during the Revolutionary War may have caused the chapter at William and Mary to become dormant in 1781. The organization did not expand further for many years.

By 1831, secret societies were receiving much adverse publicity and were a grave concern to university faculties and administrators. That may be the reason the Harvard chapter of Phi Beta Kappa voluntarily shared the secrets of its organization, becoming an honorary society in which membership was based solely on academic achievement.

While no longer in competition with Greek-letter social fraternities, Phi Beta Kappa launched the concept of Greek-letter social societies connected to the higher education system in the United States.

It was not by accident that the founders of the early fraternities looked to Greek culture for their basic traditions and symbolism, as Greek culture is synonymous with excellence. The Greek ideal of perfection in man was harmony—a balanced development of body, mind and soul.

The Greeks stressed beauty and attained a high degree of perfection in the arts. Because the study of Greek was part of the classical education of the time, identification by Greek letters and adoption of Greek ideals were natural.

Two other Greek-letter social fraternities for women existed in 1885. There is much debate about which NPC group was “the first” such organization for women.

However, those who were organized prior to 1870 did not assume Greek-letter names until later in their histories, Kappa Alpha Theta is considered the first Greek-letter fraternity for women, founded in 1870.

On the DePauw campus there were seven men’s fraternities and two women’s fraternities—all with Greek-letter names. While all appear to contain some elements that link to ancient Grecian culture, Alpha Chi Omega took that emphasis to a new level. In addition to a name, the Founders incorporated the Grecian influence into the badge, secret ceremonies and symbols, songs, publication names and a patron goddess. The ancient Grecian emphasis on excellence in all endeavors permeates throughout Alpha Chi Omega.

One can but wonder what would serve as the basis for the underpinnings of a Greek-letter social fraternity for women founded in the 21st century. Study of Greek, Latin and the classics is all but non-existent. Modern-day culture offers a very different “menu” on which to base symbols and concepts.

The article in Chapter XXIII of the 1916 History states: Alpha Chi Omega loves and reverences her symbols, as did the Greeks, for their rich connotation. In the lyre, the chief symbol of the Fraternity, there is meaning—in the lyre itself, in the inner lyre, the three required stones, the three strings, the scroll and the triangle...Like the Greeks, Alpha Chi Omega seeks for physical, intellectual, and spiritual development of self. But she strives for far more.

Alpha Chi Omega stresses unity in endeavor; harmony in relation to one’s fellows; symphony in the totality of life.

In the final analysis, the source of influences on Alpha Chi Omega’s Founders may not matter as much as the staying power of those influences. Whether couched in a study of ancient times or the language of social networking, Alpha Chi Omega is built on an infrastructure that transcends the trends and language of the day. This allows Alpha Chi Omega to “speak” to its members wherever they are, whenever the time.

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Prospering – Early’30s In the late 1920s and early 1930s, many prideful references are made to the general state of the Fraternity across many avenues—growth in the chapter roll, financial stability, reputation among other fraternal groups, and pride of the members. In the report of the National President to the 1930 Convention in Del Monte, California, Ethel Mead Van Auken stated: Our fraternity occupies an enviable Panhellenic position; we are known for our splendid scholarship standards; our alumnae program and well-knitted alumnae organization are a source of pride to us and a matter of wonderment to our sister Greeks; our altruistic program is one which is so far reaching in scope as to give all of our organizations a part in it and a knowledge of it; our standards, our foundations are fine and secure. As Alpha Chi Omegas we have everything of which to be justly proud. Let us therefore study the projects of our organization more closely; let us be better informed; let us take into our everyday living a greater enthusiasm for the fraternity which is so rich in tradition, so full in present day accomplishment, the fraternity which for us is the finest in existence. Let us make ENTHUSIASM a new watch-word, a new motive, for it will bring rich reward, not only to the organization but to our own lives.

This seemed to lead to more committed chapters and members. She credited this progress, in large part, to the establishment of a full-time field officer by the 1928 Convention, with the first field “staffer” beginning her work in 1929.

Establishing in-person contact with members, even before the era of air travel or even easy travel by car, was targeted as vital to maintaining the integrity of Alpha Chi Omega. By 1930, every chapter had been visited at least once, and as many as four times, “a record made possible by the tireless, loyal, loving effort on the part of the officers of the Fraternity.”

In 1933, National President Van Auken outlined a 16-point list of recommendations for the Fraternity, some points lofty in goal, others quite pragmatic: 1. That any member, active or alumna, who owes money to her chapter, and who, after fair warning, makes no effort to pay or arrange payment for her debt, be expelled from the Fraternity.

2. That the Mary-Emma Griffith Marshall Memorial Fellowship be awarded for the two year period in 1935 instead of for a one-year period in 1934.

3. That the pledge and pledge-parent letters be revised.

4. That the election of active chapter officers take place May 1 instead of February 1.

At this point in the Fraternity’s history, more and more attention was being devoted to the oversight of collegiate chapter operations. President Van Auken elaborated, explaining, “Never so much visitation of chapters, so great attention given to rushing problems.”

5. That there be a redistribution of chapters in provinces, that there be new provinces if necessary, and names of provinces be changed if necessary.

“The best method of all seems to me to make your fraternity mean so much that everyone wants to be an Alpha Chi that knows you. Never fail to do ‘missionary work’ and talk Alpha Chi when you are with young women who may be going to college. It is surprising how many people have been won to Alpha Chi by knowing one fine girl or a little of our high ideals.”

– Maude S. Steiner, Extension Vice-president 1919

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Three Alpha Chi Omegas celebrate the spirit of the 1935 National Convention.

6. That during the next college year province conventions or four district conventions, each combining two adjoining provinces, be held.

13. That the Constitution and Code provide a definite manner of procedure for the expulsion of alumnae members.

7. That as an emergency measure for the next two years, the local Panhellenic average may be accepted as Alpha Chi Omega’s average as a basis for initiation.

14. That the form of alumnae chapter charters be revised and that financing alumnae chapter installations be reduced to a minimum.

8. That a graduate student be permitted to choose whether or not she shall be active in her chapter.

15. That permanent inactivity be defined and terms regarding it be written in the Constitution and Code.

9. That the regulations regarding undergraduate inactivity be revised; that no inactivities be granted in the future without the required chapter vote and the approval of the alumna adviser. It is further recommended that a form be prepared for the use of all those seeking inactivity.

16. That a new plan for the active chapter portion of financing the national convention be adopted.

And upon Alpha Chi Omega’s fiftieth anniversary in 1935, President Van Auken struck a more celebratory chord that also challenged the Fraternity to greater heights: “And so we come to the close of our first fifty years... ‘A Golden Half-Century’ it has been called.

We look back at fifty years of service to young womanhood, fifty years of character building and call the years good. No lapse of years ever marks the completion of a task. A worthy goal is an advancing goal. As we celebrate the conclusion of a half century of our beloved fraternity, we bow in honor to the past, then turn and face the future with courage and devotion and with vigor.”

10. That the financial obligations of undergraduate transfers from one college to another be studied both in fairness to the member’s original chapter and the one in the college to which she transfers.

11. That the active chapters of the Fraternity contribute to a National Founders’ memorial rather than to attempt small annual memorials on their own campuses.

12. That the alumnae groups of the Fraternity be canvassed and asked to express either their willingness to support the Scholarships for Children program or to suggest a new and more central form of national altruistic program.

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R anecdote

From The Lyre, July 1916

No. 2

HELEN KELLER

In the spring of this year, when nature had triumphed over the obstacles of ice and snow, Helen Keller victorious, despite the barriers of blindness and deafness, came to tell us the story of her life-long battle to achieve the light of human understanding.

Miss Keller’s talk was preceded by one from her friend and constant teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who in a brief and understanding way, sketched the life of her pupil, describing the methods she had employed from the time she first undertook to teach the fiery, uncontrollable child of six. But it was not until the appearance of Helen Keller herself, that one realized completely the miracle that patient perseverance, unshaken faith, and sacrificial love had wrought.

The personality of this blind and deaf girl was best exemplified in her subject, “Happiness.”

The rapt expression of sheer gladness was in itself an interpretation of her theme. The light that is missing from her eyes must surely have found its way into her soul, for her face shone with a radiance almost divine.

No better or more significant Easter sermon could have been preached than that simple talk by the woman who has triumphed over the physical forces of darkness and risen to the immoral heights of light.

– Louise Carson, Tau

Click the image to view the full piece at the end of this book.

M the times The Effects of War The Great Depression 50th Anniversary Celebration

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The Effects of War World War I (known at the time as the Great War) understandably cast a long shadow over many Alpha Chi Omega endeavors and changed the face of college education. The effects were described in The First Fifty Years: No chapter of the fraternity failed to serve at the time of the country’s greatest need. During the World War Alpha Chi Omegas everywhere, like their contemporaries in other fraternities, did all in their power to assist in wartime activities. Red Cross sewing, bandage making and knitting were done in groups; entertainment for soldiers came from many a chapter, while one turned over its chapter house for government use. During the influenza epidemic in 1918 several chapters cooked and nursed in the barracks. Actives and alumnae alike raised money for Liberty Bonds, for the Red Cross, and for other relief agencies. Clothing was made and sent to Belgium and to the Near East. From the alumnae were drawn many workers to fill positions in their own communities and in Washington that the war machinery might go on.

and was fiscally conservative in spending money due to heavy war taxes and higher costs of supplies and equipment.

And Alpha Chi Omega was not spared the devastation of the Spanish influenza—with few members lives’ untouched by loss. The In Memoriam section of the January 1919 Lyre stated, “In the terrible ravages of the Spanish influenza many sisters in the bond have passed on, with but few years behind them, and with many fruitful years of life and work before them. We pause saddened at our loss, and filled with deep sympathy for their loved ones whose loss is even greater than ours. For the beautiful lives of our members who have left us, we wish to express our great thankfulness here.”

According to a report on social customs presented by Alpha Chi Omega to the National Panhellenic Congress in 1915 (based on questionnaires sent to fraternities and sororities on campuses across the country): Enrollment of girls seems to have increased rather than diminished during the war. The universal reduction of cost and number of social occasions and the money and time given by fraternity girls to war work should be a matter of pride to all fraternity members and the means of breaking down much of the old prejudice against the fraternity system.

Twenty-nine members of Alpha Chi Omega served their country overseas during the war and were presented with the Fraternity’s newly established Distinguished Service Medal in 1914. The war years were, according to National President Alta Allen Loud, “marked by abnormal conditions, unusual sacrifices, and much altruistic and patriotic service.” In her 1919 National President’s Address, she expanded on this, saying, “Since we last met together in a National Convention the world has been shaken to its very foundations, our souls have been tried, our faith sorely tested, but we have emerged from the cleansing fires, purified and ennobled, with firmer faith, loftier ideals, and a deeper devotion to the principles of fraternity.

We are rejoicing today that the old will spring on more in accordance with the ideals cherished by the thinking people of the world, as comprehended in the one word ‘Service.’

We are living today as we have never lived before. Our moral and spiritual fibers have been strengthened. We are ‘in tune with the Infinite.’”

Fraternity finances were also impacted by the war.

While the organization’s finances were still in generally good condition, the National Council kept a close eye on the status

At the 1922 Convention in Colorado Springs, Colorado, National President Gladys Livingston Graff said, “Our last convention coming at the termination of the war period was especially significant viewed in retrospect for services rendered, and sacrifices cheerfully endured. The personal losses experienced by many of our members seemed only to strengthen fraternal bonds of friendship, and the loving sympathy so freely offered served to stimulate equally in giver and recipient a strong desire to carry on for fraternity and country.”

Support of French War Orphans After extensive research by national officers as to how best to provide war relief efforts on a national scale, the decision was made to begin supporting French war orphans. According to the National Council, this would “meet the great demands at present and will provide us with an appealing, satisfying, systemized form of relief work, and one that as a fraternity we can carry out with facility and without excessive strain.”

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After a committee on war relief chose the adoption of French orphans, from 1916 to 1921 Alpha Chi Omega members provided financial support for more than 100 French children. Each active chapter was asked to adopt at least one orphan, with larger chapters sometimes adopting two. Alumnae chapters were also asked to adopt one orphan—and it was hoped alumnae clubs could do the same. Payments were sent directly to the Committee of the Fatherless Children of France, which was located in Boston, Massachusetts.

Zeta Zeta alumnae chapter in Boston, Massachusetts, was an especially strong supporter of the effort. Zeta alumna Gladys Livingston Graff (who also served as National President from 1920-1924) served as chairman of the French Orphan Committee, and the chapter supported three orphans over a five-year period. In enthusiastically endorsing the program, Gladys entreated chapters to support the cause, saying, “Stop a moment and consider that if each active and alumnae chapter, as well as the alumnae clubs, would adopt one little orphan, fifty children’s futures could be provided for with the minimum effort and expense. Then you will realize that this truly is a superb undertaking.”

Lyre Editor Florence Armstrong explained the undertaking to the membership at large in the January 1918 issue of The Lyre, explaining, “The Council learned that at present the Fraternity could best serve by speedy and concerted aid to the destitute and bereaved children of France. The fact that a number of our chapters and of our members have contributed already to this emergency in the past years has demonstrated the entire practicability and the deep appeal of this form of service. The time may come when our energies may be needed in the saving of the fatherless children of America, in which event the training we have received in our cooperation with the Orpheliant des Armees will prove an excellent preliminary.”

And who could not be moved by this plea from Zeta alumna Alinda Montgomery—“The injury, the starvation, and consequent ruined health of these children will be felt all over the world in thirty years, when they should be in the prime of their activity. Not one of us would stand by

and see a child suffer if we could help it. And we can help, not all the children, of course, but some of them.”

In establishing this ambitious program, Alpha Chi Omega volunteers worked with the Orpheliant des Armees.

The following letter helped outline the relationship: According to The First Fifty Years: The work of caring for the orphans on the other side of the water was in the hands of local committees in every town and village, who appointed “a guardian to follow each child’s course in school, to note his tastes and aptitudes, and decide with the mother on the career best suited for him. The best possible training will then be afforded the child, whatever he is to become, from a manual laborer to a professional man or an artist.”

A small state allowance will be supplemented by the committee when necessary to enable the mother to keep the home together. Children were thus reared “with a mother’s care in the little town or village where the father lived, and where there is a tradition of valor and honesty to be upheld.”

Immediately after the war, an impassioned plea was made in The Lyre to continue this important altruistic work:

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Reports from headquarters beg us not to abandon these poor “kiddies” for the very reason that the war is over.

So many are feeling their responsibility ended on this account, and consequently hundreds of children are being thrown back on the French Government, which is at present totally unable to support them. Depreciation of currency, chaotic conditions due to any reconstruction period are largely responsible for this state of affairs, and the children are the unfortunate victims. It means institutional life if they are abandoned. Haven’t they suffered enough? Is it fair to separate them from their mothers as the war has separated them from their fathers? Won’t you please save them for one more year?

thrilled with the thought, “The war is over.” Then came the realization that we could gradually return to normal life, to normal pleasures. Finally, the members of the National Council began to hope for the holding of our long-deferred convention. Twice have we planned this convention, and twice postponed it. But now we dare to plan again, and this time we confidently believe that we shall enjoy the realization of our hopes, and shall meet in Chicago July 1 for the most successful convention in the history of Alpha Chi Omega.

After the War As reported in The Lyre, July 1919: The major part of that margin of time which all of us had invested formerly in our fraternity had, from plain necessity, to go into war service, and our interest and strength likewise were concentrated in the thousand and one calls of the nation’s needs.” Still, the national organization and its officers were optimistic about the fraternity’s future.

The 1919 Convention in Chicago featured an expansive exhibit of letters, photographs, and gifts from orpahns to Alpha Chi Omega chapters. “Nearly a hundred letters and communications from the children,” according to The First Fifty Years, “reminded the convention that the orphaned little ones still needed help, so the work was continued for two more years until France was able to take care of its own.

And the national organization had suggestions for post-war behavior. In a letter to collegiate chapters, this recommendation was made: Now that the turmoil following the war has died down, it would be well to study the conduct of your fraternity house. Is it a restful, quiet home, where due regard is given to the rights of each and every member?

If not, what can you do to give it the atmosphere that we feel sure each chapter covets?

Postponing Conventions The 1917 Convention was canceled due to the war and postponed again in 1918 until 1919. Although disappointing, these cancellations were in the larger interest of the Fraternity.

Reasons given for the postponement included uncertainty regarding travel conditions, high railroad rates, the expectation of a small number of attendees, too large an expense for the Fraternity and its chapters, the ability to carry out business by correspondence, a desire to use savings for the expenses related to a paid Central Office (which was deemed the Fraternity’s greatest need at the time), the belief that frequent visits by national officers could benefit the organization, and the possibility of doing war relief work. National Council officers agreed to serve longer terms— according to National President Alta Allen Loud, “Each officer cheerfully consented to bear her burden under difficulties and abnormal conditions.”

As reported by National President Alta Allen Loud: The signing of the armistice last November brought unspeakable joy to our hearts. For days we were

In her 1919 report in The Heraeum, National President Alta Allen Loud described the effects of the war upon the Fraternity. “The period of the war has been a testing time for fraternities and they have stood the test. The war has left none of us untouched. Many have endured personal sorrow.

Besides the Bond of Fraternity many have become sisters through the Red Badge of Suffering. But our visions are broadened, our sympathies quickened, our ideals more lofty, and our consecration to duty more devoted.”

And in 1922, National President Gladys Livingston Graff spoke to the enduring strength of Alpha Chi Omega:

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The years that have passed since 1919 have not found us resting on our laurels, but have witnessed the growth of constructive idealism within the fraternity. It is my privilege today to place before you evidence of the progress of our organization, strong now in peace as in war, equaled by but few Greek societies and surpassed by none.

Not everything was positive, however. National Inspector Gretchen Groch Troster pointed out some particular areas of concern post-War: The two years following the close of the war brought problems to chapters and Council alike, as there seemed to be a general letting down of moral standards and ideals. As a result, it became the unpleasant duty of your Council to handle a considerable number of cases of discipline. It was difficult to place the blame for the cause, was it the individual, the chapter, the college, or the spirit of the times? The latter seems the most probable, as a natural reaction to war stress.

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The Great Depression The stock market crash of October 29, 1929, and the subsequent Great Depression took a toll on Alpha Chi Omega. Ethel Mead Van Auken was elected National President in 1930 and led the Fraternity through this period of national economic collapse, remaining in office for seven years. Still, in most respects, the Fraternity seemed to carry on in many normal ways.

In her 1933 Annual Report, President Van Auken stated, “The past year has not been one of marking time; of waiting for time to be better. Rather, it has been a year of keeping very close to our chapters; a year of strengthening all departments of the Fraternity; a year of preparation for a new future. Henry Ford has said that ours is a bridge generation, this is a period of revolutionary change in American life. ‘What is useful will survive, the rest will perish.’ We feel in all sincerity that fraternity organizations have proved their usefulness, their strength. We are certain that Alpha Chi Omega has been an anchor for our college girls, that she has given to them friendship, loyalty, interest and livable standards —all in place of material things which heretofore have been counted so important.”

Fortunately, President Van Auken was also able to report in 1933 that, “In a year when bank closings, banking holidays, bank moratoriums have become everyday phrases in our language, Alpha Chi Omega has lost no part of its funds, nor are any, with but one exception in banks operating on restricted bases.”

And in 1935, President Van Auken proclaimed, “This time of meeting together would not be complete if we did not review the accomplishments of the five years since we have met in convention. They have been five years of unusual happenings in world affairs; they have been five years of unusual accomplishment for Alpha Chi Omega. With the material world tottering, Alpha Chi Omega has endeavored to hew to a policy of close contact with her own. We have strengthened our internal organization; we have tried to build in our chapter houses the beauty of healthy, happy, harmonious living; we have not permitted the joy of fraternity to be overshadowed by routine.”

Some of the impacts of the Depression that were inevitably felt, however, were: • In

1922, a campaign had been instituted to raise an endowment of $100,000 by the Fraternity’s fiftieth anniversary in 1935. Each alumnae chapter contributed $50 and each alumnae club $25 annually until 1935.

(In 1930 the Convention ruled that clubs of fewer than 12 members would instead by assessed $2.00 per capita.) The stresses of the Great Depression made fulfillment of this goal very difficult, and adjustments had to be made to the established per capita fees. Although the alumnae chapters and clubs were excused of this obligation in the early 1930s, the Fraternity attained the goal of the endowment.

• The 1932 and 1934 Conventions were cancelled due to financial constraints. Because of the postponement, one dollar from each active chapter per capita tax was returned to the chapters.

• Collegiate chapters struggled with individual indebtedness.

Quote from National President Ethel Mead Van Auken, June 1933: In spite of the financial stress of the year and the struggles and sacrifices necessary in so many of our chapters, we have come through without the loss of a chapter house—an unusual story in these days —and with few chapters in a precarious financial condition. Our active girls and the alumnae who have worked with them are due unstinted praise for the manner in which they have met the unparalleled situations which have confronted them during the past year. Our national funds are stable and secure and in the crisis through which we hope we have passed we have been able to give the necessary assistance which has given stabilization and courage to our chapters. We have reason to be proud of our financial standing.

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Migrant agricultural worker’s family with hungry children.

Photo Credit: Dorothea Lange

Unemployed men queued outside a depression soup kitchen in Chicago.

Photo courtesy of US National Archives

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50th Anniversary Celebration The Golden Jubilee

well maintained; that the ideals of our fraternity be made a part of individual living; that those chapters not already in their homes make active plans to be established by 1935.” Alumnae chapters had their own set of directives: Continue their vigilance in linking all alumnae with the life of the fraternity; that those chapters not administering scholarships plan to do so; that alumnae clubs either administer scholarships of their own accord or join with one or more clubs in doing so that continued interest and enthusiasm for the fraternity be fostered.

Planning for the 1935 Golden Jubilee, the Fraternity’s fiftieth anniversary, began as early as 1930. This was not simply a matter of planning a congratulatory party, it was a call to sisters to strive for greatness.

As happily described in The First Fifty Years: Fifty years of building, of painstaking effort along the path first indicated by seven earnest girls in 1885 found its culmination in the Golden Jubilee Convention of Alpha Chi Omega. Many were its unique features, and many were its points of interest. Five years of planning went toward its success, and more members of the fraternity shared both in its preparation and in its enjoyment than had ever before participated in any national event.

The challenge as made at the 1930 convention that each chapter present plans at the 1933 convention for a scholarship or some type of award to be presented in honor of the fiftieth anniversary at the college where they were located.

The Fiftieth Golden Jubilee Convention involved extensive, complex travel. It was celebrated first in Greencastle, Indiana, then traveled by train to White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, and, finally, to Washington, D.C. But the convention planners were up to the logistical

Collegiate chapters were urged by National President Ethel Mead Van Auken to “look well to all departments of work; that rushing be guarded and watchful; that scholarship be given first place in the life of the chapter that interest in the life of the respective college campus be

Pictured above: Seated are Founders Estelle Leonard, Nellie Gamble Childe, Bertha Deniston Cunningham and Olive Burnett Clark with other attendees of the 1935 convention.

Pictured left: There was much to be celebrated at the 1935 convention. An 1885 costume party was a highlight of the celebration. Here, three Alpha Chi Omegas, participated in style, one even sporting a top hat!

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challenges. According to The First Fifty Years: Many were the predictions of failure and the doubts which arose in the minds of those who had nothing to do with the arrangements as to the feasibility of transporting such a large group from place to place.

Nothing but praise could be heard however, at the close of the six days for the most efficient management which was directed by Maud Marks McLane, Iota, in charge of transportation, and Esther Barney Wilson, Beta, convention chairman. Luggage found its way almost miraculously into the proper compartments of the special trains and waited in hotel rooms to greet its owners on their arrival... No detail was too small, nothing too much trouble to receive the immediate response of Mrs. McLane and Mrs. Wilson.

•A

model initiation ceremony in Meharry Hall, along with the Memorial Service • National President Ethel Mead Van Auken made these remarks upon the tablet’s dedication: Greetings!

Today as we gather to honor our Founders we bring to them a record of the accomplishments of the fifty years since they sent us forth. We have come as a happy family to celebrate a joyous occasion. We pause, look back, and view our fifty years of noble history; we look forward with strengthened belief in the permanent value of Alpha Chi Omega.

Today, in dedicating this tablet to you, our Founders, we ask that you let us re-dedicate ourselves to the same ideals, to the same beauty of purpose for which Alpha Chi Omega was founded.

Activities in Greencastle: •A

visit to Meharry Hall at DePauw University, with motion pictures of the Founders, officers and convention delegates and greetings to the convention-goers—and memories from the four Founders in attendance: Olive Burnett Clark, Bertha Deniston Cunningham, Nellie Gamble Childe and Estelle Leonard. Also attending was James Campbell (Beta Theta Pi), the former librarian for the School of Music at DePauw who had been so instrumental in forming Alpha Chi Omega.

