From the archives: The expansion of Presidents' Day

BY JENNIFER MCNABB, PH.D., ΓΜ, NATIONAL HISTORIAN

Each February, the country recognizes its presidents with a national holiday, originally designed to honor the first President of the United States, George Washington. It is fitting in this issue to honor the first Grand President of Alpha Sigma Alpha, Edna Venable Elcan Jones of Alpha Chapter.

First, a bit of background: the holiday we now call Presidents’ Day had a long trajectory to its current status, identity and even its date. Following George Washington’s death in 1799, citizens of the newly-formed United States commemorated the first president each year on February 22, the anniversary of his birth. Those celebrations were accorded higher status in 1879 when Washington’s birthday was designated as a federal holiday, although the holiday was recognized only within the District of Columbia. Not until 1885 did the observance of the holiday, the first to honor an individual American, spread throughout the country.

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act, passed in 1968 and implemented in 1971, gave the celebration its current date. Rather than commemorate Washington on his actual birthdate, the holiday was fixed on the third Monday of February, as part of a plan to create more three-day holiday weekends. Memorial Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day and Veterans Day were also moved to Mondays in the same Act. The shift away from Washington’s birthday allowed the holiday to take on a more expansive significance. It has been powerfully linked with celebrations of President Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12 and has also come to be seen as an opportunity to honor all of the country’s presidents as well as the office of the presidency itself.

The woman who would become Alpha Sigma Alpha’s first Grand President was born in 1882, just a few years before Washington ’s birthday became a national holiday. Edna Venable Elcan was initiated as a member of Alpha Chapter at then Longwood College in Farmville, VA, at the age of 19 on Jan. 29, 1903, just fourteen months after the Sorority’s founding. The first initiation of Alpha, with a class of three new members, had taken place three weeks earlier. Edna’s own initiation, with three other new members, was followed by a momentous event in the history of the Sorority. Just two weeks later, on February 13, 1903, Alpha Sigma Alpha was chartered in the Circuit Court of Prince Edward County, Virginia, an act that marked the crucial first step to making Alpha Sigma Alpha a national sorority. Edna herself was among the thirteen signers of the articles of incorporation.

The coming months and years would witness significant expansion for Alpha Sigma Alpha. Two more initiations were held for Alpha Chapter in the spring of 1903, and in the fall, Beta Chapter was established at Greenbrier College for Women in Lewisburg, WV. Gamma would follow in the spring of 1904, at College for Women in Columbia, SC and soon be joined by Delta at Mary Baldwin Seminary in Staunton, VA, Epsilon at Fauquier Institute in Warrenton, VA, and Zeta at Fairmount Seminary in Washington, D.C., and Eta at Ward Seminary in Nashville, TN, in 1905.

During Edna Elcan’s college years, she was receiving her training as a teacher and was an active, well-liked figure on campus. In addition to Alpha Sigma Alpha, Edna was a member of the Cotillion Club and Tennis Club No. 1.

An account of Longwood’s Professional Hall Club offers a glimpse of Edna through the eyes of her classmates. “Chips,” as Edna was known, was identified as the “Merriest Hearted” and noted for her readiness with a joke and a laugh, her grin, and her favorite saying: “Whoop, Susie!” It was this young woman who was chosen as the Grand President of Alpha Sigma Alpha at the Sorority’s first national convention at the end of November 1905 in Richmond, VA, with a term that would run until 1908.

For all of the optimistic expansion of Alpha Sigma Alpha in its first years, “Chips” faced a challenging task: guiding a new sorority during a time of intense anti-sorority sentiment. Gamma Chapter was listed in a publication in 1904 as “sub rosa,” meaning it maintained a secret or private standing on campus. Zeta Chapter, too, was a “sub rosa” chapter. Many faculty and campus officials in the early twenty century disapproved of sororities, believing that the secrecy of Greekletter organizations both encouraged and covered up immoral behavior. This attitude endangered the survival of Alpha Sigma Alpha. Campus prohibitions brought the closure of Zeta Chapter in 1906 and Delta Chapter in 1908. Eta and Epsilon Chapters both closed in 1907.

As president, Edna oversaw important developments for the Sorority, including the creation and publication of Alpha Sigma Alpha Magazine in May 1906 (and its renaming in 1908 as The Aegis of Alpha Sigma Alpha), the second national convention in Charleston, SC, and the installation of Iota Chapter at Randolph- Macon Women’s College in Lynchburg, VA in 1908. Perhaps even more indicative of the quality of her leadership is the persistence of the Sorority during such a difficult period in the history of Greek life.

Alpha Sigma Alpha has faced and overcome numerous challenges during its own history, and much of the Sorority’s ability to succeed is directly linked to the dynamic women who have served Alpha Sigma