• Olive Burnett Clark revealed their plans for the yet unborn fraternity; Nellie Gamble Childe spoke of pledging seven girls who joined the Founders the day before the fraternity made its first public appearance The story of that red-letter day came from Estelle Leonard, first president of the new organization; and Bertha Deniston Cunningham, in whose possession was the only original badge in existence, gold of its designing.

Alpha Chi Omega’s first pledge, Rose Meredith Turley was also present to tell of her initiation.

• An examination of the archives displayed by Hannah Keenan • A convention photo • Dedication of the memorial tablet to the Founders at the Alpha chapter house

This tablet marks the site where the Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity was founded October 15, 1885.

Dedicated to the Founders of the Fraternity, June 26, 1935.

Activities in White Sulphur Springs: • Opening business session (with delegates present from all fifty-eight collegiate chapters and from thirty-eight alumnae chapters) and the report of National President Ethel Mead Van Auken. From her address: Fifty years ago our beloved seven started out on what was doubtless a daring adventure. The trials, the problems, the joys of the half-century have tested the strength of their purpose, the truth of their faith, the power of the Bond which is Alpha Chi Omega. In unbroken succession the years bear testimony to their courage and their foresight.

Our yesterdays spread before us on a splendid record of problems well-met, handicaps overcome, success on every side. The fifty years are a romance of friendships, a saga of comradeships, a halfcentury of achievement.

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“May you all in some mysterious way sense in your hearts the appreciation and love of those few who first of all began to build this stately mansion of our souls.”

– Olive Burnett Clark, Founder

• Breakfasts

for members of Mortar Board and Phi Beta Kappa (Yet again, academic achievement was respected and recognized!)

• The Olympian dinner, complete with an elaborate historical fashion show • Recollections of the four attending Founders and presentation of Alpha Chi Omega’s fiftieth birthday cake (The Founders’ reminiscences were recorded, so the Fraternity has in its archives these amazing firsthand descriptions of the Fraternity’s founding.)

• A pageant reflecting on the decades of Alpha Chi Omega’s history • Chapter reunions and “frolic”

From the Golden Jubilee Pageant: The years stretch on ahead, to these we pledge High hopes; integrity of thought and deed; Truth, honor, and the torch passed on Of knowledge, and of faith to those whose steps Will follow in the way that we have trod.

With loyal hearts we offer up our lives Together, to the service of mankind.

Thus shall our Alpha Chi Omega live.

From Remarks by National President Ethel Mead Van Auken: Fraternities everywhere are being challenged to justify their existence. Since we so firmly believe in fraternity and the equalities for which it stands, since we believe in fundamental ideals and have found them applicable to daily needs, we accept the challenge. We recognize our weaknesses, our imperfections—they do not impede our progress, rather they are urges to greater perfection. Let us not talk about our beautiful ideals, let us live them.

They are as vital and as essential today as they were fifty years ago.

Activities in Washington, D.C.: • A Panhellenic dinner followed by a musical presentation

by Marian Nevins MacDowell (Zeta, New England Conservatory) • Convention business • Tours of the city and a visit to Mt. Vernon • A final banquet complete with gold decorations and décor—and a showing of “motion pictures which had been taken on Homecoming Day at Greencastle” • Presentation of the Distinguished Service Medal to the Founders • Appreciation from the Founders, shared by Olive Burnett Clark: May you all in some mysterious way sense in your hearts the appreciation and love of those few who first of all began to build this stately mansion of our souls.

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Founders Bertha Deniston Cunningham, Estelle Leonard, Nellie Gamble Childe and Olive Burnett Clark pose with the 50th Anniversary celebration cake wearing 1885 period dresses.

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R anecdote

From The Lyre, October 1927

No. 3

WEAR YOUR PIN!

“You go on, Betty – I forgot my Alpha Chi pin.”

“Oh! Mother, don’t go back after it. What’s the use – you don’t need it anyway.”

But mother did go back and still the two made the suburban train in plenty of time. Arrived in the city, a date at the dentist’s for Betty did not take as long as was expected so daughter begged, “As long as we’re in Chicago let’s go to that new theater and hear Saul Pash.”

Later, comfortably settled in aisle seats mother took care of her hat and two parcels while Betty’s lap held her blue felt and the family purse.

The show was entertaining so when a woman pushed by them to a vacant inside seat, they both hardly noticed her as they craned their heads in order not to miss what was happening on the stage.

But about fifteen minutes later when the same person stumbled over them in leaving they were somewhat provoked at again missing a bit of the show.

When the program ended the two hurried to the elevated station where mother paid the two tickets she had in her coat pocket. So it was not until they arrived at the Union depot and Betty asked for money to buy a magazine that they made a horrible discovery.

Neither one had the pocket book which contained not only their money but the commutation

Click the image to view the full piece at the end of this book.

M conventions and council meetings Conventions from 1912-1935 Council Meetings from 1911-1935

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1911-1935 Conventions and Council Meetings

Grand Council Meeting, June 27-July 1, 1911—New York City, New York

• It was reported that the studio at the MacDowell Colony

was nearing completion. Furnishings were discussed.

• The treasurer’s report cited a balance on hand of $627.26. Finances related to publications were not included in this balance.

• The Honor Pin, adopted during the 1910 convention, was

presented for the first time to Alta Allen Loud, Florence Reed Haseltine, Mary Jones Tennant, Frank Busey Soule, and Mabel Siller.

• The president, secretary and editor were empowered to publish a secret journal, The Heraeum.

NOTE: The first issue of The Heraeum of Alpha Chi Omega was identified as “The Secret Organ of the Fraternity” and included these instructions: This Journal is to be destroyed after careful reading, one copy only being preserved by the historian of each chapter. No person except a member of this Fraternity shall be shown a copy of The Heraeum. The contents of this journal shall be regarded as secret.

Grand Council Meeting, June 22-25, 1912— Madison, Wisconsin • The committee on collegiate chapter bylaws was directed

to create uniform house rules.

• Special dispensation was granted to various chapters permitting them to reduce their percentage of musical students because of “their need for a more flexible basis of membership.

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1912 National Convention.

Thirteenth National Convention: June 26-28, 1912—Madison, Wisconsin

• Uniform house rules were adopted.

• The Grand Chapter assembled at Lathrop Hall with

Kappa [Wisconsin] and Eta Eta [Madison] serving as joint hostesses. Grand President Evangeline Bridge Stevenson presided, with 118 members in attendance.

• Delegates represented 18 collegiate chapters and 7 alumnae chapters.

• A decision of great importance was to change the scholarship fund to a reserve fund “to meet any especial emergencies of the Grand Council or of active chapters.” Five thousand dollars was set as a goal to be reached before the next convention. It was understood that a scholarship fund would be established later.

understanding that the Constitution be “on trial” until the next convention. One of the changes contained in the new Constitution involved nomenclature, changing from “Grand” Council to “National” Council officers.

• The revised Constitution provided for a province government system that organized the collegiate chapters into five geographic areas with a province president responsible for each area.

• A special dispensation was made to hold the next convention in 1915, “in order that a greater number of members might attend, and a longer time might elapse for preparations to finance a Pacific Coast assembly.”

• It was determined that an examination on the Ritual

• A trophy “to be awarded yearly by the Fraternity under

• A revised Constitution and Code were adopted with the

Council supervision to the active chapter showing the greatest excellence in all fraternal relations” was ordered.

should be given to “familiarize initiates more thoroughly with the vows which they had taken” within two weeks after initiation.

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Social features: An automobile ride along Lake Monona,

• The report of the Nominating Committee slated Alta Allen

Loud as National President. She withdrew her name. “It was moved and seconded that there be a rising vote of thanks to Mrs. Loud and the deferring of her decision until Friday morning with the sincere desire that she accept the office in question. Carried.” On Friday, Mrs. Loud again was slated as National President and the slate of officers was accepted.

a play by Kappa chapter, a dance, a picnic and the convention banquet.

National Council Meeting, May 14-17, 1913— Decatur, Illinois This meeting preceded the installation of Upsilon chapter at James Millikin University.

• Authorization was given for publication of a Handbook of Rushing Rules.

• It was voted “that the initiation of sophomores and freshmen be deferred until scholarship records, ranking 80 or above, be made for the preceding semester.”

•

At the conclusion of the minutes from this convention contained in the 1912 Heraeum, the Council offered these “suggestions” to active members of the Fraternity: Eliminate slang. There was a most undignified and excessive use of slang by Convention delegates.

• All chapters on campuses where houses are permitted

were urged to take steps to own houses.

Cultivate the ability, as a valuable asset, to talk (avoiding the use of ‘Well’ and ‘Why’ at the beginning of sentences.)

• A housing committee was formed to serve as an advisory

group working with local committees from chapters to form financing plans.

• Two delegates were chosen to attend an interfraternity conference to discuss anti-fraternity legislation.

• The National Council Trophy was presented to Omicron chapter, Baker University.

Speak distinctly to address one’s audience, and speak to the point.

Give more careful thought to the selection of officers; cultivate special talents.

Alta Allen Loud provided these “suggestions” to the chapters in her Report of the National President:

And, let Alpha Chi Omega stand for broader womanhood, for kindness to non-fraternity women, for active interest and participation in college activities.

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ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

1. The fostering of a spirit of cordial relations with the Deans of Women.

• National President Alta Allen Loud presided and 44

delegates were certified by Past Grand President Janette Allen Cushman, chairman of the credential committee and Alta’s sister.

2. The observance of both the spirit and letter of college rules and of local Pan-Hellenic rules.

• National President Loud announced that Janette Allen

Cushman, the first president of Alpha Chi Omega, was entitled to a vote at convention.

• The first newspaper, The Convention Transcript, was published.

• The extension policy was broadened to include as eligible all first-class universities and colleges.

• It was ordered that none but initiated members of Alpha chi Omega be allowed to wear articles bearing the coat-of-arms.

• Initiates were required to purchase a badge within a specified time after initiation. They also were required to purchase a copy of The History, a directory and a life subscription to The Lyre.

• A scholarship fund was instituted.

• A slight profit to the Fraternity on each badge purchased was made possible by the appointment of a sole official jeweler, J. F. Newman and Company. This royalty was specified for the scholarship fund.

• A uniform die for the badge was adopted, to be made in gold and set with three pearls, three diamonds, or any combination of these stones.

• A traditions committee was created “to enforce the traditions of the fraternity in individual chapters.”

• To meet the need for wider alumnae involvement, the office of alumnae vice president, considered first vice president, was created. The extension vice president became second vice president.

3. Encouragement of written invitations to fraternity membership, also written acceptances, and the creation of the sentiment that a lost bid is at times inevitable and should not occasion ill feeling toward a rival.

4. The cultivation of an appreciation of the high standards of other fraternities, the insistence that chapters shall be honorable themselves and trust in the honor of every other fraternity.

5. The avoidance of newspaper notoriety.

6. The exercise of moderation in social activities.

7. The avoidance of chapter indebtedness.

National Council Meeting, October 19-21, 1914—New York City, New York • The

official seal, designed by Secretary Birdean Motter Ely, was adopted.

• The Symphony of Alpha Chi Omega, by Celia E. McClure, Delta chapter, Allegheny College, was “adopted as official.”

• Recommendations were made to the reserve fund committee “that when a chapter petitioning for a loan has raised $1,000 or more toward a building fund, an equal amount shall be loaned to it from the reserve fund.”

• Regulations for loans and for the compilation of instructions for house building were passed.

• The National Council Trophy was presented to Alpha chapter, DePauw University.

Eligibility for membership was adopted as follows: Any woman of good character having finished a course in a secondary school or its equivalent is eligible to membership in Alpha Chi Omega, provided she is taking:

Fourteenth National Convention: June 28July 2, 1915—Long Beach, California

a. A regular collegiate course leading to a degree. b. A regular course in music.

• Announcement of the convention program had been

sent to all members of the Fraternity so interest was widespread. Over 230 members attended.

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1915 National Convention.

In addition, it was determined that a standing committee of three members be appointed to enforce the traditions of the Fraternity in individual chapters. By doing this, the National Council hoped “each chapter may honestly live up to the musical requirements made of it, and thereby more truly preserve the high ideals fostered by serious music study.”

• The decision was made to recommend the establishment

of a central office with a paid secretary-editor.

• A social customs committee was appointed to formulate suggestions regarding the social life of chapters.

• A committee appointed to make plans for war relief work reported that “the work decided on is the adoption of French orphans.”

• The convention planned for 1917 was moved to the end of the 1917-1918 college year. All National Council officers agreed to continue in their positions for this extended period of time.

• Alta Allen Loud was reelected National President.

• The National Council Trophy was presented to

Pi chapter, University of California at Berkeley.

Social features: A beach supper, chapter stunts, a launch ride on the sea, an automobile tour of Los Angeles, a musicale and pageant, chapter reunions, a dance and the convention banquet. A special train brought the delegates to convention from Chicago, Illinois.

Fifteenth National Convention, July 1-5, 1919—Chicago, Illinois • Due to WW I, the convention scheduled for 1917

and then postponed until 1918, was cancelled.

• National President Alta Allen Loud presided and 383

members attended, including four founders: Anna Allen Smith, Olive Burnett Clark, Estelle Leonard and Bertha Deniston Cunningham.

• The decision was made to establish a central office with a paid secretary-editor. As stated in the minutes, “The rapidly increasing volume of correspondence and the greater complexity of fraternity administration made the appointment of a full time executive imperative.”

National Council Meeting, June 20-26, 1916— Syracuse, New York • The National Council Trophy was presented to Alpha

chapter, DePauw University.

National Council Meeting, November 5-8, 1917—Chicago, Illinois • The National Council Trophy was presented to Tau

chapter, Brenau University.

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• A committee was appointed to investigate possibilities

• The decision was made to postpone convention from

for national altruistic work. The minutes clarify that “the fraternity has no intention of abandoning the orphans from its two French districts. Support will be increased for the next year.”

• Recognition was given to the members who served in the military.

• A permanent endowment for Star Studio at the MacDowell Colony was established.

• Provision for the initiation of honorary members was removed from the Constitution.

1921 to 1922 because of increased railroad fares. Province meetings in 1921 would be held instead.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Zeta chapter, New England Conservatory of Music.

National Council Meeting, September 23-28, 1921—Washington, D.C. • Regulations were adopted governing reserve fund loans

made to active chapters, limiting loans to ten percent of the cost of the house. No loan was to be allowed to run for more than ten years.

• The Constitution was amended to provide that election

to membership in an active chapter “shall be by means of the ballot box.”

• Elizabeth Dunn Prins, Iota, University of Illinois, was elected National President.

• The National Council Trophy was presented to Iota chapter, University of Illinois.

• It was decided that in colleges where the quarter system

is used, two quarters’ grades be required for initiation.

• National Council asked collegiate chapters to acknowledge

recommendations for membership made by alumnae and give reasons for such action as is taken.

• The decision was made to re-install Eta chapter, Bucknell University, inactive since 1899.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Psi chapter, University of Oklahoma.

Social features: Chapter reunions, a musicale, automobile trip to Evanston with dinner at the Evanston Woman’s Club, stunt night, and the convention banquet.

Sixteenth National Convention, June 26-30, 1922—Colorado Springs, Colorado

National Council Meeting, September 24-28, 1920—Yonkers, New York

• National President Gladys Livingston Graff presided

Because of the resignation of National President Elizabeth Dunn Prins, Gladys Livingston Graff was selected by the National Council to complete her term of office. This notice appeared in the 1920 Heraeum: It was with great regret that the National Council accepted the resignation of Elizabeth Dunn Prins, effective March 15, 1920, since her husband’s business made it necessary for them to leave the United States.

The National Council appreciated sincerely the loyal cooperation of Myra H. Jones, First Vice President, who acted as president from that date until the first of July... Gladys Livingston Graff accepted the appointment of the Council as National President and began her term of office the first of July.

and 333 were in attendance.

• The per capita tax was increased from $5.00 to $8.00.

• The decision was made that each initiate would be

required to sign five alumnae notes for $15 each to be paid to the Fraternity after the undergraduate years.

Proceeds from these notes were to be divided between the convention fund, scholarship fund, scholarships for children fund, reserve fund and chapter building funds.

• The committee on national altruistic work recommended that scholarships for children be chosen. The recommendation was adopted.

• National Council was expanded to include the office of council delegate as a voting member, “a year’s trial having proved the value of this officer.”

• Provision was made for the first central office.

• L. G. Balfour was appointed official jeweler under a contract promising generous royalties that would cover two-thirds of the cost of the central office.

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• Members of the Fraternity who had served overseas

• The chairman of the committee appointed to investigate

during the World War were awarded bronze medals.

fellowships for graduate study reported that in 1926 the scholarship fund would total approximately $15,000.

At that time, $5,000 would be invested, “thereby establishing a $500 biennial fellowship.

• Beatrice Herron Brown, Alpha, DePauw University, was elected National President.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Alpha chapter, DePauw University.

• The salary of the secretary-editor was set at $1,800 with

an allowance for office rent not to exceed $300 per year.

• National President Gladys Livingston Graff was reelected to that office.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Xi chapter, University of Nebraska.

Special features: Exemplification of the Ritual and new memorial service, model chapter meeting, musicale, Crystal Park drive and barbecue, chapter reunion dinner, stunt night, tea dance and swim at the Broadmoor Hotel, recital of Indian music, Pike’s Peak trip at sunrise and the convention banquet.

Special features: A musicale; automobile trip to Concord,

National Council Meeting, July 23-28, 1923— Yonkers, New York

National Council Meeting, September 8-12, 1925—Chicago, Illinois

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Lambda

• The use “of a third Greek alphabet, to begin with Beta

chapter, Syracuse University.

• The organization of Mothers’ Clubs was recommended to all chapters.

Gamma, was authorized for chapter designation.”

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Omicron chapter, Baker University.

• A committee was appointed to investigate the establishment

• It was voted that “an appropriate memorial service should

Salem and other sights in Massachusetts; chapter reunion dinners; an afternoon sail on the North Shore to Gloucester followed by a New England clambake and the convention banquet.

of fellowships for graduate study.

be conducted in all active and alumnae groups in memory of Mary Emma Griffith Marshall.” Mary Emma was the secretary-editor who died unexpectedly while in office in July 1925.

Seventeenth National Convention, June 23-27, 1924—Swampscott, Massachusetts • National President Gladys Livingston Graff presided, with

Eighteenth National Convention, June 28-July 2, 1926—Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada

353 members in attendance.

• Mrs. Solomon W. Lowe, James Hamilton Howe’s sister, read a letter from Dean Howe welcoming the Fraternity to his native Essex County, Massachusetts.

• The chief event was the installation of Alpha Tau chapter, University of New Hampshire. This was the first time a chapter was installed at a convention.

• A model chapter meeting was conducted at which the officers of Alpha Tau were installed.

• A motion was passed prohibiting “rough initiations.”

• Funds were appropriated to make improvements to Star Studio and $325 was designated for the MacDowell Colony Endowment fund.

A special train from Chicago brought some of the 254 delegates and visitors to “this spot of unparalleled beauty.” National President Beatrice Herron Brown presided over the convention.

• As stated in the minutes: Its dominant achievements were the inauguration of a new alumnae program looking forward to the fiftieth anniversary of the Fraternity, and the further centralization of routine work in the Central Office.

• The alumnae program was designed to add affiliated members and to realize the desired endowment by the •

32 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

1928 National Convention attendees.

National Council Meeting, June 20-25, 1927—Lansing, Michigan

fiftieth anniversary. State chairmen were appointed to “round up scattered alumnae and incite them to active interest.”

• Because the work of the central office combined the duties of national secretary and editor of The Lyre, it “had come to be heavier than any one individual could carry. The convention added to the staff a full-time assistant to take over strictly routine work.”

• The decision was made to abolish the office of extension vice president and transfer the expansion work to the central office.

• The convention voted to establish the Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Memorial Fellowship. The award was to be made to a member of the Fraternity for European graduate study.

• A memorial service was presented at the opening session in memory of Mrs. Marshall and all others who had died since the 1924 convention.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Alpha Iota chapter, University of Vermont.

•A

financial survey was approved, looking to “the inauguration of a paid traveling inspector.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Mu chapter, Simpson College.

Nineteenth National Convention, June 25-30, 1928—Mackinac Island, Michigan • National President Beatrice Herron Brown presided, and

389 members were present. This included the five living Founders who presented a basket of flowers in memory of the two Founders, Amy DuBois Rieth and Bessie Grooms Keenan, who had died.

• The decision was made to create a paid field secretary position. As stated in the minutes: “A salaried officer who should devote her entire time to traveling and chapter inspections was the obvious solution to the problem of providing the assistance asked for by the fifty chapters of the Fraternity.”

• National President Beatrice Herron Brown was reelected.

• The per capita tax was increased to $10 to cover the

Special features: The traditional musicale and reception, a

expense of the paid field secretary position.

• The resolution of the National Panhellenic Congress against smoking in chapter houses was endorsed.

• A convention choir led 15 minutes of singing at each session.

motor trip to Lake Moraine in the Valley of the Ten Peaks “which was made more interesting by the taking of motion pictures,” the reunion dinner, a Frolic, a trip to Banff and dinner at the Banff Springs Hotel and the convention banquet.

33 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

• The

National Council Trophy was awarded to Mu chapter, Simpson College.

• The National Council Nominating Committee recommended Fay Frisbee Johnston, Pi chapter, for the office of National President. Ethel Mead Van Auken, slated for the office of national inspector, was nominated from the floor for the office of national president, and she was elected on the first ballot.

• The office of national inspector was eliminated from the National Council.

• It

was announced that the Greek letters were registered in the United States Patent Office in May 1929.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Alpha Iota, University of Vermont.

Twentieth National Convention, June 28July 3, 1930—Del Monte, California • National

President Ethel Mead Van Auken and 396 members attended. This included three Founders, four past National Presidents and delegates from 54 active and 22 alumnae chapters.

• An important accomplishment of the convention was “the promotion of closer understanding between the fraternity’s officers and the general membership.”

• The office of secretary-editor was divided into two separate positions.

• The convention voted to condemn “hell week” and to place chapters on probation that continue this practice.

• It was voted that each collegiate chapter should make plans for an award of some kind on its own campus in recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the Fraternity.

Special features: A musical and reception, surrey drive along the Island trails, garden party, chapter reunion dinner, skit portraying Alpha Chi Omega in 1885, bridge party and dance, boat trip along the islands of Les Cheneaux, “the dinner of the Olympians” and the convention banquet.

National Council Meeting, August 5-10, 1929—Chicago, Illinois • Two

new additions to the Ritual were approved: a revised memorial service and the ceremony for the installation of alumnae chapters.

• The

council delegate’s title was changed to national inspector.

34 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

1930 National Convention.

National Council Meeting, June 22-27, 1931—Colorado Springs, Colorad

• Each chapter was instructed to provide penalties for

members who fail to maintain the initiation average.

• During the convention, 20 “pledges” were initiated in a model ceremony. Members of the National Council, assisted by a collegiate member, conducted the Ritual.

• The decision was made to assign a member selected by the National Council to reside with newly installed chapters for at least one semester.

• Ethel Mead Van Auken was reelected National President.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Beta Epsilon chapter, Michigan State University.

• The first Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Memorial Fellowship was awarded to Lois Burnak, Alpha Iota, University of Vermont, for art study in Paris.

• An

honorarium of $600 per annum for a two-year period was authorized for James Hamilton Howe.

•A

committee was appointed to formulate plans for a Founders’ memorial to be dedicated at the 1935 convention.

• It was voted to require non-resident members and pledges to reside in chapter houses unless excused by the province president.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Alpha Zeta chapter, Washington University.

National Council Meeting, June 13-18, 1932—French Lick, Indiana

Special features: A drive to Carmel Mission and the giant

• It was voted that no member of an active chapter be

Redwoods, a musicale, Olympian dinner, chapter reunions, stunt night and the convention banquet.

excused from payment of the per capita tax, and that no girl in arrears more than 30 days be permitted to live in the chapter house.

• The decision was made to take legal action against delinquent borrowers from the loan fund.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded to Alpha Beta chapter, Purdue University.

35 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

1935 National Convention.

National Council Meeting, June 26-July 3, 1933—Chicago, Illinois

to consider postponement was prepared only after careful thought and because of intimate knowledge of the financial stress and burden under which the majority of our chapters were working.”

• An honorarium of $360 for the coming year was voted

to James Hamilton Howe “as a gift of appreciation from the Fraternity.”

• The decision was made that province conventions would be held during the year to take the place of the delayed national convention.

National Council Meeting, August 6-11, 1934—Glacier National Park, Montana • The planned memorial to the Founders scheduled

for the fiftieth anniversary was deferred indefinitely because of lack of sufficient funds.

• The name of the loan fund was changed to the Estelle McFarlane Dunkle Loan Fund, honoring the memory of its founder and treasurer.

• The reserve fund was named the Alta Allen Loud National Endowment Fund.

• The term of a house chaperone was limited to five years with one chapter.

• The charter for Alpha Theta chapter, Drake University was revoked. This was the first time in the Fraternity’s history for such action.

• It

was decided that active chapters should contribute to a national Founders’ memorial rather than attempt annual memorials on their own campuses.

• The National Council eliminated the National Council Trophy because of an inability to award it on an equitable basis.

• The National Council Trophy was awarded for the last time to Beta Delta chapter, College of William and Mary; Xi chapter, University of Nebraska; Epsilon chapter, University of Southern California.

• June

29, 1933: “The National Council was grieved to learn of the sudden death of Alta Allen Loud and plans were made for the attendance of Mrs. Van Auken as representative of the Fraternity at the funeral.”

• In her National President’s report, Ethel Mead Van Auken expressed regret at the necessity of cancelling the 1933 national convention. “The recommendation

• Because of the cancellation of the national convention, the

active chapter per capita tax was reduced by ten percent.

• The decision was made to pay $50 per month “to Dean Howe during his present illness.”

36 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Twenty-First National Convention, June 27-July 1, 1935— Greencastle, Indiana; White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia; Washington, D. C.

• Following a model presentation of the Ritual, the atten-

dees then traveled by train to White Sulphur Springs.

White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia • The convention continued for three days at the Greenbriar Hotel before going on to Washington, D. C. • Social events included the Olympian Dinner, 1885 costume party and the reunion dinner.

• A special train departed at 12:35 a.m. for Washington, D. C.

• National President Ethel Mead Van Auken presided and

441 members were registered, with the official opening session called to order at the Greenbriar Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

• The four remaining Founders attended as well as five past National Presidents.

• For the first time, all routine reports were presented to the convention body in mimeographed form so that business sessions could be shortened.

• The cost of initiation was lowered by eliminating the expense of the membership certificate and making the purchase of a directory optional.

• The National Council reported that it had contracted with the L. G. Balfour Company to supply a less expensive standard badge.

• The word “alumnae” was deleted from the title of the national vice president.

Washington, D. C. • The convention banquet was devoted to memories of the founding. A birthday cake was cut and served by the Founders.

• Each Founder told her story of the Fraternity’s origin, and recordings were made of their remarks.

• A pageant was presented depicting the fifty years of the Fraternity’s history.

• A special musicale featuring Edward MacDowell’s compositions was presented by guest artist, Marian MacDowell.

• Other social events included a Panhellenic dinner, swimming party on Chesapeake Bay, and a sightseeing tour of Washington, D. C.

• An officer was added to the National Council to be

titled national counselor.

• Minerva Osborn Donald was elected National President.

• Each Founder was presented with the Distinguished Service Medal.

Special features: Greencastle, Indiana • No official convention session was held in Greencastle, but roll call was taken before the initiation ceremony.

• Homecoming Day was celebrated on June 26. Chapel was held in Meharry Hall. Motion pictures of the Founders, officers and delegates were made as they entered the Hall.

• The Founders shared some of their recollections with those in attendance.

• A memorial tablet set in the wall of the Alpha chapter house was dedicated to the Founders.

1935 National Convention.

37 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

R anecdote

From The Lyre, October 1927

No. 4

THE ROUND ROBIN LETTER

What joy when the postman brings the good old round robin, because we know we will have a feast of news of our Alpha Chi classmates at college and perhaps there will be pictures of their children and news of other college friends, too!

When we left college the seven of us in the class of 1919 decided to keep in touch with each other by means of a round robin letter. One girl started it and each one added a letter as it came to her. When it returned to the first girl, she took out her first letter and put in a new one and sent it on its round again, each girl taking out her old letter and putting in a new one. It goes merrily around and round, sometimes quickly, sometimes more slowly for we are all busy housewives and we are widely separated geographically. However, early or belated, it is always welcome, for by it the ties which bind us to our college and our Alpha Chi chapter are made ever stronger. – Dorothy Chambers Pope, Chi,Salem

Click the image to view the full piece at the end of this book.

M alumnae luminaries Beloved Leader: Alta Allen Loud Gretchen O’Donnell Starr Florence A. Armstrong Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Marcia Clapp De Rocco Estelle McFarlane Dunkle Nella Ramsdell Fall Fay Barnaby Kent

39 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 1

Beloved Leader: Alta Allen Loud From the Albion Evening Recorder, [June 28, 1933]: Mrs. Alta A. Loud, 55 years old, of Detroit, widow of the late Attorney Edward R. Loud, a former Albion resident, died Wednesday afternoon at 2:45 of injuries sustained Tuesday evening when she was struck by an automobile in Detroit.

The National Council was in session at the Shoreland Hotel in Chicago when the news reached them, and a profound sadness and sense of loss spread across the entire membership to an extent never experienced before.

National President Van Auken left the National Council meeting to attend the funeral and to extend comfort to a distraught family and community. The November 1933 issue of The Lyre devoted twenty [!] pages as a tribute and memorial to her—Alta Mae Allen Loud, seventh and ninth National President of Alpha Chi Omega, and the longestserving National President in Alpha Chi Omega’s history.

Extraordinary response to an extraordinary woman?

Read the following summary of her contributions, and then decide the answer for yourself.

• Attended

Alpha Chi Omega’s fifth convention in 1897 and was elected grand secretary, holding that position until 1900.

• Upon

graduation in 1898, taught Greek and German at Albion College for five years.

• Served as Grand President from 1907-1910 “at a time when the Fraternity was outgrowing its infancy, and feeling the need of strong executive ability to direct its expansion and mold its policies.” Again, she followed her sister’s example, for Janette was Alpha Chi Omega’s first Grand President, having served from 1891-93.

During Alta’s first term of office, several landmark decisions were made.

1907 – Requirement of an alumna advisor for each collegiate chapter. In explaining this requirement to the chapters, Alta wrote: And now just a word to the active girls.

Remember that your alumnae adviser has authority, that often she must rebuke when praise would please her more... show her love, courtesy, and respect, and you will reap an hundred fold. Thus shall the links of our fraternal chain be more closely forged and active girls, advisers, and officers may join hands with each other and with the great body of our alumnae, and realize the best that is to be found in a sisterhood founded upon love.

• Was

initiated into Beta chapter, Albion College, in 1894, following her sister Janette’s example. From her lifelong friend, Ada Dickie Hamblen: We were pledged to Beta chapter while in high school and initiated our freshman year in college...

She held all chapter offices from the lowly janitorship to that of chapter president. When Alta was elected as delegate to the national convention at DePauw, she insisted upon sharing expenses so that I could accompany her. It was during that convention that I realized that Alta Allen was destined to become a power in Alpha Chi Omega.

1908 – Adoption of the Coat-of-Arms, researched and designed by a committee chaired by Alta Allen Loud. She wrote: Your committee has striven to give you a coat of arms absolutely correct from an heraldic standpoint, marked by the simplicity and dignity for which our fraternity stands, and bearing those symbols known and honored by every wearer of the lyre. Shall we not then buckle on our armor and, like the knights of old, go forth to battle for Alpha Chi Omega, keeping her fair name untarnished and her standards high?

• Alta

and Janette enjoyed a comfortable life with loving, supportive parents. Their father was instrumental in securing the financing for the construction of the Beta lodge, and both parents contributed generously to the furnishings and maintenance of the facility.

40 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

1909 – Establishment of a relationship with and support of the MacDowell Colony.

Two things happened during the next convention in 1912 that would have long-term effect on both the Fraternity and Alta: 1. The committee she chaired recommended the scholarship fund be changed to a reserve fund “to meet any especial emergencies of the Grand Council or of active chapters.” The committee believed a reserve fund would benefit the entire Fraternity and advance the financial security of the organization. The recommendation was “adopted with enthusiasm” by the convention delegates.

1910 – The celebration of Alpha Chi Omega’s twenty-fifth anniversary and the adoption of the initiation ceremony, acceptance of Hera as patron goddess, adoption of the open motto: “Together let us seek the heights,” which Alta wrote, and the establishment of an honor pin [the Hera head] for past grand officers.

From the April 1933, issue of The Lyre: The Hera head, worn beside our beloved lyre, tells of unselfish devotion to our fraternity and also expresses the love and thanks of Alpha Chi Omega to highly honored members... It is indeed fitting that she [Alta] should be the first to receive the Hera head pin.

2. The 1912 Nominating Committee slated Alta as President. She declined to be considered. However, it seems the delegates were not to be denied and asked her to put off a final decision until the following day. One can but imagine what happened next.

Esther Barney Wilson, National Treasurer, 1921-1924, provides some insight: It was a clear, irresistible call which would not consider her personal desires and preferences, but sounded over and over the one word, Duty; the delegates of active and alumnae chapters joined in a unanimous written petition to her to consider the request favorably. To the great joy of the fraternity, Mrs. Loud responded to the need for her, and took up the work of National President of the fraternity for which she had already given whole-souled and epoch-making service in the office...

From Myrta McKean Dennis, National Treasurer, 1909-1910: Her devotion to the study and teaching of the glories of ancient Greece must have given her a mind to see things in proportion, in balance and in beauty, for her work in Alpha Chi Omega shows all of these things.

From Helen Hardy Grant, National Secretary, 1911-1912: Always, on the council, she was the one to explain the girls’ point of view; and I remember that the girls loved her for her beauty and charm; and were always a little in awe of the fact that she had taught Greek on the Albion faculty.

Regardless of her initial reluctance, Alta Allen Loud returned to the presidency and continued to provide leadership for decisions that have defined the Fraternity ever since.

Alta retired from the National Council at the conclusion of the 1910 national convention. She then chaired a committee established to study the purpose of the scholarship fund established at that convention to commemorate the Fraternity’s 25th anniversary

1912 – Continuation of service as chair of the newly defined reserve fund while serving as National President.

41 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

1913 – Establishment of a scholarship requirement prior to initiation and appointment of a committee to formulate plans for financing chapter houses.

1914 – Adoption of My Symphony by Celia McClure as official as well as the official seal of the Fraternity.

Instructions were given to the reserve fund committee “that when a chapter petitioning for a loan has raised $1,000 or more toward a building fund, an equal amount shall be loaned to it from the reserve fund.”

1915 – Adoption of a uniform die for the badge to be made in gold set with three pearls, three diamonds or any desired combinations of these stones.

The extension policy was broadened to include as eligible all first-class universities and colleges.

Here are her comments on extension: The future will bring us more chapters. We are ambitious for no stated number. We care naught for a lengthy chapter roll, per se. But wherever we shall find desirable types of young womanhood, in institutions that meet our requirements, we shall gladly consider them believing in the strength of union, and the desirability of a well-distributed sisterhood.

1917 – Term of National Council officers extended because of the war and the postponement of convention.

For the second and final time, Alta Allen Loud left the office of National President, serving longer than any other woman in Alpha Chi Omega’s history. She continued to serve as chairman of the reserve fund until her resignation in 1930.

1919 – Establishment of a central office with a paid secretary-editor and the creation of a Distinguished Service Award to recognize members who served their country overseas. In searching for a way to adequately acknowledge Alta Allen Loud’s service to the Fraternity, an exception was made and she was awarded the Distinguished Service Award in 1922 “for outstanding constructive service to Alpha Chi Omega.”

42 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Alta wrote to her friend, Ada Dickie Hamblen, on April 28, 1933: I have been thinking a lot about you and would give more than you can realize for an honest to goodness visit with you... Do you realize that in 1935 Alpha Chi Omega will be celebrating her fiftieth anniversary?... What fun it would be if a group of us could get together and stage a real reunion. Do you think you can come and later to Michigan for a grand long visit with me? Wouldn’t that be fun?

Perhaps Audrey Kenyon Wilder, Delta Gamma, Dean of Women at Ohio Northern University at the time of Alta’s death and a life-long friend captured the essence of Alta Allen Loud best: We all admired her for her poised control, her keen judgment, her executive ability. The trait which especially endeared her to many was her effortless friendly way of understanding and remembering each person with whom she came in contact. The maid who served tea to Alta’s friends of an afternoon, a little student nurse, a puzzled college girl, as well as her professional associates and her personal friends—each gratefully realized that for Alta Allen Loud he or she was not just one more person, greeted and soon forgotten, but an individual. In a hurried world, often careless and frequently selfish, anyone who thus remembers is an oasis in a desert place.

An automobile driven by Leon R. Brooks prevented those plans from materializing.

In 1935, the reserve fund name was changed to the Alta Allen Loud National Endowment fund.

An iteration of her accomplishments and influence still fall short of capturing all that this woman was.

Remember, it took twenty pages in The Lyre. Her husband, Edward, described as “Albion’s foremost citizen” in his obituary, was her partner for 23 years. Upon his death, Alta wrote: Alpha Chi Omega has never failed me. From her have come many of my richest joys, truest friendships, greatest opportunities for service, and finest inspirations.

And last May, when I kissed the Cross and suffered the deepest sorry of my life, the loving sympathy of chapters, Council and individual members, as expressed in comforting letters and telegrams and beautiful flowers, brought a wonderful peace to my heart and gave me strength to ‘carry on.’ The last few months have shown me the wonderful goodness of the world, and it is with a heart full of gratitude that I express to the fraternity a very sincere ‘Thank you’ for its part in this revelation.

Thus the life story of Mrs. Loud repeated over and over again this theme of caring about people. For several years before her marriage she was a successful teacher in Albion College, her Alma Mater. Later as president at various times of the leading women’s organizations in Albion, including the federation of women’s clubs, she significantly influenced the life of her community. For nine years she served as a member of the Albion hospital board, being president at the time she retired, and the climax of her efforts in this field came with the dedication of an efficient and beautiful new hospital. As a result of this experience she later, after Mr. Loud’s death, became associated with Harper Hospital in Detroit.

Of her outstanding service to Alpha Chi Omega I need not speak except to say that through the influence of such leaders the entire fraternity world is touched and strengthened. Thus did Mrs. Loud serve her friends, her community, and not alone her fraternity but all fraternities as well.

Alta Allen Loud never failed Alpha Chi Omega either.

Most of the symbols, ceremonies, underpinnings and traditions appreciated or too often taken for granted by today’s members were created or formulated as a result of her guiding hand, probing intellect and generous spirit.

43 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Those of us who live near her home will be placing flowers on her grave in tribute to a personality, the memory of which is so living a thing with us that we do not think of her as gone. But throughout the Greek-letter world many college women will likewise be bringing again and again fragrant tribute to her memory as, unaware of the source of their inspiration, they nevertheless carry forward certain influences she set in motion as she served with high honor the ideals of friendship and fraternity.

Here is an excerpt from Alta’s report to the 1915 convention: The Reserve Fund Committee desires to express its appreciation of the splendid loyalty and cooperation of chapters and individuals in helping toward the realization of the five thousand dollar goal set for the 1915 convention. We believe that with a Reserve Fund of $5,220.58 the fraternity is for the first time in its history on a sound financial basis, but we are not satisfied with this sum and feel that the fund should grow steadily. It is the hope of the committee that we may have a steady, healthful increase of the fund and that it will not be long before it reaches very goodly dimensions.

What more could one ask of one woman?

It is possible that Alpha Chi Omega would have survived and even thrived without her presence and her leadership. Fortunately, for the tens of thousands who have followed Alta Allen Loud in declaring their loyalty to the Bond of Alpha Chi Omega, the Fraternity did not have to try without her.

By July 5, 1919, the fund balance had reached $10,741.14 and had provided financial assistance to acquire five chapter houses. By June 12, 1930, the balance was $68,982.65 and included loans to 31 chapters.

Alta Allen Loud served as the only chairman of the Reserve Fund from its inception until she wrote this in September 1930: It is with real regret that I am surrendering the Reserve Fund chairmanship after holding same since the establishment of the fund in 1912... The Reserve Fund will always be very dear to my heart and it is my earnest hope that the one hundred thousand dollar goal set for 1935 shall be more than attained and that because of this fund Alpha Chi Omega may always have a firm financial foundation, be able to accomplish significant work, and climb to even greater heights than those reached in the past.

Alta Allen Loud Reserve Fund Alta Allen Loud’s service to Alpha Chi Omega began in 1897 and lasted until 1930. For the majority of those years, she served as Chairman of the Reserve Fund Committee, a position very dear to her.

The fund started out as a scholarship fund in 1910 composed of individual contributions of $262 and a 1912 convention surplus of $334.99. The National Council created a committee to study this fund and appointed Alta as its chairman. During the 1912 National Convention, the committee determined that “the Fraternity at large would be more widely benefited if the embryo fund could be used to finance chapter house building and other Fraternity projects.” The convention delegates agreed, and the Reserve Fund was launched.

Alta and her committee members set a goal to have $5,000 in the Reserve Fund by the 1915 convention.

On May 14, 1913, the Reserve Fund had a balance of $1,128.66.

At the 1935 Golden Jubilee Convention, a fund balance of $107,301.01 was announced. Sadly, Alta Allen Loud did not live long enough to celebrate this extraordinary accomplishment. To honor her vision and effective service, the 1935 convention delegates renamed the fund the Alta Allen Loud Endowment Fund.

44 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Gretchen O’Donnell Starr According to a profile in the

As The Lyre article explains, “This interesting woman’s

May 1929 issue of The Lyre,

business is to buy and sell ships and to contract for cargoes

Gretchen O’Donnell Starr

with shippers and ship owners... Mrs. Starr’s success has

had a most intriguing job.

been phenomenal and she sums it up in these words:

“Mrs. Starr is heralded from

Work brings success.’ And interest in whatever

coast to coast as pre-emi-

you are doing. Intelligence, equipment, tact,

nently successful in the field

knowing the job—all these are necessary. I don’t

of her choice. Perhaps one

believe in luck at all.

should say the seas of her choice for ‘ships and shoes and sealing wax’—purchasing,

In addition to her groundbreaking role as a profes-

manning, loading, and chartering heavy craft of the

sional woman, Gretchen also served Alpha Chi Omega

sea—are her unusual job.”

as national treasurer and as chairman of the investment

A charter member of Rho chapter and a geology

committee. She shared her business acumen with Rho

major at the University of Washington, Gretchen was

chapter and was active in Seattle’s Panhellenic (she was

an accomplished athlete at Washington, with her main

its first president)—along with a long list of local,

athletic interest in rowing, and a long list of campus

national and international professional organizations.

honors. Leadership positions she held during college—

When she served as national treasurer, her profile in

vice president of Women’s League, secretary of Panhel-

The Lyre described her in this way. “(Her) personality

lenic, senior class secretary—would serve her well later

typifies that of the big-hearted, businesslike Westerner;

in her professional career.

she was born in San Francisco, and has lived in Seattle

She entered the business world during the World

since a child of five years.”

War, working in the accounting department of the

Known as an effective speaker, she “appeared

Thorndyke-Trenholme Company in Seattle. The firm

before many groups for her charming, agreeable

acted as an agent for many shipping carriers—most of

personality, in addition to a keenly intelligent grasp

which shipped grain—and was noted for expertly

of the fine points and possibilities of whatever subject

managing the company’s records. As stated in The Lyre,

confronts her, make her sought after by both women’s

“She knows ships and shipping, which cargoes are being

and men’s organizations.”

carried hither and yon over the far seas.”

A San Francisco company, Swayne and Joyt, hired Gretchen soon after and her work took her to every type of vessel—from small boats to ocean-going steamers.

45 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Florence A. Armstrong Two significant things happened in 1885: Alpha Chi Omega was founded, and Florence Armstrong was born.

It cannot be a coincidence that these two events resulted in a symbiotic relationship that was beneficial to both the woman and her Fraternity.

Any story about Florence must cover both her internal [to Alpha Chi Omega] influence and an external component.

Let’s start with the internal.

Florence was a student at Simpson College, in Indianola, Iowa, where she was instrumental in the formation of Alpha Alpha Gamma, composed of young women on the Simpson campus interested in affiliating with a national sorority.

That organization was installed as Mu chapter of Alpha Chi Omega on May 13, 1907, making Florence one of sixteen charter members. Alta Allen Loud was the installing officer.

Could Alta and Florence have realized then that in just a few short years they would serve together on Alpha Chi Omega’s Grand Council?

In 1910, Florence was elected to the Grand Council as editor—an elected position until 1919 when the positions of secretary and editor were combined and made a paid position. Florence served nine consecutive years as editor and, to turn a phrase, “put The Lyre on the map.” She also served as an assistant to Mabel Harriet Siller in the collection of material and the printing of the first edition of The History of Alpha Chi Omega, published in 1911.

Perhaps Florence’s most significant contribution internally is best summed up by the Chairman of the National Panhellenic Conference who described the second edition of The History of Alpha Chi Omega, published in 1916, as “the most progressive piece of fraternity journalism that has ever been published.”

While the 1911 edition was a nobleattempt, Florence authored the 1916 edition with her stated purpose to

“give mainly a picture of the Fraternity as she exists today; and to reveal her impulse, her evolution, and her genius, according to the records.” Florence wove together an amazing collection of photographs, historical information, maps and charts, and biographies of important members into one volume that set the standard for future editions.

In the preface to the 1916 edition, Florence paid tribute to the woman who had installed her chapter just nine years before in this way: To Mrs. Loud I would express especial thanks, for advice and cooperation at every step of the way. No detail was too slight, no request too large for her careful and illuminating comment.

Florence was the first Alpha Chi Omega to have the privilege of being a resident at the MacDowell Colony, working on her 1916 history project in the Star Studio.

Of this experience she wrote: After a few stimulating days in the colony I remarked to Mrs. MacDowell: ‘Alpha Chi Omega, I believe, builded better than she knew when she erected a studio here.’

At the end of her service on Grand Council in 1919, Florence completed the revision of the Fraternity’s History, covering a five-year period, and arranged for the publication of the third edition in 1921. This volume met with even greater praise than her earlier work.

The 1928 edition of The History of Alpha Chi Omega [not written by Florence] described her as “preeminently the literary genius in the annals of Alpha Chi Omega history.”

During three and a half years of her Council service and while she was working on the preservation of the Fraternity’s past, Florence was doing graduate work at Radcliffe College, where she obtained her master’s degree and did most of the work preparatory to receiving the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in economics which was granted to her by the University of Iowa in 1924.

46 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

During the last two years of her editorship, 1917-1919, she was employed in the Military Intelligence Division of the State Department in Washington, D.C., conducting research on European affairs, concentrating on unrest in Europe. For three years she served as a member of the research staff of the Institute of Economics.

Returning to academic work in 1926, [having served as an instructor in English at Iowa State College, 1908-1910] Florence remained for two years at the Florida State College for Women as professor of economics, leaving Florida to take up the position as head of the department of economics and business administration at Simpson College. She returned to Washington during the Roosevelt administration as an economic and social researcher for the Social Security Agency.

At her death in 1961, her body of work was acquired by the Arthur and Elizabeth Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study, Harvard University. Her papers reveal her “dual interests as social economist doing research for the government and as an active club woman and feminist.”

She also was a prolific writer far beyond the evidence Alpha Chi Omega has of this talent.

Florence authored many articles for a variety of publications, covering such topics as cost of living, problems of the aged, and the status of women. This last topic was to be a passionate cause throughout her life. Just think, when she wrote the 1916 History, she was not eligible to vote in an election in the United States of America!

An ardent feminist, Florence served as general vice chairman of the National Woman’s Party—described by some as the “militant wing of the suffrage movement.” In the 1940s, she was its finance chairman and editor of its monthly publication Equal Rights. Included in the Radcliffe collection of her papers are correspondence between Florence, Eleanor Roosevelt and Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor in the Roosevelt administration and first woman to hold a Cabinet position. The National Woman’s Party, regardless of its

50,000 members at one point, was controversial. Jo Freeman, in her book We Will be Heard, references a letter Frances Perkins sent to Florence expressing her criticism of the activities of that Party. Eleanor Roosevelt appeared to be torn between her belief in legal provisions and protection of women’s rights and the concern that the National Woman’s Party might do more harm than good.

Florence was a leader in promoting the Equal Rights Amendment between 1944 and 1954. What might she think to learn that more than a half-century after her death the Equal Rights Amendment is not included in The Constitution of the United States of America. Perhaps she would find solace in other legislative actions that have provided women with some of the protections she sought.

When Florence received a diagnosis of cancer, she volunteered herself to the medical staff at George Washington University Hospital to aid cancer research.

Members of Alpha Epsilon Alpha alumnae chapter, with which she remained connected throughout her time in Washington, D.C., expressed “amazement and admiration for the manner in which she faced her critical illness and also for her bravery.”

In 1952, Alpha Epsilon Alpha established the Florence A. Armstrong Scholarship Fund within the Alpha Chi Omega Altruistic Fund [later to become the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation] to which Florence contributed matching funds and supported for the remainder of her life.

Dr. Florence Armstrong was loyal, intelligent, gifted, independent, courageous, bold—and generous. She stayed connected with Alpha Chi Omega from the time she became a member in 1907 until her death in 1961—54 years. She chronicled the Fraternity’s formative years, providing a detailed, colorful account of information vital to the preservation of Alpha Chi Omega’s heritage.

47 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Mary Emma Griffith Marshall In 1916, Mary Emma Griffith

Our pride in The Lyre and the praise which is

(later Marshall) made a

accorded to it in fraternity and non-fraternity circles

commitment to National

is a most significant tribute to her literary, executive,

President Alta Allen Loud.

and business ability. ‘Tis a real art and gift to produce

“I have decided that, if the

proficiently a large amount of work in a short

fraternity wants me and if

time—and this is one of the talents which make for

you and the other members

her success as Editor.

of the Council feel that I am fitted for the work, I shall be

Mary Emma also wrote a special ceremony in 1920

glad to accept the position of secretary-editor.” They

to be used when installing new chapters.

did, indeed, find her “fitted’ for this work. “I feel very

After Mary Emma’s sudden passing on July 25,

much honored in the confidence which you have placed

1925, following an operation and subsequent brief

in me, dear Mrs. Loud, and I want to be worthy of it in

illness—at which time she left behind her husband,

every way,” was Mary Emma’s response to the call.

Herbert, a daughter, Eleanor, her parents and three

Her perception of the role of paid secretary-editor

siblings—Founder Olive Burnett Clark gave this tribute

was this:

to what she described as “the irreparable loss” of this

I want if possible to relieve all officers of the

outstanding editor and leader:

routine work which they are now doing and leave

An exemplification of true fraternity spirit and

it to them the things out of which they will derive

loyalty, she gave to Alpha Chi Omega years of

pleasure. It seems to me as if the paid officers ought

faithful and fruitful service, the loss of which one

to do that... As I understand it, I would do the work

can fathom except her co-workers. The memory of

of the editor, the business manager of The Lyre, the

her sweet gentle face, the characteristic uplift of her

National Secretary and I should think it would be

chin, the little corner-of-the-mouth smile, and the

best to take over the work of the secretary of the

mellowed tones of her voice will never be forgotten

alumnae organization.

by her fraternity, and to know her well was to love her more.

Her many talents and special traits were described in 1922 in The Lyre:

This tribute was just one of the many outpourings

It seems that no item or detail escapes her and

of grief and admiration following her death, several of

that each is converted into usefulness. One has

which were included in her beloved Lyre’s October

only to review her training and service to realize

1925 issue.

that she was fully prepared for her work. As

Of her role in establishing the Fraternity’s central

Official Examiner, National Secretary, and

office, Alta Allen Loud said:

National Secretary-Editor for ten years, she has been

Every national officer, past and present, realizing

thoroughly, and almost ideally, trained to care

so fully the need for centralization in our work,

for the details of fraternity administration. She

rejoiced at the establishment of the central office in

has innate prerequisites for this office—accuracy,

1919, and when it was learned that Mary Emma

precision, promptness, and efficiency. If we combine

would accept the position of secretary-editor our joy

with these here characteristics of understanding,

was complete. Here was a difficult task—the pioneer

justice, and magnanimous spirit, we have not only

work. She has left an unusual record of executive

an unusual person but an exceptional officer.

ability, brilliant leadership, and rare fraternal love

48 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

and loyalty. Others will—others must—“carry on,”

and has given many an outlook which has enabled

but we shall always remember with gratitude the

them to view life from a truer angel, and to

one who so capably and fearlessly “blazed the trail.”

appreciate those things which are of real worth.

Mary Emma was an ardent supporter of her chapter

And of her contributions to the Fraternity, National President Gladys Livingston Graff said:

of initiation (she was the chapter’s first pledge), Lambda, and helped found the Syracuse, New York alumnae club

She was the mechanicienne who oiled the wheels

in 1921, which became Upsilon Upsilon. Lambda member

and kept the machinery of the fraternity running

Faythe Santway Nunemaker, elaborated on her support

smoothly; and yet whenever allowed the “mechanics”

of Lambda chapter:

of her job to obscure her vision of the ideal goal

Always, Lambda’s development, as well as that of

toward which “end” these same mechanics were

the fraternity at large, was an interest very close to

only the “means.”

her heart. How proud we are to have had her as one The 1926 Nominating Committee faced a difficult

of the first members of our group!—and how grateful

role in slating a new secretary-editor:

to her, too, for doing so much to establish our chapter on a high plane of character and scholarship, which

Probably the greatest tragedy Alpha Chi Omega

has given it the standing that it now enjoys among

ever experienced is the death of our beloved Mary

other groups on the campus and what is of greater

Emma Griffith Marshall. Mary Emma loved her

importance, the influence of Mary Emma’s rare

fraternity as few have ever done. Her splendid work

personality has been felt by individual members

in developing our efficient organization, her intimate

49 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

knowledge of details, her unusual efficiency, and her

A brief description of Mary Emma Griffith Marshall’s

unfailing loyalty can never be forgotten and her high

life outside of Alpha Chi Omega: • Born August 10, 1888. Attended Perkiomen Seminar in Pensburg, Pennsylvania, and was valedictorian of her class at Washington High School in Washington, New Jersey • Graduated cum laude in 1910 from Syracuse University. During college she was involved with the Y/W/C/A and athletics and church work • Taught Sunday school classes for many years and was a member of the Syracuse University Alumni Association • Taught high school English for three years • From 1913 to 1920, editor and librarian for the U.S. Department of Agriculture

idealism and splendid influence have enriched all of our lives. There may never be another Mary Emma, but we shall always love her memory and ‘carry on’ to greater things, as she would have wished... For Secretary-Editor we have real pleasure in suggesting the name of Hazel Eckhart, chosen by the Council a year ago to fill out Mrs. Marshall’s unexpired term.

To follow in Mary Emma’s footsteps has been no easy task; in fact, the readjustment without her has been exceedingly difficult for the entire Council. But Miss Eckhart has shown remarkable ability, courage and tact in meeting the situation, and we can truthfully say that we believe she will in time win for herself in the hearts of all wearers of the Lyre a place as secure

My Twenty-Seventh Birthday Make me worthy. Lift me above myself.

as that held by her predecessor.

At the 1926 convention in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, the Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Memorial Fellowship—to be used for graduate study or creative work in the arts in the United States or a foreign country and open to members of Alpha Chi Omega—was established as a fitting tribute to this special leader. In 1928, the Fraternity announced that $5,000 had been set aside for the fellowship, and at the 1930 convention in Del Monte, California, the first award of the Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Memorial Fellowship was made. The fellowship’s first recipient was Lois Burnak, (Alpha Iota, Vermont), a University of Vermont faculty member who studied art in Paris at the Paris Atelier of the New York School of fine and Applied Art. National President Ethel Mead Van Auken eloquently expressed the membership’s feelings: “Though the passing of the years has eased the sorrow of her going; her memory is green in our hearts; her work is its own tribute to her.”

Give me a clear mind, a strong will, a heart of hope.

Make me a more loving daughter, a sister whose unselfishness is beyond reproach, and a friend with sympathy and understanding entirely adequate.

And grant me complete fulfillment—the love of woman for a man—and tiny hands to seal it.

Not a long life, but a full life. Not a lonely life, but a busy life. And keep me true.

– Mary Emma Griffith, August 1915

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Marcia Clapp De Rocco If you have visited Alpha Chi Omega headquarters in Indianapolis, you have likely seen the work of Marcia Clapp De Rocco in the sculpted marble bust of Hera that has graced the office since 1961.

The second recipient of the Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Memorial Fellowship, she had an extensive, fascinating career as an artist and pursued her art as a resident of the MacDowell Colony.

Opal Perrin Buck (Alpha Chi, Butler) described Marcia in this way in the May 1931 issue of The Lyre: Marcia does not take herself seriously. She is extremely interested in her work, anxious and ready for new fields of endeavor. She confided in me that her school teaching days are over, at least for the present.

Even her love for children, her only compensation for teaching, fails to hold her longer. A secret desire for commercial sculpturing has been born and must be nurtured. This next year she is going to try her wings in that direction and we sincerely hope she flies high and far.

Marcia Clapp De Rocco passed away in June of 1987 in Fort Myers, Florida, at the age of 79.

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Estelle McFarlane Dunkle Estelle McFarlane Dunkle was a founding member of Zeta Zeta alumnae chapter in Boston, Massachusetts.

She directed the creation of the sixth edition of the Fraternity’s songbook in 1921 and served as business manager for the songbook’s 1923 edition.

Her most lasting work for the Fraternity, however, may have been her service as treasurer of the loan fund, a position she held for 19 years. Her work with the fund was described in this way by National President Gladys Livingtston Graff: For many years as Treasurer of the Alpha Chi Omega Scholarship Fund, it was her duty and a very unpleasant one it would have been, to round up delinquents and demand payment. Far into the night she would write thirty or forty letters at a time. To read the answers she received in reply was truly a revelation of the affectionate esteem in which she was held. She knew more individuals, kept in touch with and was known by more actives and alumnae than any other member of the fraternity.

Gladys also remarked, “They say if you want to get anything done in this world the best way is to ask the busiest person you know to do it! To no one could this truism be more applicable than to the State Chairman for Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode island— Estelle MacFarlane Dunkle.”

Estelle’s (or, as some called her, Stella’s) path to Alpha Chi Omega membership came via a colorful childhood in Colorado where her father worked in the mining industry. An outstanding pianist and soprano singer, Stella’s talents took her to the New England Conservatory of Music, where she joined Alpha Chi in 1897. She passed away in May of 1934, not long after her Zeta Zeta sisters referred to her as the “treasurer of treasurers,” whose efforts, they said, kept the chapter out of the “poor house.”

They also described her by saying, “No one has the interests of the fraternity more at heart, and her cheeriness and enthusiasm are a very necessary, and much appreciated part of our meetings. She is one of the best known alumnae in the fraternity. She has a sympathetic understanding with girls, sympathizing wisely with their troubles, rejoicing with their successes, serving both the active and alumnae chapter with an unselfish love and loyalty based on years of appreciation of fraternity traditions… We honor her for her capable management of our finances, for untiring zeal in the fraternity, and for unselfish spirit which makes her beloved by all.”

Following Stella’s sudden death in May of 1934, National President Gladys Livingston Graff aptly described her: Bare facts cannot do more than serve as a frame for the setting of her vivid, colorful personality, for there was nothing cut or dried about Stella. Living the greater part of her life in comparative luxury, her sympathy and understanding of those in financial straits was nothing short of amazing. Her memory for names and faces was prodigious but even more remarkable was her recollection of the life history and problems of each person she met.

Prior to the 1928 Convention in Mackinac Island, Michigan (where she served as chaperon), Estelle was described by Past National President Graff in this way: Her services to Alpha Chi are unending and cannot here be fully enumerated. A partial list of her major achievements include the following honors—founder of Zeta Zeta, permanent treasurer of Zeta Zeta, alumna adviser of Zeta and for two years of Alpha Tau as well, official chaperon of the Colorado Springs Convention in 1922, treasurer of the Scholarship fund since 1915, local manager of the 1924 National Convention at Swampscott, official chaperon of the 1927 Atlantic Province Convention, president of the Boston Panhellenic for 1927-28, and to cite her latest honor— State Chairman of alumnae for Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. In this new role, she assures us her goal is 100 percent membership—and she is “some” go getter!

52

ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Nella Ramsdell Fall Nella Ramsdell Fall (Beta, Albion) was appointed to the committee to revise the initiation ceremony, along with Fay Barnaby Kent (Delta, Allegheny) and Virginia Fisk Green (Theta, Michigan). The group met weekly for more than a year, during which time Nella said she “practically lived in the New York City library,” conducting relevant research.

Fay researched the music for the ceremony, while Nella and Virginia wrote the ceremony. Together they designed the regalia and initiation equipment.

They presented the revised ceremony at the 1910 convention and Nella was appointed chairman for the committee to revise the ceremonies, Constitution and code, with its work presented to the 1912 convention body in Madison, Wisconsin.

She was one of several members of Beta chapter who served for the benefit of the national organization even before a Council of officers had been formulated.

Nella also served the Fraternity as the national inspector from 1915 to 1919, and concurrently served as Alpha Chi Omega’s National Panhellenic Conference delegate. She served in this capacity until 1925. Some of her other work for the Fraternity at the national level included serving on the Constitution Revision Committee and on the Committee on Prescribed Forms and Ceremonies.

When Nella ultimately transitioned from National Inspector to the role of National Panhellenic Delegate, National President Alta Allen Loud described Nella’s service in this way: Mrs. Fall walked straight into the hearts of our college girls and quickly won their love and sympathy.

As the chairman of the 1919 Nominating Committee so aptly said in her report, ‘Mrs. Fall possesses an unusual combination of girlish spontaneity and

womanly dignity and charm,’ and it was this combination which won for her the love and loyalty of our members and a sincere respect and enthusiastic tributes from faculty members with whom she came in contact. It is a fitting commentary on her work that in nearly four years of Council service not a single complaint was registered from any chapter or college visited.

And so Alpha Chi Omega then proudly “presented,” as Alta stated, Nella to the Panhellenic world, stating: It is there with reluctance that we bid farewell to Mrs. Fall as Inspector, but we hail her with joy as our Panhellenic Adviser, and confidently expect that under her direction the Panhellenic work of Alpha Chi Omega will assume such proportions that a demand will come for the Panhellenic Adviser to take a place on the National Council.

Nella grew up in Albion, Michigan, and was recruited to Beta chapter as a junior in high school— before that practice was disallowed. She served as Beta’s chapter president and graduated from Albion College with bachelor’s degrees in both arts and music. She was described as popular and pretty, and after marrying Frank Andrews Fall, a prominent writer and bursar of New York University, she continued studying music in New York and held a church position.

After she left national service to Alpha Chi Omega in 1925, Nella spent a great deal of time working with Gamma Gamma alumnae chapter in New York City, of which she was a charter member and the first president.

Her badge, larger than the current-day badge and set with light blue opals and diamonds, was a gift to the Fraternity in 1961 and the Council voted to make it the National President’s badge.

53 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Fay Barnaby Kent Fay Barnaby Kent served for six years as National Vice President (1909-1915) when the position included both the area of extension and alumnae support and was described as one of Alpha Chi Omega’s most forceful and rich personalities. Under her leadership, seven collegiate chapters were established, eight alumnae chapters were chartered and twelve alumnae clubs were formed.

An initiate of Delta (Allegheny), Fay was a piano pupil of composer Edward MacDowell in New York.

She also took courses at Columbia, New York University and Julliard. Her great interest in the MacDowell Colony precipitated the building and maintenance of the Star Studio by Alpha Chi Omega. According to a profile in The Lyre in June 1961: By letters, by talks, and through attendance at nine Alpha Chi national conventions, she has continually championed the MacDowell Colony of Peterborough, New Hampshire. As chairman of the MacDowell Committee, it was the force of Fay Kent’s appeal at the 1960 Jubilee Convention that later inspired the National Council to name February MacDowell Month, beginning with 1961, the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

When delegates visited the colony during the 1966 convention, she was honored. And the following October she was further honored by being invited to unveil a bronze bust of MacDowell in New York City.

She founded and directed her own fine arts institute in Plainfield, New Jersey for thirty years, offering advanced instruction in music, drama and dance. An active member of Gamma Gamma alumnae chapter in New York City, she was a professional organist and choir director.

And she played a key role in creating the ritual, described in the January 1911 issue of The Lyre as having “rare beauty and significance that is now ours because of the countless hours of investigation and of literary composition which Mrs. Kent has given, and is still giving, with Mrs. Fall and Mrs. Green, to the work of revision.”

She was known to take great pride in her home, “Kent Knoll’ in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, with hundreds of varieties of flowers and plants. “My ‘balancing interest,’ she said, “is agriculture, especially the growing of unusual trees and plants. My first tree, brought four inches high from the primeval forest at the Colony, is now close to 70 feet tall—a beautiful hemlock.”

Fay Barnaby Kent died in 1976, at which time archivist Hannah Keenan remarked, “Alpha Chi Omega has lost one of its most valued members in the death of Fay Barnaby Kent.”

54 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Fay Barnaby Kent with poet Robert Sward, a recipient of the Fay Barnaby Kent Fellowship and August 1962 occupant of the Star Studio at The MacDowell Colony.

55 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

R anecdote

From The Lyre, January 1928

No. 5

THE SO-CALLED “MODERN YOUTH”

What are these young people doing? Where are they going in their mad rush? What is the chapter coming to? These queries from the preceding generations, and from even the young alumnae seem to call for an answer.

But can they not find that answer in the facts of their own lives? How many winter evenings have been beguiled by a recital of the tricks and pranks which my parents and their colleagues performed? How they enjoy them in retrospect, and we with a vicarious thrill! And probably the only comment made is, “Silly kids!” which, as anyone may see, does not prescribe an immediate descent into perdition on the special-fare limited.

Click the image to view the full piece at the end of this book.

M our heritage Hera Our Badge Ceremonies Take Shape This and That About Conventions My Symphony Marks and Medals Scholarships for Children The MacDowell Colony

57 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 1

Hera Does a better description and explanation of a fraternity’s ties to the ancient Greeks exist than this excerpt from The First Fifty Years: Fraternities, grounded as they are in Greek tradition, today are almost the sole remaining forces in this country which endeavor to conserve the Grecian heritage of perfection, harmony, and balanced development of mind, body and soul. Grecian influence goes far deeper than the mere name and outward symbolism of a fraternity. Stress placed upon pure beauty, in itself the criterion of artistic judgment, be it in art, music, or literature, emmenates from the early Greeks who were its standard bearers. Alpha Chi Omega has endeavored to preserve this ideal and to make it a part of the life of every member, that her formal education, so far removed from classical influence in this scientific age, may be supplemented and enhanced by an appreciation of human needs, beauty of living and artistic development.

only as the moon-goddess, but above all as the ideal wife and mother, guardian and aid of women that Hera was worshipped.

Hera’s main attendants were Iris and the Hours— Eunomia (wise legislation), Dike (justice), and Eirene (peace).

The Hera Honor Pin This pin was adopted as a badge of honor and appreciation to be awarded to the highest level of national officers and was first presented in 1911. At the 1919 Convention in Chicago, delegates voted to bestow the Hera honor pin to the four Founders who were present.

In 1922, all past National Presidents who had not already received it were given the Hera head. Hera is generally described as serenely beautiful and majestic—the Hera head is a reproduction in solid gold of a classic bust of Hera.

As a former national inspector, Louise Ludlum Baker, wrote in the March 1931 issue of The Lyre: As an award it carries with it the essence of the spirit of Alpha Chi Omega and serves as a treasured token of the heights longed for in the desire to serve.

In the badge of Hera is exemplified the wish of the fraternity to cultivate in the individual that overtone of beauty, poise, and dignity characteristic of the golden age of ancient Greece.

In 1910, the official initiation ceremony was adopted, and Hera was selected as patron goddess. As explained

by Fay Barnaby Kent, Hera met several important criteria: We felt that we should have a Greek, a major goddess, and if possible one not already identified with another fraternity. Hera is all of these. She was Queen of all the Gods, of heaven, and Protectoress of women from birth to death. She was absolutely virtuous although very jealous and revengeful but we find in all the goddesses disagreeable attributes and Hera had a right to be jealous.

According to ancient myths, Hera was the daughter of Chronus and Rhea but was raised not by her parents but by Oceanus and Tethys in a remote area. Without her parents’ knowledge, she married Zeus. As the tale is recounted in The First Fifty Years: To their marriage was traced all the blessings of nature. At this glorious event, Earth decked herself in her fairest hues; the crocuses blossomed, the hyacinths burst forth and as a wedding gift, Earth sent up a tree laden with golden apples... it was not

58 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Hera Day

as reports of committees—invaluable records that demonstrate the struggles and successes—and issues of the time—that have impacted Alpha Chi Omega.

As described in the January 1921 issue of The Lyre

by Helen Cheyney Bailey (Alpha Epsilon, Pennsylvania): Hera is a mythical goddess; but the majesty of womanhood, the sweetness of true wifehood and motherhood, and that joy so closely akin to it—the joy of helping all who need, are undying realities.

On the first day of March every Alpha Chi Omega does well to stand before the spirit of Hera, and to offer up the richness of her life to the service of mankind.

Hera Day, to be celebrated on March 1 in honor of our patron goddess—with a misson of helpfulness to others—was established in 1911. The concept of Hera Day exemplifies the key principles of the Heraea, a spring festival of ancient Greece held in honor of the spring wedding of Hera and Zeus during which Hera was honored throughout the cities of Greece.

As described in The First Fifty Years: “Simply and quietly, alone or in chapter groups, the members of the fraternity devote that day to the doing of small deeds of kindness, to alleviate suffering, to bring hope to the underprivileged...

The methods of spreading Hera Day cheer are so varied that only a few can be mentioned. Yet essentially all are similar, in that they mean giving.

Seldom in this, Alpha Chi Omega’s most cherished festival, does money play a great part; rather it is a dedication of personal talent, personal effort, to the well-being of others less fortunate.”

An early Hera Day observance—Delta (Allegheny), 1917: Last Hera Day, we girls wished to do something with which we would feel happy when it was done, so we went to the Secretary of the Associated Charities of our town, and she gave us the names of some poor families who needed a little cheer, then she also gave us the names of some older people who were shut in the house. We took a voluntary offering among the girls and realized quite a sum. With this we purchased some fruit as well as some potatoes and meat and the necessities of life, in order to fill some baskets.

The girls divided into groups, and to the “shut-ins” the girls took some fruit and magazines and papers and read to them during the afternoon. The rest took the well-filled baskets and went to the more destitute homes, and I am sure we girls felt very happy when we saw the children’s eyes brighten at the sight of the orange and the mothers’ thankful faces at the sight of potatoes and meat. It made us enjoy life to the uttermost and be the more thankful for the many blessings we were receiving every day. We all enjoyed it so much that we have decided to do the same thing again this year on Hera Day.

In 1931, National President Gladys Livingston Graff described the success of the observance by stating, “Hera Day has been enthusiastically observed as a day of consecration by all our chapters and from these individual efforts through to national observances Alpha Chi Omega spells service to others.”

The Heraeum Although a “private bulletin” was circulated as early as 1900 (including “matters that cannot be published in The Lyre”), this did not become a regular publication until 1910, when it was named The Heraeum. Until 1922 it was sent to all Lyre subscribers as a supplement to an issue of the magazine. Later it was sent automatically only to chapters and clubs, national officers and committee chairmen, and members closely connected to the Fraternity’s work.

Contained in the pages of The Heraeum are minutes of National Council meetings and conventions, as well

59 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

Our Badge Alpha Chi Omega, it seems, has always taken the

No other firms have the privilege of using our

matter of creation of our badge quite seriously.

copyrighted coat-of-arms on novelties or on stationery.

According to the 1911 Heraeum, at that time there

Please note that the J. F. Newman firm is the sole

were three authorized jewelers: J. F. Newman of New

jeweler for badges and pledge pins, and that the

York City, R. J. Roehm & Co. of Detroit and Wright,

L.G. Balfour Company has promised to give special

Kay & Co. of Detroit. Alumnae were asked to support

attention to stationery orders.

these firms, as they placed advertising in The Lyre and

And soon there was dissatisfaction with services

“extend many courtesies to the Fraternity, therefore our

provided—regarding deliveries and workmanship—with

support is due them.”

the badge. And although progress was made on the part

In 1915, the Fraternity proudly announced the

of J. F. Newman, according to Mary Emma Griffith

appointment of J. F. Newman as sole official jeweler for

Marshall, Custodian of the Badge, the Fraternity was

the Fraternity, “thus assuring the fraternity of a uniform

“besieged by letters for the privilege of supplying our

and standard badge and greater economy in its manufacture

official badge from jewelers of many varieties.” So, a

and hence in its purchase price. Other jewelers would

committee was appointed to consider the issue and secure

then be allowed to create “novelties.” According to minutes

competitive bids. She went on to say, “Quality of material

from the 1915 Convention:

and workmanship, as well as general reputation considered,

Announcement was made that chapters and girls

it is believed that the acceptance of the lowest bid be

were at liberty to purchase novelties, stationery,

recommended to the Convention.”

coat-of-arms, etc., from the three former jewelers;

Thus, in 1922, the L. G. Balfour Company was

that the other two jewelers were to be allowed to

granted exclusive rights by the Convention body to

dispose of any pins they had in stock; and that

manufacture the badge and chapter guards (initially for

J. F. Newman would allow each girl to exchange

a two-year trial period)—with a lucrative royalty structure

her pin originally purchased at full value for a more

that would cover approximately two-thirds of the costs of

expensive pin, whenever she wished to do so.

operating central office. Fortunately for all involved, the partnership was a successful one, and the recommendation

After R. J. Roehm & Co. ceased operations, the

was made that, “After the necessary adjustments were

Council recommended the following, according to an

made in the fall, the Secretary-Editor received no complaint

announcement in the January 1920 issue of The Lyre:

during the year regarding service and workmanship, and

Chapters should remember that the following firms

it is recommended that no change be made in the official

have been granted the privilege of being official

jewelership at the expiration of the contract in 1924.”

jewelers to the Alpha Chi Omega fraternity by the

The badge of 1935 was smaller than the original

National Convention:

badge, with crown set pearls, the three twisted strings,

J. F. Newman for badges, pledge pins, novelties,

and the black enameled scroll with the Greek letters in

and stationery.

gold. The cost of the badge was included in initiation

Wright-Kay Company for novelties and stationery.

fees so each member received her badge soon after her initiation. Then, as now, the badge is worn over the

Burr-Patterson Company for novelties.

heart, by initiated members of the Fraternity only.

L. G. Balfour Company for novelties and stationery.

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Ceremonies Take Shape As stated in The First Fifty Years: A kinship is produced by ritual that is inherent in no other phase of fraternity life. All who have participated in the same ceremonies seem to be drawn together by a common bond regardless of chapter, background, age or position. To those who are ritualistic by nature, the recurring ceremonials are a never failing source of inspiration.

Installation of Alumnae Groups—A brief ceremony was created in 1924 for installing alumnae clubs; the ceremony for installing alumnae chapters was introduced for the installation of Theta Theta in January 1913 and revised in 1929.

Alumnae Welcome to New Members—This ceremony, authorized in 1919, was intended to be used to welcome members into alumnae organizations but was not widely used.

In 1908, National President Alta Allen Loud appointed a committee to research and create a new ritual to best reflect the heritage and ideals of the Fraternity.

Serving on the committee were Nella Ramsdell Fall (Beta, Albion), Fay Barnaby Kent (Delta, Allegheny) and Virginia Fisk Green (Theta, Michigan). The group met weekly for more than a year. Fay researched the music for the ceremony (adapting existing Greek hymns), while Nella and Virginia wrote the ceremony. Together they designed the regalia and initiation equipment.

They presented the revised ceremony at the 1910 Convention and Nella was appointed chairman for the committee to revise the ceremonies and Constitution and code, with its work presented to the 1912 Convention body in Madison, Wisconsin.

Other ceremonies were introduced as the Fraternity grew and needs evolved. Some remain in use; others have been revised or eliminated. They included: Affiliation—A brief welcoming ceremony was written to be used when an undergraduate member of one chapter transferred to another.

Memorial Service—As early as 1919, a simple, dignified memorial service was created and presented at the 1922 Convention in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Since the ceremony was deemed too elaborate for active chapter use, in 1928 the decision was made to revise this ceremony. A new version was presented at the 1920 Council meeting and conducted for the first time at the 1930 Convention in Del Monte, California.

From remarks by National President Ethel Mead Van Auken at the 1935 Golden Jubilee convention: The ritual is the core of fraternity, it is not for the present only. It is a guide to a way of life. If we but follow its spirit in our relations with one another we shall achieve the end which our founders saw in the beginning. It is the time of greatest impression to the novitiate; it marks her introduction to fraternity life.

Given with beauty and sincerity of purpose, with thoughtful interpretation, it cannot help but be a powerful factor in the lives of our members. Let us in the future give ritual the paramount and important place it deserves in chapter life.

Chapter Meeting—The ceremonies for use in chapter meetings were created in 1891 and revised in 1912.

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This and That About Conventions The Convention Transcript

The Business Side of Convention

The first issue of the popular Convention Transcript was published in 1915 at the Long Beach, California convention and edited at the time by Florence A. Armstrong (Mu, Simpson). The Transcript, distributed daily during Convention, included notes on each day’s sessions, descriptions of the social events, articles on general Fraternity matters, and announcements. Soon the Transcript became a required (paid) subscription— allowing the publication to turn a small profit. Surplus income from the Transcript added to the Scholarship Fund, made possible the adoption of two French orphans during the Fraternity’s war relief efforts, financed the Distinguished Service Medal, and support of Star Studio at the MacDowell Colony.

The 1935 Transcript was included as a supplement to the Golden Jubilee memory book. It featured information on each of the current collegiate chapter’s history, photos of delegates and convention personnel, and pages for autographs and notes.

From The Lyre, July 1922, by Mary Emma Griffith Marshall, National Secretary-Editor: What is it the “business” of a convention to accomplish? Constitutional changes, election of officers, multitudinous details—or an inner growth of the spirit, a development of one’s ideals, through the innumerable contacts with differing minds and hearts? Whatever the raison d’etre of an Alpha Chi Omega convention, officers, delegates, and visitors left our final gathering with the belief that the tangible and intangible accomplishments of the sixteenth national convention had fully justified its existence.

Perhaps the most interesting and not the least surprising feature of the convention session was the talks by delegates of active chapters on some pertinent topic dealing with fraternity or college life. Those of us who are more or less veterans at convention sessions marveled at the poise, the control, the wealth of ideas and the beauty of the ideals of these undergraduates.

One discovered that the modern girl knows what to say and how to say it, with a proper amount of self-sufficiency and reserve combined.

Perhaps They Will Try Harder Next Time?

From The Lyre, November 1910: One other feature will close our points against this convention. That is the singing. It was good, but it was not so spontaneous and universal as we know the girls are capable of. A little of that feeling of constraint which people naturally experience with those they have never met, and that characterizes the “Miss” girls will often foolishly apply to their fraternity sisters, prevented a rousing flow of song. A convention is one time when that constraint should be completely banished for future and better uses. Let it not be inferred that there was little singing or that it was lifeless in quality. That would not be just, yet we are enthusiastic enough to wish to hear Alpha Chi Omega songs “come floating across the breeze” very frequently, with full organ, choir and audience each time.

Planning for Convention From The Lyre, April 1917, by Lillian G. Zimmerman: We shall be disappointed if we do not have five hundred at this convention. That is a very small number to expect out of a membership of three thousand, and if we venture to guess that two thousand of these live in the Central States, or are so located as to make attendance at convention an easy matter, dependent upon interest and enthusiasm, we cannot fail to make this an inspiring convention. It is for each one of us to make up our mind and to make our plans for convention now. My message is “do your part of the planning.” It is your convention as much as anyone’s. Plan now to come.

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Choosing the Convention Delegate

value to matters under consideration; one who can bar all personal feeling and allow the importance of the subject at hand and the needs and conditions of the chapter to guide in her opinion, judgments and votes. Finally, she must be a good “mixer,” in order to acquaint herself with other delegates and visitors and so take back to her chapter the benefit of contact with other groups.

From The Lyre, April 1922, by Gretchen Gooch Troster, National Inspector: Have you chosen just the right delegate to represent your chapter at convention? Many qualifications are to be considered in selecting the one who should act and vote in the interest and behalf of each group.

First of all, she must know her fraternity, locally and nationally—its history, its customs, its constitution and its problems; she must know her university or college, for so much depends upon individual circumstances in problems and discussions concerned with school life. She must be a quick, level-headed thinker; a concise, clear and audible speaker with poise and personality to attract and hold an audience when she expresses herself from the convention floor; a girl of high ideals and sincerity of purpose who can weight subjects and give a proportionate

I hardly need to remind you of so obvious a necessity as the return of your delegate to college next year.

Convention would be as nothing to you were she not to be active next year. Hers is a great privilege— to attend a convention of the scope and importance of our national gathering. She is honorably bound to take back to her chapter all she can gather and assimilate from such an opportunity. The exchange of ideas, the benefit of new acquaintances, a broader

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1926 National Convention.

not make five or six. It has been deemed wisest, therefore, to postpone Convention one year to give our Convention fund a chance to catch up with increased railroad rates.

knowledge of fraternity and schools, and the very experience of being a voting, responsible delegate, should make the girl of untold value to her chapter next year. The beneficial results of convention to the chapter will then depend largely on what the delegate takes back to those girls who did not have the opportunity of this wonderful meeting.

In place of the convention, provinces were encouraged to hold their own gatherings—and plans were developed for a convention in 1922 in “one of America’s beauty spots. We are planning for a glorious, out-of-doors convention.” (The convention was ultimately held in the fitting setting of Colorado Springs.)

And Another Postponement From The Lyre, November 1920: The National Council has considered most carefully the question of holding our regular biennial convention during the summer of 1921.

We were exceedingly loathe to postpone it, for we feel the need of such enthusiastic meeting as our Chicago convention proved to be in order to maintain our national interest. However, “two and two make four,” they most certainly will

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My Symphony In 1911 the National Council asked collegiate members to write an article or essay for The Lyre describing how Alpha Chi Omega has influenced their lives. Celia McClure (Delta, Allegheny) answered this call by writing what she deemed her ‘symphony.’ It was published in 1912 and was named the “best article of the year.”

Although the National Council adopted this piece as the Fraternity’s official symphony in 1914, it was not copyrighted until 1957 under the title “Symphony of Alpha Chi Omega.”

The Symphony epitomizes the essence of Alpha Chi Omega as no story, essay or song could possibly attempt.

Celia once remarked that she wrote the Symphony and chose its title as being best for “that time.” Little did she know then how her contribution to Alpha Chi Omega would have a truly eternal quality.

This symphony card is a replica of the card currently on display in the archives at Alpha Chi Omega headquarters, signed by Celia McClure. Below the scroll is the name “Helen V. Palmer, L.” A 1920 initiate of Lambda chapter, Ms. Palmer designed the artwork, still in use today.

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Marks and Medals The Seal Alpha Chi Omega’s seal originally featured a representation of the badge, but was redesigned by Birdean Motter Ely (Omicron, Baker), National Secretary, in 1914. In this version, the badge was replaced with the cost-of-arms.

From the 1915 edition of The Heraeum: Committee on official seal, Mrs. Ely reported that the seal had been designed and adopted by the 1914 National Council Meeting. The design is circular in form having in the center the coat-of-arms; around the outer edge is the inscription ‘Alpha Chi Omega Fraternity-A.D. 1885.’ Report accepted and ordered placed on file.

Registering our Marks

ΑΧΩ

From the 1930 edition of The Heraeum: It may be of interest to our members to know that in May, 1929, the combination of Greek letters, Alpha, Chi Omega, was registered in the United States Patent Office, thus protecting our name and giving to us the sole use of the letters in combination.

Distinguished Service Medal The 1919 convention delegates voted to create and bestow a special award to members of Alpha Chi Omega who had served the country overseas during the World War. A medal was designed by Hungarian born American sculptor Julio Kilenyi and introduced in 1922. It is a rectangle with a bas relief figure of a woman holding a torch on one side and the coat-of-arms on the other side.

At the 1924 Convention in Swampscott, Massachusetts, the decision was made to broaden the award’s purpose so that the medal could be awarded for “outstanding constructive service to the fraternity” and was given to Marian Nevins MacDowell (Zeta, New England Conservatory) in 1926 in recognition of her accomplishments in the arts and the establishment of the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

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Scholarships for Children In supporting scholarships for children, the Fraternity

and would direct the energies of participating alumnae

took to heart the position of the Child Conservation

chapters—coordinating their focus and combining their

Section of the Department of Labor, which stated that,

philanthropic interests.

“A large proportion of genius is lost to society because

(The Fraternity’s war service, the adoption of French

it is born among children of the poor where it perishes

orphans, also inspired the selection in part—and support

for want of an opportunity.” The Fraternity recognized

for this project continued until January of 1921.)

the privilege of being able to support such a widely

According to Myra Jones, similar programs had

recognized need following the altruistic efforts of

been administered in some of the country’s larger cities

supporting French war orphans.

but the concept of taking a project like this to a national

The 1919 (Chicago) convention body realized a need

scale by a single organization was untried. She explained,

to establish an outlet for permanent altruistic work for

“Alpha Chi Omega in this work has a large opportunity

the Fraternity and its members. The criteria? It should

and we hope to make our plans flexible enough to provide

be of long-term interest and value, and applicable both

for indefinite expansion as the work and interest in it grow.”

to undergraduate members and alumnae. A committee

Each scholarship was between $150 and $200 per

chaired by Myra H. Jones (Lambda, Syracuse) felt that the

year, and the recipient’s work was to be carefully supervised.

establishment of scholarships for children was determined

As explained in The Lyre, “One of the most important

to be the right outlet for our members’ altruistic inclinations

features of the scholarship work is that the child should

and a fund was established based on voluntary alumnae

be made proud of his scholarship, and be made to consider

contributions. The purpose of the scholarships was to

it a reward of merit, in much the same way as the college

assist children whose parents could not afford to send

young man or woman is proud of a college scholarship.

them to school after they reached legal working age.

“In other words, the work should not be looked upon

The scholarship funds would allow them to pursue

as charity, but as a part of a larger educational movement.”

further education, often through vocational school,

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Originally, the fund, which was in its infancy and

In her 1928 address, National President Beatrice

standing at $900, was supported by contributions, portions

Herron Brown called on alumnae to rally around this

of alumnae chapter contributions to the Fraternity’s

cause, saying, “We are looking to you, alumnae, to carry

endowment fund, and a Christmas car sale. The

out into daily living the precepts and philosophy of life

scholarships were awarded to deserving children in need

gained during active days and to express in tangible

of financial help to remain in high school or to receive

ways our abiding interest in humanity at large. To you

vocational training. These scholarships were outright

we look for the further growth of our Scholarship for

gifts rather than loans so that the recipients would not

Children work. We cannot measure in words the value

have to bear the burden of repayment of debt. As was

of this work—it is only by direct contact and experience

the case with other ongoing financial needs, after a series

with the child that the real value can be appreciated.

of different funding avenues were considered and tried,

During the coming two years it is our hope that we may

ultimately the national pledge fee ($1.00 from each fee

bring a gleam of light and a ‘change’ into more child life

beginning in 1933) was found to be the most reliable,

and help to satisfy their hunger to live more adequately.”

manageable way to sustain this support.

The number of children benefiting from these

The program’s work progressed steadily and in 1924

scholarships grew steadily even in the years of the Great

it was reported that new chapters were continually applying

Depression—when chapters already suffering financially

to administer scholarships—with ten scholarships granted

still were able to provide scholarships to assist thirty-six

the year before and with approval granted at the 1924

children in 1933. But strains of the Depression grew

convention for five additional scholarships in this year.

deeper and in 1934 the National Council voted to take

The process worked generally like this, according to

a sum from the reserve fund to fulfill commitments

The First Fifty Years:

made that chapters would likely not be able to

An alumnae group selects three members, preferably

complete themselves.

a teacher, a home maker, and a social worker. This

The scope of the work changed somewhat over the

committee contacts a local high school and obtains

years. Starting in 1929, for example, some groups were

information in regard to needy students. The child

given permission to assist undergraduate members of

finally chosen is either an exceptionally brilliant boy

Alpha Chi Omega. Detailed accountings of alumnae

or girl, or one who has some physical handicap which

chapter activity in this area were provided annually in

makes specialized training essential if he is to earn a

the Heraeum.

livelihood. The child’s home is visited to ascertain

The spirit and intent of the Scholarships for Children

whether or not there is real need for help and the

program was aptly described by the committee’s chairman,

parents’ attitude toward the proposed scholarship.

Mary S. Mutschler (Alpha, DePauw) in the January

The child himself is consulted as to his desire to

1931 issue of The Lyre:

remain in school if all these factors prove satisfactory,

Alpha Chi Omega alumnae are noted for their loyalty

he is given the scholarship which has been determined

and generous helpfulness to each other so that we

by the group, which may vary from three to six dollars

can proudly say of our Fraternity, “She is kind as

a week. A member of the committee keeps in close

she is fair.” The Scholarships for Children were

touch with the school, and receives frequent reports

inaugurated through that kindly spirit, and to be

on the child’s work, needs and aptitude. The child

made most effective they must have the interest of

himself is consulted whenever this seems desirable,

every alumnae club and chapter.

and his money is sent to him in regular weekly or monthly installments.

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The MacDowell Colony Marian and Edward MacDowell

Mrs. MacDowell stands among the few who realize that this country’s great deficiency among the nations is in the appreciation and creation of beauty.

Marian Nevins MacDowell (Zeta, New England Conservatory) had a simple yet specific dream—of an artists’ colony for her husband Edward MacDowell, a world-famous composer. Edward MacDowell, who was born in New York City, went to Paris at the age of 15 and then on to Germany, where he furthered his studies and began writing music. Marian was born in New York and showed a gift for music at an early age. In a 1945 interview, Marian explained modestly, “I suppose I was a little of a prodigy in music for those days, not for nowadays when children show musical talent and achieve so quickly. Fortunately, I did not know that all children did not play Beethoven’s Sonatas at ten or twelve, so it didn’t hurt me. I was about twenty when it was decided that I should go to Europe to continue my studies in music.”

In Germany, she began taking lessons from Edward MacDowell, whom she described as “an unusually brilliant young artist and unusually fine teacher.” At first, she says, “There was not romance or any thought of our future connection. We were both so absorbed in our music.” Just a few years later, however, both would return to America, and Edward and Marian were married in 1884. He was the founding chairman of Columbia University’s Department of Music, and for many years they spent their winters in New York City and their summers in Peterborough, New Hampshire.

In the March 1925 issue of The Lyre, Gladys Livingston Graff, Chairman of the MacDowell Committee, wrote, “Few realize that this gifted woman sacrificed a career of her own, believing it was better to foster a creative gift rather than to become an interpreter of the works of others. As she so quaintly expresses it, ‘There was neither room nor money for two pianos in our tiny quarters.’ Further, she realized how greatly the shy, rather lonely lad she married would require the stimulation of her care and encouragement.”

One Star Studio resident, playwright Elizabeth Marsh, made this observation in the November 1913 issue of The Lyre:

Marian MacDowell was described as a practical idealist and a visionary. She was honored by Pictorial Review in 1923 with their Annual Achievement Award, naming her the American woman who made the most distinctive achievement through individual effort in the field of art industry, literature, music, drama, education, science or sociology.

When members of the MacDowell Studio Committee visited her at the colony in 1934, National Secretary Mildred Blacklidge described Marian’s enthusiasm for her beloved colony.

“When she so cordially greeted us; when she so capably discussed many subjects in a sparkling manner; when she so beautifully played on Edward MacDowell’s own piano, when she walked so gaily with us to several of the studios giving from memory statistical data and financial matters in connection with the operation of the colony; when she recounted human interest stories in the lives of the colonists, we became acquainted with an individual who has known adversity, financial difficulties and sorrow and yet at the age of 70 has the vitality, energy and enthusiasm of a young person.”

The Colony Marian MacDowell described the purpose of the MacDowell Colony as such: The whole ideal of the colony is to produce great art for America... Men and women engaged in creating need peace, and there are few peaceful spots left in our busy, hustling, civilized land. It is quite a mistaken idea that artists do their best thinking in the subway, and that great art thrives on starvation and discomfort. Edward MacDowell realized this as no other man has. He dreamed of building a perfect working place where the worker would be happy and ideal work could be done.

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This observation, which surely rings true still today, was apparent to Marian MacDowell even in the early 1900s!

The colony’s history is described on its current website in this way: In 1896, Edward MacDowell, a composer, and Marian MacDowell, a pianist, bought a farm in Peterborough, New Hampshire, where they spent summers working in peaceful surroundings. It was in Peterborough that Edward, arguably America’s first great composer, said he produced more and better music. Not long after—falling prematurely and gravely ill—Edward conveyed to his wife that he wished to give other artists the same creative experience under which he had thrived.

Before Edward MacDowell’s death in 1908 at the age of 47, Marian chose to commemorate his life and achievements by creating the colony in the foothills of New Hampshire, where artists could express their creativity among peers but in a private, inspiring environment. This was to be the first artists’ colony in the United States.

Not a school, or camp, or resort, it is simply a place where creativity can flourish.

Marian MacDowell worked tirelessly all her life to generate support of and continued funding for the colony.

She toured the country from coast to coast, presenting recitals of Edward MacDowell’s piano compositions.

Marian MacDowell passed away in 1956 at the age of 98.

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Portrait of the Star Studio.

The Star Studio

recommend Alpha Chi Omegas eligible for the studio scholarship. And although disappointed that the first occupant would not be an Alpha Chi, they held out hope that a member would soon take her own special form of genius to be nurtured at the Star Studio. Good news came when Helen Bailey (Alpha Epsilon, Pennsylvania) occupied the studio, as did Elthea Snider Turner (Gamma, Northwestern) in 1919.

In 1919, the Convention body voted to set aside money to fund a permanent endowment for the Star Studio. At the 1924 Convention in Swampscott, Massachusetts, funds were approved for improvements to Star Studio, and $325 was designated for the MacDowell Colony Endowment Fund.

In the 1930 Heraeum, MacDowell Studio Committee Chair Genevieve K. Phillips described the committee’s visit to the colony and gave this glimpse into the Star Studio: Mrs. MacDowell went with us to the Star Studio where we met a young writer, the present occupant.

The studio is a real workshop, with books, typewriter, manuscript spread about. As you know the studio is just used during working hours and is well equipped

Star Studio was built by the Fraternity in 1911 at a cost of $600—provided by active chapters and alumnae— and represented Alpha Chi Omega’s first altruistic project.

Alpha Chi Omega was the first outside organization to sponsor a studio or cabin at the colony, and the new studio was described in the 1911 Heraeum: This studio, which bears our name, stands in a grove of splendid large pine trees. It is eighteen by twenty feet with a colonial porch and tiled roof, has a fireplace and a small closet for cooking. Here the artist may retire for work without fear of interruption. In order to be eligible to these studios, the applicant, man or woman, must be a genius in any of the fine arts.

Fay Barnaby Kent, a former pupil of Edward MacDowell’s and Alpha Chi Omega Vice President, was instrumental in convincing the Fraternity to support the idea of sponsoring a studio at the colony.

She lamented in 1915 the fact that no Alpha Chi Omega had yet used the studio. “Have we no writers, painters, sculptors or composers who could do something in that wonderful atmosphere?” A committee was formed to

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“Had I been a sensible woman I would have given up the idea of the colony after two years; being a dreamer, I didn’t—and the dream has become a reality.”

– Marian Nevins MacDowell

array of inquiries and concerns. We apply the same egalitarian standards for all those who serve MacDowell either in a staff, volunteer, or representative capacity.

for that purpose. There is a huge fireplace with fire kindled and great supply of wood, a couch in-doors and one on the rear, screened porch, chairs, tables, etc. The studio is the one nearest Hillcrest, and is surrounded by beautiful forest.

A small sampling of the artists who have stayed at the MacDowell Colony: Leonard Bernstein Willa Cather Michael Chabon Aaron Copland E.L. Doctorow Jonathan Franzen Alice Sebold Alice Walker Wendy Wasserstein Thornton Wilder

Also in 1930, a small bronze plaque was placed in the studio to welcome the artists who traveled to New Hampshire to work and create in solitude. The plaque reads, “Star Studio, 1911. Dedicated to the cause of Art and to the artist’s need of solitude, by Alpha Chi Omega.”

Support of the Star Studio continued to be important to the Fraternity and its members. In 1935, National President Ethel Mead Van Auken remarked, “The fact that we are able to help in this unusual field of artistic endeavor is a great satisfaction, the fact that our work makes glad one of our own dear members, Mrs. MacDowell, brings joy to our hearts. In a very recent letter from her, she said, ‘I never forget how Alpha Chi Omega was the first group, from a public standpoint, to recognize the value of what we are doing.’”

National Medal of the Arts The MacDowell Colony was honored in 1996 with the National Medal of the Arts, the highest award in the United States for artists or arts patrons, for “nurturing and inspiring many of the century’s finest artists” and offering them “the opportunity to work within a dynamic community of their peers, where creative excellence is the standard.”

The Mission of the MacDowell Colony The mission of the MacDowell Colony is to nurture the arts by offering creative individuals of the highest talent an inspiring environment in which they can produce enduring works of the imagination.

The sole criterion for acceptance to The MacDowell Colony is artistic excellence. MacDowell defines excellence in a pluralistic and inclusive way, encouraging applications from artists representing the widest possible range of perspectives and demographics.

We welcome artists engaging in the broadest spectrum of artistic practice who are investigating an unlimited

In a letter written only three weeks before her death, Marian MacDowell wrote: My warmest wishes go to every Alpha Chi Omega, and my deepest appreciation for all you are doing.

I can never thank the sorority enough for the trust and faith you had in what seemed to most of the world a fantastic and impossible scheme.

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R anecdote

From The Lyre, June 1934

No. 6

AS UP AND DOWN THE WORLD WE GO

Last fall when we came back to school there was much rejoicing at seeing each other again. We all had stories of our exciting summer to tell, but the story we prized most was one our housemother, Mrs. Campbell, told us: She was traveling by bus somewhere in Utah.

On the same bus was a group of loud, rather uncouth girls, save for one – she was ashamed of all their conducts! This one girl was pretty, quiet and very dignified. At the next bus stop the girl came over to Mrs. Campbell and asked to sit with her saying that she was not one of that party and would like to join someone else. Our housemother welcomed her charming graciousness and they became very friendly. They soon found a point of common interest. One was an Alpha Chi and the other was an Alpha Chi housemother. They lunched together and traveled on the same bus for some little time.

Mrs.Campbell was constantly delighted by her new friend, and when we saw her again this fall she told us again how glad she is to be chaperoning a group whose standards really mean a pattern for conduct at all times. We too were happy to hear such praise of one of our number. – Frances Herbert, Alpha Rho

Click the image to view the full piece at the end of this book.

M growing and functioning Organizing Ourselves Engaging Our Alumnae A Strong Financial Footing Panhellenic Beginnings Selecting Our Members Respecting Our Newest Members The Lyre Chapter Housing Scholarship – A Top Priority Central Office – Taking Care of Business

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Organizing Ourselves Extension and the Province Structure

regarding Alpha Chi Omega’s unique music requirement: The future extension policy will be governed by the decision as to whether we are to continue our music requirement or not. More and more chapters are asking for dispensations from the music requirement.

Why? Because the college conservatories, or courses generally, do not offer opportunities desired by the serious music student. We have continued applications from the Cincinnati Conservatory which is one of the highest ranked conservatories in the country—we cannot enter on account of our Pan-Hellenic contract; we cannot enter Cincinnati University for it has no music. So it goes! The Pan-Hellenic Congress keeps us out of conservatories and lack of conservatories keeps us out of good colleges. I recommend that Alpha Chi Omega hold fast to her musical traditions for all time but that we legislate and change our policy in order that we may enter any college or university of approved standing. Scarcely a chapter is living up to the musical requirement and I feel sure that I represent the majority of our musical members when I state that we should all prefer one or two strong musical members in a chapter to fifty percent weak musical members.

As more undergraduate chapters joined the chapter roll, the task of supervising and supporting the chapters became increasingly challenging. To address this, in 1912 the country was divided into five provinces, each overseen by a province president who was appointed by the National President. These first provinces were known as the Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Western and Pacific.

The growth of Alpha Chi Omega’s collegiate chapter roll was an area of emphasis from early on. In 1910, there were 14 active collegiate chapters. Selecting campuses for chapters of Alpha Chi Omega required the colleges and universities to meet the twofold requirements of liberal arts and a school of music. By 1915, the number of active collegiate chapters already totaled 21, and Alpha Chi Omega’s respected place in the Greek world was indicated by a large number of petitions and requests for information received.

The desired pace of expansion was a continuing topic of discussion. In 1910, National President Alta Allen Loud said, “On the whole, we are well content with the progress made and with our extension, which to some outsiders and even to some in our own ranks has seemed slow. Internal development, rather than a rapid extension, has been our aim, and we are thankful for the close, intimate relation that has thus been possible between chapters and officers.” She was confident about future growth, however, stating, “The future will bring us more chapters. We are ambitious for no stated number. We care naught for a lengthy chapter roll, per se. But wherever we shall find desirable types of young womanhood, in institutions that meet our requirements, we shall gladly consider them, believing in the strength of union, and the desirability of a well distributed sisterhood.”

A systematic and efficient approach was taken toward the establishment of new chapters. In 1914, for example, special “extension officers” were appointed to serve in almost every state, and 14 colleges or universities were visited. As a result of just that year’s efforts, Phi chapter (Kansas) was chartered, one petition was refused, and three other petitions were pending at the time. National Vice President Fay Barnaby Kent outlined a detailed account of and plan for extension in her 1915 Heraeum report. In this report, she raised an interesting point

Her case was compelling; the recommendation was adopted. Growth for the Fraternity went something like this, according to The First Fifty Years: The Southern Province was an integral part of the Eastern Province until 1919, and then of the Atlantic Province until 1926, when the extension of Alpha Chi Omega into southern colleges was sufficient to warrant a separate subdivision. In 1922, the Southwestern and Northern Provinces took the place of the original Western division.

Further reorganization was necessary in 1928 when the North central and Northwest provinces were added to the list. Again the multiplication of chapters caused a revision in 1933.

By the early 1920s, province conventions were in place and provided an opportunity for sisterhood and education between national conventions, especially important as the fraternity grew. The “successful 76

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and rapid development of the province system” was encouraged by the Council. One suggested topic for the province conventions?—“How to Talk Fraternity” —intended to open up extension opportunities for Alpha Chi Omega.

The philosophy was outlined, in part, in National President Gladys Livingston Graff’s report in 1921 in The Heraeum: In regard to chapter expansion it is often alleged that extension is apt to be at the expense of internal organizations. A favorite cry of the conservative is ‘Strengthen the chapters we have before granting more charters, let us concentrate on internal development first.’ By all means, amen to that, but, never in the history of Greek-letter organizations have the executive systems functioned so smoothly, thanks to such agencies as traveling inspectors, unheard of in earlier days, regular reports, budget systems, and the many interlocking offices and officers. Furthermore it is sometimes true that the younger chapters are more willing to conform to rules and regulations not considered ‘traditional’ by the older groups, and that often they seem to have a clearer vision of national aspect of fraternity.

of many fraternities are printing articles favoring more rapid extension and explaining the wisdom of such policy.

Let us be awake to the situation and take advantage of the splendid opportunities offered for legitimate expansion and ultimate growth. In the selection on new groups may we ever ‘Seek the Heights.’”

She then reported in 1926 that of Alpha Chi Omega’s forty-seven active chapters, five had been established in the last two years. She also remarked on a new “widespread recognition” of Alpha Chi Omega in the southern United States.

National Inspector Ethel Mead Van Auken described the value of the province system in the May 1926 issue of The Lyre, saying: This system has been a boon to both the chapters and to the fraternity at large. The chapters have profited in the intimate relations with their province presidents and among themselves, for these small groups of chapters meet at province conventions for the consideration of all kinds of problems. The fraternity has benefited immeasurably, for it is secure in the knowledge that each chapter is receiving the individual attention which makes for clear understanding and growth.

This was despite the fact that an anti-fraternity feeling had resulted in some state legislatures introducing anti-fraternity measures. Recommended by Graff: A thorough survey of present anti-fraternity legislation and strenuous efforts to awaken the hostile state legislatures to the educational value of fraternities.

As of 1930, the fraternity was composed of eight provinces. At this time, Province Officers had been vested with the authority to oversee matters relating to repledging, pledge releases, and granting of inactive membership status. Province groups had begun meeting in their own group “conventions” and were clearly established as a vital need for the organization. In her 1932 Heraeum report, National President Ethel Mead Van Auken said about province meetings, “these province meetings are invaluable to our members and to the structure of our fraternity. It is recommended that in the future, if finances will permit, the National President be in attendance at all province conventions. Such attendance would give her an unusual opportunity for viewing and comparing the activities of all the provinces and invaluable, informal contacts with many members.”

By 1935, the provinces included: Atlantic, Southern, Central, Great Lakes, North Central, Southwestern, Intermountain, Pacific and Northwestern.

In a letter to undergraduate chapter presidents in January of 1924, Graff asked for the chapters’ assistance in growing the chapter roll. She wrote, “It would be most helpful to your Council if you would all keep the subject of future expansion in mind, especially in regard to suggestions for Southern extension.”

Extension Vice President Myrna V. Bennett (Phi, Kansas) reported the installation of four chapters in her 1921 report. She said, “Our prominence and prestige in the Greek world is becoming more and more pronounced as evidenced by the recognition paid us. The magazines 77

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Engaging Our Alumnae From The First Fifty Years:

and enthusiasm, and need the support of their alumnae with their more mature judgment. If you cannot affiliate with a chapter in your own city, join a near-by chapter and attend the meetings as often as you can.

There is no better way to prove your interest in helping Alpha Chi Omega realize her high ideals than by giving a little time and thought to the splendid work which may be done by Alumnae chapters.

Strong alumnae support makes possible the acquisition of desirable new members, the enforcing of traditions of high scholarship and fine social standards, and the ownership of comfortable and well managed chapter homes. National altruistic programs have been made possible, and real service to their communities has been given by alumnae groups of all fraternities, both men’s and women’s.

They have helped to train their members in good citizenship, as well as to keep their interest in the organization which played so large a part in moulding their undergraduate years.

In the 1912 Heraeum, National Vice-President Fay Barnaby Kent reported the Fraternity had twelve alumnae chapters and thirteen alumnae clubs—and she explained how these organized groups could be vital to the Fraternity’s expansion efforts and to the identification of promising prospective members. Still, she explained, “While the alumnae spirit has grown greatly since the Convention of 1912, it is undoubtedly the biggest problem confronting our fraternity today. We have splendid alumnae, we are justly proud of them and they have accomplished wonders for Alpha Chi Omega. Nevertheless the majority of them are uninterested. Oh! That they could all have been with us in California!”

And in 1914, National President Alta Allen Loud pointed out that the Fraternity’s work could not be carried out successfully or efficiently by a few officers and explained the need to quickly find members from the alumnae ranks to serve in volunteer roles. In 1916, she remarked that “perhaps the most notable achievement of the year has been that of the development of the alumnae organization and work. Many alumnae have been brought into the chapters and clubs and with the better organization has come a quickening of interest that has been truly pleasing.”

In 1919, President Loud continued to see progress on the alumnae front, stating, in her National President’s address, that a large number of alumnae organizations had been formed in the last four years, along with a directory of alumnae (arranged by chapter and by geography)— although uncertain times brought about by the Great War and the influenza epidemic had made the efforts ever more challenging and complex.

Early on, the organization of Alpha Chi Omega alumnae was tied to undergraduate chapter reunions.

But by 1902, more and more alumnae were not necessarily living near their chapter of initiation but still needed a way to join together and support the Fraternity. Thus, legislation was passed to charter alumnae chapters, starting an ever-growing, ever-expanding tradition. In 1913 the National Council saw the need to establish clubs in smaller cities or college towns with less-concentrated alumnae populations.

Recognizing that collegiate chapters could best maintain the Fraternity’s high standards if they were exposed to the ongoing leadership and experience of Alpha Chi Omega alumnae, in 1908 a system of alumnae advisors was made a constitutional requirement.

Before this, many chapters had informal, unofficial advisors, but the formal requirement set a new standard and expectation—both of undergraduate and alumnae members.

The following impassioned plea was made to alumnae in the 1911 Heraeum, encouraging their continued involvement with the Fraternity: If the alumnae would only organize, we repeat, the possibilities for benefit and service are great. The assets will exceed the liabilities. It will be a good safe investment for your time and love. The active girls are supporting the Fraternity with their gladness

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High expectations of members throughout their membership—along with respect and gratitude for the fraternal experience—were stressed early and often. In 1922, National President Gladys Livingston Graff reminded members, “We are not a social club. To be a fraternity woman is a life long blessing and privilege, but it also entails responsibility. Never let us forget in the hurly burly of daily life the obligations that go hand in hand with our privileges. Let us remember and be worthy of our dear Founders who made a fraternity of the finest sort possible for us.”

In 1926, the Fraternity created the position of State Alumnae Chairman, who was to contact the alumnae in her state, organize state meetings, solicit Lyre subscriptions, try to locate “lost” alumnae, and generate interest in the Fraternity as a whole. A motion was passed at the 1926 Convention in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, that each alumnae chapter would pay $50 and each alumnae club $25 annually through the Fraternity’s fiftieth anniversary in 1935.

By 1930, Alpha Chi Omega’s alumnae involvement was, according to National President Ethel Mead Van Auken, “a program which is watched with wonder and high praise by contemporary Greeks.”

But mobilizing and communicating with alumnae nationwide was, at times, daunting—and even described

by Van Auken as “a stupendous task to line up our scattered alumnae everywhere.”

One way to keep alumnae informed and connected with Alpha Chi Omega was the Alumnae Manual, which was distributed in 1933 from central office. The manual included information on Fraternity policies, historical information, altruistic efforts, and the National Panhellenic Congress, along with a directory of alumnae chapters and clubs, and national officers.

As Alpha Chi Omega approached its fiftieth anniversary, Alumnae Vice-President Minerva Osborn Donald outlined her thoughts on the need for alumnae involvement: Let us then continue to emphasize in the active chapters the fact that the years of collegiate membership are but an introduction to the

opportunity for the joy and privilege that may come from participation in an alumnae group let the alumnae groups plan their programs even more carefully keeping a proper balance between the social, educational, and altruistic endeavors. Let all alumnae give their interest and support to their active chapters, to their communities, to their fellow alumnae, that, in giving of themselves, they may exemplify the precepts of the fraternity.

A reflection from Founder Olive Burnett Clark in 1925, as Alpha Chi Omega marked its fortieth anniversary: Most wonderful of all is that phantom-like indescribable something that we call the “Spirit of the Fraternity.” Once kindled in the heart it will never die. It may be neglected, it may be bruised, but the spark, however small, will awaken and respond to the call of duty, service, and love. It is this “spirit” that unfolds the cloak of time and gently bearing it away reveals to us the intervening years as today, and we find and feel the youth of our college days.

From The Lyre, November 1933 comes this explanation of the value of continued involvement to some alumnae: Attending a meeting of our alumnae allows for forgetting of ourselves in the problems of others; it brings a rebirth of Alpha Chi Omega thoughts and ideals; it recreates a vision of our “heights” as we feel ourselves back in the chapter house; and it revives youth with the discovery of the fact that we are striving now even as we did in college days to reach a goal just beyond us.

From the Report of the Alumnae Vice-president Lou Babcock (Beta, Albion), 1930: It is folly to think that we can reach the acme of our power if we do not emphasize the fact that, after all, an active Alpha Chi has at best four years of a very beautiful sort of association in her fraternal life, while an alumna can maintain a life-long interest.

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A Strong Financial Footing The Estelle McFarlane Dunkle Loan Fund

As succinctly explained in The First Fifty Years: No organization as large and as complex as a national fraternity can be run efficiently if financial stability be lacking.

This fund also went through a number of incarnations after it was authorized in 1915. According to The First Fifty Years, “The scholarship fund, which should serve as an incentive to intellectual attainment, and a reward for it, had long been contemplated, and was the cherished ambition of the Council.” Gradually it was used more and more to benefit members in need, so the name was adapted from scholarship to loan fund; in 1935 it was renamed in honor of the member who started the fund and served as its treasurer until her death, Estelle McFarlane Dunkle. For the first years of its existence, the fund was supported by proceeds from a number of different dues and income avenues. But in 1933, this was simplified and $1.50 from each national pledge fee was contributed to the fund—allowing it to grow by 1935 to $33,000.

Other specific funds established to support Fraternity needs included the Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Memorial Fellowship Fund, and funds for areas such as Scholarships for Children, The Lyre, and conventions.

In 1921, the Fraternity’s financial standing was described as excellent and was attributed to careful management of the national officers. Although National President Gladys Livingston Graff described the Fraternity’s finances in need of a little “fattening,” the overall financial condition at the time was solid.

The Reserve Fund was growing—it was maintained by per capita dues, alumnae notes, installation proceeds and life subscriptions to The Lyre.

In 1922, a campaign was begun to raise an endowment of $100,000 by the Fraternity’s fiftieth anniversary in 1935. Each alumnae chapter contributed $50 and each alumnae club $25 annually until 1935.

(In 1930 the Convention ruled that clubs of fewer than 12 members would instead be assessed $2.00 per capita.) The stresses of the Great Depression made fulfillment of this goal very difficult, and adjustments

For Alpha Chi Omega, necessity was truly the mother of invention as it related to creating a sound financial structure.

The Alta Allen Loud National Endowment Fund First designed as a scholarship fund in 1910, this fund’s purpose was changed in 1912—at the recommendation of the committee chaired by Alta Allen Loud—to be used to help finance chapter house building and other projects. This plan was adopted, and the fund became known as the reserve fund. An initial goal was set at $5,000 by the 1915 convention, to be attained through individual and chapter contributions, per capita dues, a convention surplus, along with other revenue sources such as sale of Fraternity calendars, symphony postcards, and convention labels. The goal was reached— and surpassed—and the fund was firmly established.

By 1919, the amount in the fund had doubled. Over the next several years, funding processes were refined, and the adoption of the national pledge fee provided a strong foundation for its stability and growth—with $1.00 from each fee put into the reserve fund. An established goal of $100,000 for the reserve fund was reached in 1934. When the National Council met that same year, they changed the name of the fund to the Alta Allen Loud National Endowment Fund as a tribute to this special woman whose vision had spurred the fund from its beginnings until her death in 1933. As of 1935, the fund had made possible chapter houses for forty-one chapters. The fund also at times funded specific Fraternity projects such as new editions of publications, or emergency use.

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had to be made to the established per capita fees.

The alumnae chapters and clubs were excused of this obligation. In 1931-1932, the Fraternity attained the goal of the endowment.

The growing chapter roll necessitated a new approach to funding chapter installations. In 1922, the determination was made that all chapter installations should be self-supporting, with specified fees added to make this a reality and covering expenses such as the chapter charter and equipment.

National President Beatrice Herron Brown spoke positively of the Fraternity’s financial status in her 1928 report: We are exceedingly proud of our business organization not only in the Central Office but in so far as all of our national funds are concerned. The treasury is in the finest condition it has ever been during the history of the fraternity; it has been most efficiently cared for. The Reserve Fund has passed beyond the fifty thousand dollar mark and has made a noble beginning upon the last half which we anticipate reaching by the time of our Golden Jubilee in 1935. The Investment Committee with its foresight and conservation policy has ably handled the increasing Lyre Reserve Fund and has invested the first $500 endowment of the Scholarship for

Children Fund. It is a very great pleasure to announce that the Scholarship Loan Fund has not only been able to meet the increasing demands for loans to our members but has set aside the required amount to maintain the Mary Emma Griffith Marshall Fellowship.

By 1935, the Fraternity was in a position to derive its financial support from the pledge fee, installation and initiation fees, active and alumnae per capita fees, badge royalties, and profits from the sale of the history.

And raising money inevitably and understandably brings up the question of how the Fraternity was spending money. Expenditures were largely to undergraduate chapters. Fraternity officers have almost without exception been volunteers (although from 1909-1919 The Lyre editor received a stipend of $150 a year—before the position was combined with national secretary and a

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central office was established). As of 1935, according to The First Fifty Years, (“the heaviest single item of administrative expense is the upkeep of the central office of the fraternity, which was established in 1922.

Rental, equipment, stationery, postage, and clerical help all cost an appreciable sum, but their cost is in no way proportionate to the benefits which the chapters derive from the business-like centralization which the office makes possible.”)

Other ongoing expenses for the growing Fraternity, per The First Fifty Years? There was:

Management of finances for the growing organization was complex and challenging. Collegiate chapters were still learning to take their financial responsibilities seriously. The Great Depression severely strained resources at both the national and local levels.

A variety of types and structures of dues-paying were implemented and revised over the years. Still, the Fraternity remained essentially sound financially.

In her report of the National Finance Committee in the 1934 Heraeum, National President Ethel Mead Van Auken described that, “Happily we are able to report the finances of the fraternity in sound condition,” explaining further that, “We have conserved our funds this year both because of necessity and expediency and because we look forward to a full program for next year; the year of our Golden Anniversary.” In addition to an endowment totaling $100,000 in 1935, the Fraternity at the time had value in other forms, including chapter houses, lodges and equipment.

• Supervision

of collegiate chapters—“Alpha Chi Omega has always believed that close supervision was an imperative necessity if the chapters were to be knit into a strong unified whole.”

• Extension—“...was also a drain on the treasury, until the ruling of the 1922 convention making all installations self-supporting. Since that time the profits from newly established chapters have paid all expenses incident to the inspection of new fields, and the actual installation of the chapters.”

• The Lyre—“The general treasury helped finance The Lyre until 1908, when the magazine became self-supporting.”

• Special projects—“In 1911 it completed the erection of Star Studio at the MacDowell Colony. In 1919, it created a permanent endowment for its gift... a fellow-ship was also given to the colony for two years in 1931, and again in 1935. For several years prior to his death, an honorarium was presented to James Hamilton Howe in token of the appreciation of Alpha Chi Omega. Several times the Fraternity has entertained its Founders as convention guests. Honor awards have also been purchased from the general funds. An archives vault was built in Alpha’s memorial house, and a room there was provided in tribute to Alta Allen Loud, to be used by any member of Alpha Chi Omega who might visit there.”

Status of Endowment Funds in 1924: Reserve Fund—$26,000 Scholarship Fund—$11,500 Lyre Reserve Fund—$29,000 Total—More than $66,000 toward the $100,000 goal set for the 50th anniversary.

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Panhellenic Beginnings Cooperation among women’s fraternities was an early and ambitious goal. What was described as “concerted action among women’s fraternities” by Grand Historian Grace Hammond Holmes (Delta, Allegheny), the first actual conference meeting was held in Chicago in May of 1902, with annual meetings following that first meeting.

Historian Holmes stated that “This organization has accomplished some very good things but has been greatly handicapped by lack of power. Our delegate is authorized to express to the Conference the recommendation that the National Pan-Hellenic Association have legislative power in Pan-Hellenic matters. Alpha Chi Omega also went on record very early as favoring sophomore pledge day whenever possible.”

National President Alta Allen Loud attended a conference of National Presidents in 1911 preceding the 1912 National Panhellenic Congress, with a goal of reaching common understanding on a number of issues.

What resulted was a code containing suggestions for collegiate chapters. Topics covered under the code included an expectation that chapters maintain positive relations with the dean of women, observance of spirit and letter of college and Panhellenic rules, encouragement of written invitations to and acceptances of membership, appreciation of other fraternities, “the avoidance of newspaper notoriety,” moderation in social activities, and avoidance of chapter indebtedness.

In 1914, Lois Smith Crann (Mu, Simpson), assumed the chairmanship of the National Panhellenic Conference, and Alpha Chi Omega chaired the meeting, held in New York City. Gamma Gamma chapter, led by Nella Ramsdell Fall, organized the social events, and Alpha Chi Omega National President Alta Allen Loud presided. According to Rosita’s accounting: Rosita Hopps Nordwall (Epsilon, Southern California) served as both Alpha Chi Omega National President (1964-66) and as Chairman of the National Panhellenic Conference (1957-59). Because of her unique and extraordinary service, she was able to compile a comprehensive accounting of “Alpha Chi Omega and the National Panhellenic Conference, Reflections and

Reminiscences of People and Events.” In describing early Panhellenic efforts, she said, “It was apparent to all that when there were several different chapters on the same campus there was a need to bring order into the rush for new members and that the term of ‘all is fair in rush and war’ was not the way to go.”

“Again, Alpha Chi Omega Council was in the vanguard and voted to accept the standardization of grades for the initiation requirement providing it did not lower Alpha Chi’s standards. It was a standard which had to be established if NPC were to be taken seriously by the administrations of the universities.”

Formalizing the role of the Panhellenic delegate took some trial and error for Alpha Chi Omega. Was this important position a member of the Council, a province officer, a committee chairman? Although Alpha Chi Omega was represented in the National Panhellenic Congress from its earliest days, it was not until 1919 that a long-term delegate was appointed for this unique role. This progressive step allowed for experience and continuity in Panhellenic dealings.

The 1920s found increasing enrollments at colleges and universities—and fraternal membership grew accordingly—bringing both opportunities and challenges in areas such as housing, membership and discipline of members. National Inspector Gretchen Gooch Troster realized that “increased attendance carries with it problems such as cannot be totally met with the ‘old order of things.’ The readjustment taxes the mental services of our Fraternity girls, but for the sake of happiness of interfraternity relations and less nerve racking rushing seasons, every girl should acquaint herself with local Panhellenic conditions and then add some constructive thinking for the improvement of affairs.”

Alta Allen Loud was a strong proponent of the Panhellenic spirit, continuing to share its importance in her 1913 address to the membership, in which she urged “a strong, conservative position in local Panhellenics” and again in 1914 when she urged Alpha Chi Omegas to encourage real Panhellenic involvement—not merely a committee to make rush rules.

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In her 1915 address, President Loud described Alpha Chi Omega’s participation in the National Panhellenic Conference (then known as the National Panhellenic Congress), proudly stating, “We can truthfully say that Alpha Chi Omega ‘came into her own’ in Pan-hellenism at this time.” Further: It has been my pleasure to represent Alpha Chi Omega officially at the first and second conferences of presidents of the eighteen National Pan-Hellenic Congress fraternities. These meetings were for the purpose of reaching a common understanding on many matters pertaining to the direction of fraternities and the free discussions and exchange of thoughts were beneficial... The result of this conference was the formation of the ‘Code of Ethics’ for the use of national presidents, the object of which is to bring about in all fraternities greater uniformity in official instructions to chapters, a higher sense of fraternal relation and responsibility, greater appreciation of the worth and rights of others and a more cheerful and loyal cooperation with university authorities.

Beatrice Herron Brown served Alpha Chi Omega in many important capacities—inspector, National President, and National Panhellenic Conference delegate. She served the Panhellenic community for twenty-five years, becoming known as “Panhellenic” to Alpha Chi Omega and as “Alpha Chi Omega” to NPC. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, according to Rosita Nordwall, to her Panhellenic associates she was “more legend than reality.” NPC Delegate Brown was chairman of college Panhellenics for six years (1925-1931), during which time she worked diligently to establish positive working relationships with deans on college campuses nationwide.

From a report of the National Panhellenic Congress biennial meeting by Florence Meridian, editor of The Aglaia of Phi Mu, appearing in the May 1928 issue of The Lyre: Smoking by college girls was a question that was discussed at length at the National Panhellenic Congress meeting. After all of the interesting pros and cons had been heard the following resolution was adopted: “Resolved that the policies of the National Panhellenic Congress fraternities be against smoking by undergraduate members in chapter houses or on the campuses of our universities and colleges, and that guests and alumnae be requested to respect this policy the same as they do house rules.

By 1921, a number of binding rules had been established for Panhellenic use—covering topics such as the withdrawal of chapters, terms of pledgeship, and the requirement that students be matriculated at a college or university before being asked to join a fraternity.

Alpha Chi Omega earned and enjoyed a strong reputation and presence in the Congress. According to National President Gladys Livingston Graff in 1924, “Our standing and reputation in this body is unquestionably high, and reflects the honor and respect with which we are universally regarded. In suggestions for constructive legislation and enforcement of the highest fraternity ideals Alpha Chi Omega is assuredly a leader within the Congress.”

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Selecting Our Members In the formative years of Greek-letter fraternities and sororities, the rushing procedures were not necessarily consistent or defined. And for Alpha Chi Omega, there were special challenges and considerations due to our founding in the fine arts and membership requirements associated with this. After all, as the 1916 History states, “Music was, from the outset, a beloved tradition with Alpha Chi Omega... Music will be, forever, an inspiring influence to all Alpha Chis.”

At the 1915 Convention in Long Beach, California, the membership clause was revised to read: Any woman student of good character having finished a course in a secondary school or its equivalent is eligible to membership in Alpha Chi Omega provided she is taking:

Fay Barnaby Kent, in her report as chairman of the extension committee at the 1915 convention, made this case: I recommend that Alpha Chi Omega hold fast to her musical traditions for all time, but that we legislate and change our policy in order that we may enter any college or university of approved standing.

Scarcely a chapter is living up to the musical requirement, and I feel sure that we should all prefer one or two strong musical members in a chapter, to fifty per cent weaker musical members.

The value of considering the experience and opinions of alumnae in membership selection was reinforced by the National Council in 1921, when they advised chapters to acknowledge alumnae recommendations of potential members.

As Alpha Chi Omega grew, along with the other women’s fraternities, the topic of rushing procedures and general fairness in membership selection came to the forefront of the Alpha Chi experience and was more formally outlined and monitored. As National President Ethel Mead Van Auken stated in 1930, “We urge a fair and sane consideration of prospective members. We want and need only those who possess qualities of industry, willingness, mental ability and leadership... we urge on our chapters the great importance of wisdom and vigilance in the selection of those who will some day be privileged to wear the golden lyre.”

Selection of members was an ongoing topic of discussion, understandably. In a 1923 Heraeum report

by National President Gladys Livingston Graff, she suggested, “More care has apparently been exercised in the choice of rushes, and it is wise to consider the graduate’s background and home training as well as personal appearance. You are far more likely to find the girl congenial whose parents, like your own, are concerned about her welfare and behavior. The girl with the proper home atmosphere is rarely the one who causes trouble or regrets.”

a. regular collegiate course leading to a degree. b. regular course in music.

Chapters had previously been required to maintain a balance between liberal arts students and music students, with a requirement that fifty percent of the membership be music students, but were finding that increasingly difficult to maintain. This was explained in The Lyre: Were Alpha Chi Omega the only fraternity to invite musical members, it might be done; but the better fraternities all desire musicians in their chapters and the number of musicians, with admittance credits, in the American college is small, therefore the number eligible to fraternities is small. … It was with enthusiasm and unanimity that it was decided that the membership clause should be revised to enable the fraternity to enter those institutions of high rank which do not support colleges of music. Consequently, the fraternity represented at convention felt that Alpha Chi Omega was now ready to develop, unhampered, along liberal arts as well as musical lines.

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Reference was made as early as 1924 to the infamous Form 62 (then called the Uniform Recommendation Blank)—“to be used by chapters in making up their rushing lists.” Secretary-Editor Mary Emma Griffith Marshall urged chapters to use the form, saying, “Each girl who is rushed seriously should have the form filled out by an alumna or active.”

Alpha Chi Omega’s National Panhellenic Delegate Beatrice Herron Brown described a new concept in rush in her 1935 Heraeum report, saying, “College Panhellenics have been especially interested in the quota system, so the committee has made an investigation of the system’s results.” Results of the system, described as “a plan to provide a balanced distribution of pledges among fraternity chapters on any one campus,” were mixed at the time, but it represented steps being made in the direction of cooperation and fairness in membership recruitment, which was strongly supported by Alpha Chi Omega’s leadership.

National President Ethel Mead Van Auken explained, “The rushing policy of Alpha Chi Omega remains as always; one of absolute fairness and strict adherence to the letter and spirit of the rules. By no other method could we hope to succeed. During the interim of conventions we have sent so many of our chapters rushing assistance.”

She went on to address the challenges facing chapters in recruiting new members. “It has been found that fewer girls have been able, financially, to accept fraternity invitations, therefore competition has been keener. With depleted numbers in many chapters, due to the economic strain of our times, it has been found necessary to send outside help, for the personnel of a chapter has been made up of girls who had never experienced an actual rushing season.”

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Respecting Our Newest Members Reference to the desire to treat the Fraternity’s newest members with respect and dignity goes back to Alpha Chi Omega’s early years. The first edition of a handbook for pledge, for example, was published and distributed in 1924 and was compiled by Mary Emma Griffith Marshall, Secretary-Editor. For many years the general content of the book remained consistent, including information, as would be expected, on the Fraternity’s founding, organization, altruistic work, and the National Panhellenic Congress. As stated in 1935, “Each pledge is given a copy as soon as she affiliates with the fraternity, and she is expected to assimilate the information therein contained.”

In 1930, when Council member Boyles moved that the Council recommend to the convention body that any chapter indulging, as she stated it, in so-called “hell week” or humiliation of members shall be placed on probation by the Council. The motion was seconded and approved.

Also in 1930, the national pledge chairmanship was established and concerted thought was given to the role of the pledge in a chapter. Through the leadership of the chapter pledge chairman, the pledges were to be given “a panorama of fraternity and Alpha Chi Omega life that they are a part of the fraternity at the outset; giving them a program which should make them invaluable members.”

The Council also recognized the inherent value of establishing positive relationships with the parents of the newest members and determined to send parents information outlining the organization’s traditions and standards.

In the January 1932 issue of The Lyre, Betty McGuigan, Gamma Northwestern, rightly stated, “I believe we should not only rush the rushees but should continue to rush those who have become our pledges,” explaining that too often chapters failed to continue to cultivate friendship as members settled into their “hurried days of student life,” forgetting that it takes time for new members to feel a part of a national organization. As she wisely said, “Can we thoughtlessly neglect a wearer of our diamond-shaped scarlet and olive green pin and then selfishly expect her to develop a love of fraternity and interest in furthering its standing without the essential background which we alone can give?”

As of the Fraternity’s fiftieth anniversary, a simple policy for all chapters to follow regarding new members stated: Chapters are reminded that the pledge period is for adjustment in scholarship and adaptation to the groups but is not a disciplinary period. Avoid rules or customs that are unkind, undignified, or humiliating.

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The Lyre From the outset, The Lyre was a communication vehicle in which the Fraternity took great pride and held to a high standard of quality. Funding it, however, was an early and ongoing challenge and concern. Early on it was financed in part by individual subscriptions and advertisements.

Distribution grew from 750 in July of 1910 to 1,750 in July of 1915, but the increase in alumnae support was not enough to meet the budgetary requirements. There were repeated campaigns to raise the percentage of alumnae subscriptions (Alta Allen Loud was the first life subscriber in 1911) but this was only a temporary solution. Ultimately The Lyre became self supporting thanks to the legislation requiring each member to subscribe for five years after the time of her initiation.

Beginning in 1911, a $20 life subscription was offered but not required—offering little relief. Unfortunately, often the subscription to this important tie to the Fraternity was not renewed.

In her 1913 report, The Lyre Editor Florence Armstrong (Mu, Simpson), described the magazine by explaining: The unusual features of The Lyre in these four issues have been—a Pan-Hellenic symposium of the journals of women’s fraternities and their Editors; one issue devoted to alumnae, which was so successful as to justify an annual or biennial alumna issue; more numerous half tones, a change of paper and type used, printing chapter material in same type as other matter; and lastly and most important, the inauguration with the April issue of a “Whirlwind Campaign” for immediate larger Lyre support.

The editor believes The Lyre worthy of the active support of seventy-five percent off the alumnae, and she is going after that with zest, feeling that the Council and Chapters will agree, and will make the achievement possible.

continued emphasis on the need for subscribers, in 1913 the percentage of alumnae subscribing to The Lyre had reached only thirty percent. As stated in an editorial in the April 1913 issue of The Lyre: We must have greater alumnae support—and the only way we know to get it is to ask frankly for some work from our good friends, The Lyre readers.

At the 1915 Convention in Long Beach, California, the life subscription plan, with a life subscription of $10 (or $11 if paid in three installments) included in the initiation fee, was adopted. This allowed members to pay the balance of her life subscription in two years so that when she graduated The Lyre would be “hers for all time.” The rate was offered to alumnae at the time, as well.

Editor Armstrong made a plea in 1913 for growth in advertising in The Lyre, explaining, “Inquiries from members would aid us, and only that will answer the demand for results from national advertisers.” Despite

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National President Alta Allen Loud commended The Lyre, saying, “I always find difficulty in repressing my enthusiasm when speaking of our fraternity journal which, under the efficient management of our editor, has become a publication of which we are very proud and which fully represents the standards of our fraternity.

Since Miss Armstrong will not mention these things in her report, I take pleasure in telling you that fraternity leaders constantly speak of The Lyre as one of the very best fraternity journals, while Mrs. Martin, editor of the Sorority Hand Book, does not hesitate to pronounce it the very best journal published by a woman’s fraternity.”

Four years later, though, The Lyre reserve had grown to $7,000 and was invested. Soon the subscription rate was raised to $15 (based on actuarial information). And the grand total in the fund as of June 1, 1935—$74,124. Total circulation at this time—12,250.

But stabilizing the funding for the magazine was complex and time-consuming—and complicated by an ever-growing circulation (which doubled, for example, between 1912 and 1919).The Lyre’s business manager, Nell E. Harris, (Mu, Simpson) illustrated the financial side of the magazine in her 1915 report: With these facts in mind you will be lenient with us—and responsive—when we urge you to greater Lyre support, more subscriptions and more advertising. We have been able to set aside $1,500 as a reserve fund—without the $1,100 that we have received from advertising how much of a reserve fund would we have?

And in 1919, Business Manager Harris retired from the position, saying, “It is with mingled emotions that the Business Manager retires from the field, a feeling of immense relief, as of a great load being rolled away; but also with a feeling of loneliness and regret; for the work has brought much joy and many valued friendships. To chapter editors, past and present, and to the ever-loyal and helpful Council members, the Business Manager extends thanks; and if you feel that the The Lyre has prospered somewhat, be sure that credit is due in large measure to yourselves for your loyal support and cooperation.”

As far as content of the magazine, in 1916 Florence Armstrong outlined some refinements: Three slight changes in the magazine have been made. By request the Greek letters now supplement the chapter names in The Lyre official directory; the names of places where ΑΧΟ has chapters or clubs have been placed on the outer back cover of The Lyre; and the chapters have been requested to send, for the July number hereafter, small photos of chapter groups instead of the large chapter pictures which were often too much injured in transit to be used afterwards by the chapter.

And she made her case for continued support of the magazine: The Editor wishes to ask three things from the Council: first, promptness when sending contributions to the magazine; second, your approval of syndicated advertising for The Lyre; third, your cordial support, in details, of our attempts to add to our income by advertising.

An item of expense which must be met continually, but a very necessary and important one, is the issuance of 200 complimentary subscriptions, as follows:

Certainly The Lyre had a strong advocate in National President Alta Allen Loud, who stated in her 1916 president’s report: The Lyre has maintained its splendidly high standard and the number of life subscriptions already secured is most gratifying.

Life subscriptions to the Founders of the fraternity......10 To the honorary members……………………………......9 Two or three copies each to the Council members during their term of office….........................................16 Advertisers………………………………........................30 College Libraries………………………………………....25 Fraternity Exchange List……………………………….110 Total………………………………………………….....200

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Begin by subscribing for THE LYRE. You will learn what the Fraternity as a whole is doing and what the girls of your own chapter are accomplishing, while the items in the alumnae news about the girls you used to know will set you dreaming and make you feel quite Freshmanish again. Find a place for your LYRE between the volumes of “Good Housekeeping” and Dr. Holt’s “Care and Feeding of Children”—one will lend interest to the other.

– From the column, “Are You a Progressive?” by Nella Ramsdell Fall, The Lyre, November 1912

In 1921, life subscriptions were increasing and the Lyre Reserve Fund totaled nearly $15,000. Following an increase in subscription fee to $15 in 1922, by 1925 the total membership receiving The Lyre had grown to 3,000. According to The First Fifty Years, “The requirement of life subscriptions from each initiate has resulted not only in financial independence for the magazine, but also in a recognized solidarity of the alumnae.”

During the Fraternity’s early years, a number of dedicated, determined, and talented women served their Fraternity as editor of The Lyre. In the “second twenty-five years,” a particularly notable individual serving as editor was Mary Emma Griffith Marshall, who took on a newly established role as combined secretary and editor for the Fraternity—a salaried position. She served in this capacity until her 1925 death. In 1929 the two positions were separated, allowing oversight of The Lyre to be the editor’s primary focus rather than an assignment “on the side.”

Editorial content of The Lyre evolved with the Fraternity. Issues of this era included feature articles written by members, selected articles from undergraduate chapters, a section on accomplished alumnae, poetry, lists of marriages, births and deaths, editorials, perspectives from other women’s and men’s national fraternities, and a directory of officers. Determining editorial content is an age-old quandary for The Lyre, as expressed in The History of Alpha Chi Omega, One Hundred Years: As the fraternity grew and as more and more pages were taken up with chapter and alumnae news, various alternatives were tried. Some editors printed all letters in one issue, some omitted the two sections, and other published alumnae and collegiate letters in alternate issues.

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Chapter Housing Early on, Alpha Chi Omega demonstrated a strong commitment to chapter housing. As of 1912, only Beta (Albion) had a lodge. But in 1913, National President Alta Allen Loud recommended chapters at schools where fraternity housing was allowed, and with strong financial footing, take immediate steps toward owning a chapter house—and a national committee be appointed to advise and guide these efforts.

In 1915, reports showed Theta (Michigan) had purchased a lot for $2,700 with plans to build a $12,000 house; Lambda (Syracuse) had plans to purchase a house for $17,000. Other chapters across the country soon followed suit. The momentum continued to grow, and in 1921 it was reported, “The seven chapters comfortably housed show satisfactory results in reducing their indebtedness; six or seven additional chapters are building up financial reserves which will mean new chapter houses in a short time as many more chapters have modest sums to the credit of their building funds.”

House rules and decorum were addressed following World War I in a letter to collegiate chapters: We think you will find it helpful also if you will insist on a little more formality in your attitude in the chapter house. The old adage that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’ is proven true time and time again in chapter house life if one is not careful. A certain reserve is necessary if one is to be well-bred. Such little details as the forbidding of the wearing of kimonos downstairs at any time, the insistence upon more formality and if possible upon dressing for dinner, a social hour after the meal (with after-dinner coffee sometimes or always in your receptions rooms) help to cultivate the social ease we all desire and make your chapter house one of which you may always be proud.

living in chapter houses. By 1924, one-fourth of the collegiate chapters owned a house, and nearly all chapters had an active building committee working to increase that percentage. National President Gladys Livingston Graff expressed her hope that “before another year passes that at least one-half of our chapters either own their own homes, or have them under construction. The advantages of living in and owning a chapter house are too obvious to require discussion.”

Special praise was given to Pi (Berkeley) for their recovery from the fire that took their chapter house.

Pi was able to rebuild the following year.

Some Alpha Chi Omega housing facts: • By

1923, the total value of Alpha Chi Omega’s real estate was $222,538.55, with the cash in building funds reported to be $29,126.35.

• In 1924, 19 chapters were paying rent, with 12 chapters residing in homes of their own.

• In 1925, 18 chapters owned homes (plus Beta’s lodge), and five chapters owned lots and were preparing to begin the building process.

The chapter house committee actively assisted chapters as they sought to secure housing, with duties in the areas of: reserve fund loans and conditions, organization of building committees, planning funding campaigns, advice on financing—building projects, and assistance in obtaining alumnae cooperation with building projects. This important committee kept meticulous records and offered practical advice, and there was plenty of demand for the advice and guidance. In 1926, for instance, eleven new chapter houses were opened and by 1928 the Fraternity could boast of over one million dollars’ worth of property owned by thirty different groups—and more houses were on the horizon.

Mary C. McNally, (Iota, Illinois) Chairman of the chapter house committee, described the variety of chapter houses in her 1927-1928 report. “The Alpha Chi Omega houses which stand as monuments to the unselfish loyalty

Not that Alpha Chi Omega was feeling competitive, but a chart published in the November 1920 issue of The Lyre indicated that Alpha Chi Omega ranked third among women’s fraternities in the percentage of chapters

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Omicron chapter at Baker University on their front porch.

of many of our most splendid members vary in an interesting way according to the climate, the community, and the size of the college or university where they are located. They vary in cost from $14,300 to $95,000. Twelve of our homes are in a group costing more than $30,000, and have been built in the last two or three years.”

Besides the sheer proliferation of houses, there were other practical matters to be addressed regarding housing, such as safety, cost containment, insurance, taxes and architectural style. An editorial in The Lyre offered this opinion: A fraternity house is not a city (or a country) club; it is not, on the other hand a boarding house or a college dormitory. Its primary purpose is to create for the men or women who live in a fraternity home, the best substitute for home that a college can offer.

Again, from the 1927-1928 report of the chapter house committee: Many of the newer homes are fire-proof in part, Gamma’s almost entirely. This point cannot be stressed too much. All chapters looking toward future homes must try to have them fire-proof in so far as possible. All of these new homes are beautiful, and are built with the idea of affording comfortable homes where our college women may live the happiest and best ordered lives. Although some of our alumnae may be surprised at the cost of these home, may I ask them to remember they are less affluent than those being built by other women’s fraternities.

Progress in the area of housing was proudly described in the January 1928 issue of The Lyre by Mary McNally, who wrote:

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The year 1912 found this national fraternity without a single home, and with several chapters in debt. To have climbed from this embarrassing and obscure position in so short a time is an achievement. It is the result of planning, business foresight and astuteness, much self-sacrifices, and a complete evolution of the budgeting of chapter income.

From The Lyre, July 1913: House Management is one of the most difficult problems confronting sorority life. The chapter house must be more than a shelter or rooming house—it must be a home and fill the requirements of a home...Good Management is of course the essential. The chaperone exerts the greatest influence over the girls by her charm, womanliness, and strength of character... Then a house committee is a necessity... A meeting held at the first of the year in which a budget is made of probably expense, division of labor of the girls, outside help, and general care, entertainments, kind and probable cost.

In the same issue of The Lyre, she went on to describe the chapter houses in great detail—touching on the architectural styles, costs, sizes and features of the houses—and still pressing forward by outlining plans for future houses—and describing situations where chapters either rented homes or lived together in halls on campuses.

In her 1928 address, National President Beatrice Herron Brown said, “House ownership and management are deemed most valuable experiences for the individual membership…Our own progress has proved our complete endorsement of chapter ownership and we truly feel that every Alpha Chi Omega may have a thrill of pride over this material development... The expressed feeling of fraternities at large is that chapters be urged to build chapter homes adequate for their needs for the present and years to come, yet to guard against entering upon so large a project that the chapter itself must be over-built in numbers in order to support the house.”

By 1930, thirty-five chapters had homes, and some were already concerned about outgrowing their space.

According to the 1930 chapter house report by Mary C. McNally, “Practically all the newer houses report specially built chapter rooms. Many groups complain that their houses are too small, and it does seem as if foresight in planning might overcome this criticism.”

In 1933, the number of chapters owning houses had grown to forty-one, and five chapters renting homes.

A thorough inspection of plumbing, furnace, gas and electric light fixtures, an inventory of all supplies, and check list with the list made at the time school closed.

House rules are of course very important... Lastly may I stress the necessity for kindness, politeness, and refinement in the chapter house as in each of the homes of the individual girls.

Flo Boyles, Xi

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Bertha Deniston Cunningham proudly poses with her scrapbook collection. This photo, taken December 9, 1934 in the living room of her home showcases five Alpha Chi Omega scrapbooks in the foreground and sixteen books containing an extensive collection of unique items commemorating the war. First appearing in the January 1935 issue of The Lyre, the accompanying article described the contents in further detail. The Alpha Chi Omega scrapbooks have served as an invaluable asset in telling the stories of the first half-century of the organization.

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Scholarship – A Top Priority The vital importance of scholastic achievement continued to be stressed as Alpha Chi Omega grew.

Scholarship requirements were first emphasized in 1908, with the requirement that reports be submitted by each chapter to the national inspector. Then, five years later, in 1913, undergraduate students were first required to meet a scholarship standard in order to be eligible for initiation into Alpha Chi Omega. Alpha Chi Omega was the first fraternity to enact a scholarship requirement for initiation and was a clear example of the Fraternity’s commitment to academic achievement by its members.

National Inspector Nella Ramsdell Fall recounted in the 1919 Heraeum the strides made in scholastic achievement: There was a time when scholarship was not considered an essential to membership in a fraternity, and out of that mistaken idea developed the storm that threatened to wreck the fraternity craft… Our own fraternity scholarship has been gradually raised and I think every chapter is consistently working for a higher average, but I want to place particular emphasis on two points in this connection. More thought must be given to scholarship ability in the selection of members and the tendency to let a pledge slide through on a questionable average because the chapter feels sorry for her must be eliminated.

Following World War I, some colleges and universities switched from the semester system to the quarter system and sometimes back again to semesters. This apparently made it tricky for chapters to submit reports of their scholastic activity to the national organization. National Inspector Gretchen Gooch Troster worried that, based on the results that were being submitted, “Chapters on the whole are not putting forth their best efforts in behalf of scholarship… We all know that our colleges and universities throughout the country are ‘tightening up,’ making it harder to pass courses, but this simply involves the ‘survival of the fittest’ and it is those who can survive that we expect each chapter to look for in the choice of membership.”

A plea for just one more month of academic effort went out to chapters in a May 1, 1921 letter: We urge you to make the most of the last few weeks, remembering that Alpha Chi Omega is accustomed to receive more than average scholarship ranking.

Spring is perhaps a hard time to study—but you have the whole summer ahead of you for play, and you have had the long winter for many good times.

Won’t you for the month that is left make an earnest effort to remedy past failures, and bring your chapter to the head of the scholarship list? We feel that this is urgent, and we urge it with all the force of which we are capable—for a month at least, make your motto—‘Scholarship First!’”

(Surely the chapters got the picture from this!)

It is hard to find fault, however, with many of the chapters’ efforts in the academic arena at this time.

Records for the time period of 1915 to 1919, for instance, show that Alpha Chi Omega had thirty-five Phi Beta Kappas—a strong showing considering only fourteen of the twenty-seven colleges where Alpha Chi Omega had chapters at the time had chapters of Phi Beta Kappa. Additionally, Alpha (DePauw) ranked first three times in these four years, and a member of Alpha Epsilon (University of Pennsylvania) graduated with the highest scholarship ranking by any man or woman at that university.

National President Gladys Livingston Graff made her own case for high scholastic achievement in 1924 in this way: “… Scholarship is the firmest foundation of culture and of all things of the spirit, which in the long run are the most worthwhile. As between the winner of a beauty contest and wearer of a Phi Beta Kappa key—why—Beauty fades we know, but the key endureth forever. Seek true values, and remember the ideals of Alpha Chi Omega stress scholarship.”

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National President Beatrice Herron Brown addressed the issue in 1928, saying: Scholarship is fostered not only for high intellectual attainment but chiefly for the sake of a true love of learning.” Standards and expectations were obviously set high, and actually many chapters did have strong academic achievement. In 1928, National Inspector Ethel Mead Van Auken reported that seventeen chapters were first in scholarship and thirteen were second. With a positive note, she said, “We rejoice with our chapters and with the individual girls who have made possible the high records which we are proud to hold.”

but two conclusions: either the individual girls in our chapters are not putting enough thought and effort on this matter of primary importance, or the groups are not carefully enough investigating the preparatory school scholarship of the girls pledged. It is the earnest hope of your President that both facts be given careful, thoughtful

In 1930, (now) National President Van Auken reminded the convention body that “scholarship and its importance as a primary purpose of college life has been stressed and pointed out to the chapters and individual members.” While results at the time were found by the Fraternity’s leadership to be generally “satisfactory,” greater achievement was clearly expected and anticipated.

Chapters should consider the possibility that a failure to achieve academically could ultimately result in disciplinary measures In 1931, National President Ethel Mead Van Auken put it on the line—outlining the dilemma of reward vs. punishment in improving scholarship: The recommendation of the 1930 Council, relative to probation, was decided against and the matter of scholarship regulation was left to the individual chapters. It was felt by all that the spirit of the meeting would be carried over into active chapter action and that splendid results would be forthcoming.

It is a matter of very great regret that the chapters as a whole, have not responded to the best of their abilities and talents. A survey of the fraternity’s scholarship for the year shows chapter standing, on the whole, lower than last year. We can draw

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consideration and that the coming year will show marked improvement in scholastic achievement. May we place scholarship in the front rank of activity for the year ahead!

She then urged members to consider the upcoming fiftieth anniversary as motivation for improved academics: Let us look forward to 1935, and seal our half century of existence with the golden stamp of real character and scholarship, which together signify cultural development. Let us pledge ourselves, again, that together we may indeed seek the heights.

Little improvement in this area was seen in 1932 when National President Van Auken explained, in her Heraeum report, “Our plan has been one of stressing better scholarship through impulsion rather than compulsion.

We have marked time in the year which is closing. The general survey shows that, while some of the chapters have exceeded our hopes, others have fallen down. We are still of the opinion that our girls should give the matter of intellectual attainment more serious consideration; that it is worthy of no less than one’s own best efforts.”

In the April 1934 issue of The Lyre, Elizabeth Rhodes Dalgliesh lamented the lack of improvement from the 1930 convention to this time. “Chapters have more or less faithfully reported their observance of self-imposed rules, and have asked for more rules to improve their standing. It is my belief that we now have too many, which are not observed. Before any rules, there must exist a belief that good scholarship pays, and a determination to achieve it. No amount of regulation which she resents will profitably make a girl give up a party for an hour with books. Her own sense of the values which are real and abiding, her own pride in personal progress and character growth, and her realization that her chapter’s standing is her responsibility, these, and these alone, are the true incentives to an improved scholastic record.”

Many questions have been raised about the lasting values of a college education. College girls are frequently asked why they are in college. Aside from the sociability of it; the preparation to earn a living, both for which are important in themselves, there should be an underlying, deep-seated reason for it all: a real desire for intellectual attainment.

Not all of us are scholars in the true sense of the word, but we can all be students. We can all study ourselves and our abilities until we know what we want to do. Knowing this, let us add hard work, confidence in the ultimate end of our desires, and persistence. Let us remember that ‘Wisdom consists in knowing what to do. Skill consists in knowing how to do it. Virtue consists in doing it.’ In other words, let us make good scholarship a prime motive for being in college.

- Ethel Mead Van Auken, National President, in 1935

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Central Office – Taking Care of Business As the work of the national secretary increased with the growth of the organization, the need became apparent for a more professional, businesslike management of the Fraternity’s affairs. In 1919, the convention body determined a central office be established, and the position of secretary-editor was created and filled by Mary Emma Griffith Marshall (Lambda, Syracuse).

The idea was to combine the offices of editor of The Lyre, business manager, national secretary, keeper of supplies and secretary of the alumnae association. The salary of the position was funded by the elimination of expenses of one or two council members and decreased expenses of other officers—requiring no additional financial burden to collegiate chapters.

In a letter dated September 12, 1919, Mary Emma wrote to chapters: It is my hope to organize the work of the fraternity in such a way as to lighten the ‘burden’ of each of you, if your fraternity work ever has been a ‘burden,’ and to establish a clearing house through which many of the matters concerning which you formerly wrote to a number of people may pass. I know that you will be glad to help and that you will be patient while the new work is being organized.

The year 1919 marked the parting of the ways; the war was over and the postponed national convention held. Times had changed and Alpha Chi Omega had met the challenge of the new era… A full-time, salaried officer was placed in command! Perhaps the fraternity did not then fully realize the great impetus education was to receive within the next decade, or dream that within that space of time twenty-five new chapters would be established, the membership would be more than doubled, the financial organization would mount into the hundreds of thousands; but those women of vision and foresight knew the time had come when the fraternity interests should be centralized. Alpha Chi Omega was directed into a broader highway of organization.

Hazel Eckhart (Theta, Michigan) was named secretary-editor in 1925 following Mary Emma’s death, and the central office was moved to Lansing, Michigan, where she lived. As Beatrice Brown remembers, “Again the fraternity gave an almost superhuman task to a devoted member, but hazed with a devotion unexcelled, with a dedication of mind and soul to the task, with unstinted application of herself brought the office to a peak of efficiency, mechanically and spiritually.”

As the Fraternity and its membership continued to grow, the role of the central office grew and evolved, as well. The office grew from one to three rooms. An additional staff member was authorized in 1926, and an increasing level of work, such as management of the installation of new chapters, became a central office responsibility. Thanks to royalties from sales of the badge, it was possible to fund this assistant position and increase the salary of the secretary-editor.

A new era in Fraternity oversight began in 1928, when the convention delegates voted to have a paid field secretary, and they agreed to raise the per capita tax to $10 to cover this expense. The field secretary would devote her entire time to traveling and to chapter “inspections.”

Determining the role of the central office and the amount of time needed to support its operations was not without its growing pains and concerns, especially as Mary Emma strove to find the balance between her personal and professional life and approached the job with “resourcefulness, zeal, and business and editorial acumen”—all while working with a fairly makeshift operation. In 1922, the first permanent central office was established in Washington, D.C., with Mary Emma serving as secretary-editor in charge of the office’s administration.

But the 1919 decision was a valid one. Beatrice Herron Brown, National President from 1924-1928, described the central office’s infancy in this way:

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In 1929, the central office was moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, just miles from the Fraternity’s founding campus of DePauw University in Greencastle, with a suite of offices in the downtown Chamber of Commerce building. Hazel Eckhart had resigned, as she was selected to be chairman of the Editors’ Conference of the National Panhellenic Conference—a “splendid tribute,” according to National President Beatrice Herron Brown. Edith Steffener (Delta, Allegheny; affiliate of Theta, Michigan), who had served as assistant secretary-editor for two years, was acting secretary-editor from May through September of 1929.

The office of secretary-editor was then separated into two positions, with the secretary in charge of the central office and the editor serving in a separate paid position.

Everything was up-to-date, and The First Fifty Years proudly describes the “steel filing cabinets... supplies of all kinds, a card index of Lyres, geographical catalogue, and director cards for each member of the Fraternity, and each member’s initiation record. Typewriters, a mimeograph, calculator, and addressograph completed the equipment. The central office is the mechanical center about which the Fraternity moves. It gives to all the Council freedom from an immense amount of routine; it serves as a clearing house for reports, and a bureau of information and statistics.”

Mildred Blacklidge (Alpha, DePauw; affiliate of Kappa, Wisconsin), an active member of Beta Beta in Indianapolis, became national secretary, serving until 1937. Mildred was a professional woman who had worked for a furniture company as office and credit manager, auditor and income tax adjuster. In a 1930 issue of The Lyre, she was described as “capable, efficient, exact, fastidious!... Alpha Chi Omega is her chosen master. She loves the contact with the young college women of today—that means more to her than success at any other business.”

And in 1930, National President Ethel Mead Van Auken described the status of the central office.

“Indiana, our Mother state, now houses the Central

Office of our fraternity. Here with a well equipped work-shop, an office for the Secretary of the fraternity, and a reception room done in early American furnishings, we feel we have established a business center for our fraternity to which we may point with pride and pleasure. The dream for our Central Office has at last been realized.”

Council delegate (the title was soon changed to national inspector) Elizabeth Dalgliesh (Alpha Epsilon, Pennsylvania), an original “road warrior,” was paid a salary of $1,100 and visited 44 of the Fraternity’s 54 chapters in 1929-30, some twice, as well as five petitioning groups. Evidently realizing this was one tall order, in 1932 the Fraternity began assigning recent graduates to Elizabeth Dalgliesh serve as assistants to assigned chapters.

In October of 1937, Hannah Keenan (Alpha, DePauw), daughter of Founder Bessie Grooms Keenan, was named director of the central office, faithfully serving in the position until 1966.

From a letter from Mary Emma Griffith Marshall to National President Alta Allen Loud, August 31, 1915: I shall be very glad to have the mimeograph. I am used to one, and I think that there is much that I can do with it that will save labor and tend toward general efficiency.

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Alumnae Groups 1885-1935 The distinction between alumnae chapters and alumnae clubs was explained in the 1935 History. It was stated that the alumnae chapters had become so popular by 1913, that the “National Council recommended the establishment of recognized clubs in small cities or college towns where there was not a sufficient number of alumnae to warrant the formation of a chapter. Six or more alumnae were necessary for the formation of a club, and twice that number were needed for a chapter. Legislation in 1914 provided that henceforth each chapter should first exist for one year as a club.”

Chapters: Alpha Alpha, Chicago, Illinois – May 23, 1906 Beta Beta, Indianapolis, Indiana – December 14, 1906 Gamma Gamma, New York, New York – November 6, 1907 Delta Delta, Los Angeles, California – September 25, 1908 Epsilon Epsilon, Detroit, Michigan – March 17, 1909 Zeta Zeta, Boston, Massachusetts – November 9, 1909 Eta Eta, Madison, Wisconsin – June 18, 1911 Theta Theta, Berkeley, California – January 11, 1913 Iota Iota, Seattle, Washington – March 8, 1913 Kappa Kappa, Lincoln, Nebraska – January 31, 1914 Lambda Lambda, Grand Rapids, Michigan – February 7, 1914 Mu Mu, Kansas City, Missouri – September 19, 1914 Nu Nu, Denver, Colorado – March 1917 Xi Xi, Portland, Oregon – May 19, 1922 Omicron Omicron, Minneapolis, Minnesota – January 15, 1923 Pi Pi, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – April 6, 1923 Rho Rho, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma – April 7, 1923 Sigma Sigma, St. Louis, Missouri – March 14, 1925 Tau Tau, Urbana, Illinois – March 25, 1925 Upsilon Upsilon, Syracuse, New York, New York – November 17, 1926 Phi Phi, Meadville, Pennsylvania – June 5, 1928 Chi Chi, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – October 19, 1929 Psi Psi, Toronto, Ontario – June 11, 1932 Omega Omega, Youngstown, Ohio – March 26, 1933 Alpha Beta Alpha, San Francisco, California – May 19, 1933 Alpha Gamma Alpha, Atlanta, Georgia – October 26, 1933 Alpha Delta Alpha, Spokane, Washington – October 26, 1933 Alpha Epsilon Alpha, Washington, D.C. – December 4, 1934 Alpha Zeta Alpha, Salt Lake City, Utah – January 24, 1935 Alpha Eta Alpha, Jacksonville, Florida – January 26, 1935 Alpha Theta Alpha, Birmingham, Alabama – January 28, 1935 Alpha Iota Alpha, Columbus, Ohio – April 6, 1935 Alpha Kappa Alpha, Pasadena, California – April 6, 1935 Alpha Lambda Alpha, Cincinnati, Ohio – April 11, 1935 Alpha Mu Alpha, Akron-Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio – May 5, 1935 Alpha Nu Alpha, Cleveland, Ohio – May 6, 1935 Alpha Xi Alpha, Milwaukee, Wisconsin – May 18, 1935

Alpha Omicron Alpha, Des Moines, Iowa – June 5, 1935 Alpha Pi Alpha, Fort Wayne, Indiana – June 17, 1935 Clubs*: Albion, Michigan – May 15, 1914 Albuquerque, new Mexico – December 17, 1923 Alliance, Ohio – December 18, 1920 Appleton, Wisconsin – May 1, 1930 Baton Rouge, Louisianna – May 27, 1931 Billings, Montana – March 6, 1928 Bloomington, Indiana – May 8, 1930 Boulder, Colorado – December 7, 1915 Burlington, Vermont – May 12, 1932 Canton, Ohio – December 8, 1930 Cheyenne, Wyoming – October 17, 1928 Connecticut – May 24, 1930 Corvallis, Oregon – March 8, 1926 Dayton, Ohio – October 1934 Decatur, Illinois – June 7, 1917 El Paso, Texas – October 28, 1932 Evansville, Indiana – October 15, 1920 Fargo, North Dakota – September 26, 1934 Flint, Michigan – May 14, 1925 Gray’s Harbor, Washington – January 6, 1917 Greencastle, Indiana – January 22, 1916 Greensburg, Indiana – November 13, 1915 Houston, Texas – May 31, 1924 Iowa City, Iowa – November 7, 1916 Jackson, Mississippi – March 1928 Kay County, Oklahoma – March 1929 Lafayette, Indiana – June 8, 1926 Logan, Utah – May 29, 1934 Long Beach, California – May 1929 Moscow, Idaho – March 1935 Norfolk, Virginia – November 10, 1934 Omaha, Nebraska – May 5, 1915 Phoenix, Arizona – November 24, 1927 Pueblo, Colorado – December 28, 1915 Richmond, Virginia – February 18, 1933

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Rockford, Illinois – May 8, 1935 Sacramento, California – May 10, 1930 Saginaw Valley, Michigan – April 17, 1926 Santa Ana, California – April 27, 1935 Salem, Oregon – May 24, 1921 San Antonio, Texas – April 23, 1927 Schenectady-Albany, New York – December 30, 1931 Schreveport, Louisianna – October 25, 1926 Sioux City, Iowa – July 18, 1926 South Bend, Indiana – October 19, 1928 Springfield, Illinois – February 23, 1923 Tacoma, Washington – October 27, 1931

Topeka, Kansas – January 30, 1923 Tulsa, Oklahoma – March 6, 1926 Walla Walla, Washington – March 27, 1927 Wichita, Kansas – January 22, 1922 Yakima, Washington – March 8, 1934 *According to the 1935 History, “many more than this number of clubs have been formed, but some have become chapters, others have ceased to exist when their members have moved to other localities, and still others have failed to petition for national recognition, with its concurrent duties.”

Collegiate Chapters 1885-1935 Active: Alpha, DePauw University, Greencastle, Indiana – October 15, 1885 Beta, Albion College, Albion, Michigan – May 27, 1887 Gamma, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois – November 14, 1890 Delta, Allegheny College, Meadville, Pennsylvania – January 29, 1891 Epsilon, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California – June 16, 1895 Zeta, New England Conservatory of Music, Boston, Massachusetts – December 15, 1895 Eta, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania – June 16, 1898* Theta, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan – November 19, 1898 Iota, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois – December 8, 1899 Kappa, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin – December 18, 1903 Lambda, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York – December 18, 1906 Mu, Simpson College, Indianola, Iowa – May 13, 1907 Nu, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado – September 6, 1907 Xi, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska – November 28, 1907 Omicron, Baker University, Baldwin, Kansas – September 17, 1908

Pi, University of California, Berkeley, California – May 7, 1909 Rho, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington – October 14, 1910 Sigma, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa – June 10, 1911 Tau, Brenau University, Gainesville, Georgia – November 24, 1911 Upsilon, Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois – May 9, 1913 Phi, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas – September 15, 1914 Chi , Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon – March 19, 1915 Psi, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma – January 14, 1916 Omega, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington – September 22, 1916 Alpha Beta, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana – April 26, 1918 Alpha Gamma, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico – June 6, 1918 Alpha Delta, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio – April 25, 1919 Alpha Epsilon, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – May 9, 1919 Alpha Zeta, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri – June 8, 1920 Alpha Eta, Mount Union College, Alliance, Ohio – June 11, 1920

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Alpha Iota, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont – June 13, 1921 Alpha Kappa, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon – June 22, 1921 Alpha Lambda, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota – September 30, 1921 Alpha Mu, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana – April 21, 1922 Alpha Nu, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri – August 25, 1922 Alpha Xi, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana – May 11, 1923 Alpha Omicron, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio – September 14, 1923 Alpha Pi, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota – November 10, 1923 Alpha Rho, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho – May 9, 1924 Alpha Sigma, Ohio-Wesleyan University, Delaware, Ohio – May 9, 1924 Alpha Tau, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire – June 24, 1924 Alpha Upsilon, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama – September 9, 1924 Alpha Phi, University of Texas, Austin, Texas – September 13, 1924 Alpha Chi, Butler University, Indianapolis, Indiana – February 28, 1925 Alpha Psi, University of California, Los Angele, California – March 27, 1926 Alpha Omega, Birmingham-Southern College, Birmingham, Alabama – April 9, 1926 Beta Gamma, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisianna – October 29, 1926 Beta Delta, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia – April 8, 1927 Beta Epsilon, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan – February 11, 1928 Beta Zeta, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington – November 9, 1928 Beta Eta, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida – March 29, 1929 Beta Theta, Lawrence University, Appleton, Wisconsin – February 20, 1930

Beta Iota, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada – April 23, 1930 Beta Kappa, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming – October 23, 1930 Beta Lambda, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona – October 29, 1930 Beta Mu, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania – April 8, 1932 Beta Nu, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah – March 23, 1934 Beta Xi, Utah State University, Logan, Utah – May 18, 1934

Inactive: Alpha Theta, Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa – June 10, 1921** *Eta chapter became inactive in June 1899, the charter being withdrawn five years later. The National Council did not lose contact with the University, but it was not until 1920 that correspondence with the surviving members of the original group, and with the dean of women resulted in several visits of inspection, and petitions from two local organizations. A charter was granted the stronger of the two, and the chapter reestablished April 1, 1921. **Alpha Theta chapter’s charter was withdrawn on October 19, 1933, making it the second Depression-induced sorority closing at Drake University.

103 ΑΧΩ | history | volume 2

M anecdotes

anecdote

From The Lyre, July 1914

No. 1

THE STUDENT AND THE MOVING PICTURE The moving picture in its psychological influence upon the mind is assuming a large importance in university centers.

The question is, shall the moving pictures influence the student body, or shall the student body influence the moving picture?

The majority of films that are presented in university towns are of a melodramatic type. They tell, for the most part, of improbable, if not impossible, situations. These have an incredible effect upon the student mind.

Students of university age are at a period of development when impressions are easily made—and less easily forgotten. Romance is uppermost in their minds. For this reason these melodramatic scenes influence them against their better judgment.

Shall we, as students, allow this condition to continue? Are we going to develop our taste for this kind of film, or are we going to take a stand for better and more instructive entertainment.

If each student would appoint himself a committee of one to see to it that he attends nothing but beneficial and wholesome amusement, it would soon do much to raise the standard of moving pictures in university towns.

The student cannot afford to spend his time watching such pictures; nor can he afford to have them influence his actions, as they must if he goes to them very frequently. If the students will demand that they have good, clean, wholesome entertainment, they will get it. It is up to the student to decide what kind of entertainment he should have, and what kind he is going to have. – Clarice Breese, Xi

anecdote

From The Lyre, July 1916

No. 2

HELEN KELLER In the spring of this year, when nature had triumphed over the obstacles of ice and snow, Helen Keller victorious, despite the barriers of blindness and deafness, came to tell us the story of her life-long battle to achieve the light of human understanding.

Miss Keller’s talk was preceded by one from her friend and constant teacher, Mrs. Anne Sullivan Macy, who in a brief and understanding way, sketched the life of her pupil, describing the methods she had employed from the time she first undertook to teach the fiery, uncontrollable child of six. But it was not until the appearance of Helen Keller herself, that one realized completely the miracle that patient perseverance, unshaken faith, and sacrificial love had wrought.

The personality of this blind and deaf girl was best exemplified in her subject, “Happiness.”

The rapt expression of sheer gladness was in itself an interpretation of her theme. The light that is missing from her eyes must surely have found its way into her soul, for her face shone with a radiance almost divine.

No better or more significant Easter sermon could have been preached than that simple talk by the woman who has triumphed over the physical forces of darkness and risen to the immoral heights of light.

– Louise Carson, Tau

anecdote

From The Lyre, October 1927

No. 3

WEAR YOUR PIN! “You go on, Betty – I forgot my Alpha Chi pin.”

“Oh! Mother, don’t go back after it. What’s the use – you don’t need it anyway.”

But mother did go back and still the two made the suburban train in plenty of time. Arrived in the city, a date at the dentist’s for Betty did not take as long as was expected so daughter begged, “As long as we’re in Chicago let’s go to that new theater and hear Saul Pash.”

Later, comfortably settled in aisle seats mother took care of her hat and two parcels while Betty’s lap held her blue felt and the family purse.

The show was entertaining so when a woman pushed by them to a vacant inside seat, they both hardly noticed her as they craned their heads in order not to miss what was happening on the stage.

But about fifteen minutes later when the same person stumbled over them in leaving they were somewhat provoked at again missing a bit of the show.

When the program ended the two hurried to the elevated station where mother paid the two tickets she had in her coat pocket. So it was not until they arrived at the Union depot and Betty asked for money to buy a magazine that they made a horrible discovery.

Neither one had the pocket book which contained not only their money but the commutation

ticket needed to take them to their suburban home!

Of course they understood then. The woman who had stumbled by them in the theater had done so with a purpose! Now, though, the important issue was how to ride home on the three-ten without funds or a ticket!

Eagerly they scanned the faces of the crowd waiting in front of Gate 8. Not a friend in sight!

Never had the depot seemed so big or so full of strangers. The train could be seen backing in and the guard was ready to unlock the bars. It would be impossible, practically, to find an acquaintance after the gate was opened. Just then a lady stepped nearer to mother and said, “Aren’t you Mrs. Collins?

I saw your Alpha Chi pin and remembered meeting you at the luncheon at Fields.”

Mother and daughter rode home with this sister in the bond, who had recently moved to their town and who, of course, was already a commuter.

WEAR YOUR PIN! – Theodora Maltbie Collins, Rho

anecdote

From The Lyre, October 1927

No. 4

THE ROUND ROBIN LETTER What joy when the postman brings the good old round robin, because we know we will have a feast of news of our Alpha Chi classmates at college and perhaps there will be pictures of their children and news of other college friends, too!

When we left college the seven of us in the class of 1919 decided to keep in touch with each other by means of a round robin letter. One girl started it and each one added a letter as it came to her. When it returned to the first girl, she took out her first letter and put in a new one and sent it on its round again, each girl taking out her old letter and putting in a new one. It goes merrily around and round, sometimes quickly, sometimes more slowly for we are all busy housewives and we are widely separated geographically. However, early or belated, it is always welcome, for by it the ties which bind us to our college and our Alpha Chi chapter are made ever stronger. – Dorothy Chambers Pope, Chi,Salem

anecdote

From The Lyre, January 1928

No. 5

THE SO-CALLED “MODERN YOUTH”

What are these young people doing? Where are they going in their mad rush? What is the chapter coming to? These queries from the preceding generations, and from even the young alumnae seem to call for an answer.

But can they not find that answer in the facts of their own lives? How many winter evenings have been beguiled by a recital of the tricks and pranks which my parents and their colleagues performed? How they enjoy them in retrospect, and we with a vicarious thrill! And probably the only comment made is, “Silly kids!” which, as anyone may see, does not prescribe an immediate descent into perdition on the special-fare limited.

Only last night several girls in our room were entertained with a recital of the dare-devil deeds of a girl in college not so many years ago.

Now she is as quiet and respectable a citizen as the most pessimistic prude, although on the sunny side of thirty. In Horace’s time, the poor fathers of the state knew that the younger generation would bring about the downfall of mankind; but somehow through the centuries young people have continued to grow up and grow out of the irresponsible stage, and have become even as gloomy as their fathers.

So what is the use of all the worry and anxiety wasted upon us modern youths and maidens?

It will neither help nor hinder our progress, and I, for one, am much in favor of ending the practice with our parents’ generation. “Everything will be all right” as much fifty years from now as at the present moment.

– Marian M. Milmoe, Gamma

anecdote

From The Lyre, June 1934

No. 6

AS UP AND DOWN THE WORLD WE GO Last fall when we came back to school there was much rejoicing at seeing each other again. We all had stories of our exciting summer to tell, but the story we prized most was one our housemother, Mrs. Campbell, told us: She was traveling by bus somewhere in Utah.

On the same bus was a group of loud, rather uncouth girls, save for one – she was ashamed of all their conducts! This one girl was pretty, quiet and very dignified. At the next bus stop the girl came over to Mrs. Campbell and asked to sit with her saying that she was not one of that party and would like to join someone else. Our housemother welcomed her charming graciousness and they became very friendly. They soon found a point of common interest. One was an Alpha Chi and the other was an Alpha Chi housemother. They lunched together and traveled on the same bus for some little time.

Mrs.Campbell was constantly delighted by her new friend, and when we saw her again this fall she told us again how glad she is to be chaperoning a group whose standards really mean a pattern for conduct at all times. We too were happy to hear such praise of one of our number. – Frances Herbert, Alpha Rho

R R Evangeline Bridge Stevenson

Alta Allen Loud

Elizabeth Dunn Prins

Myra H. Jones

Zeta, 1910-1912

Iota, 1919

Beta, 1912-1919

Lambda, 1920

R R Gladys Olmstead Graff

Beatrice Herron Brown

Ethel Mead Van Auken

Alpha Chi Omega Coat-of-Arms

Zeta, 1920-1924

Lambda, 1928-1935

Alpha, 1924-1928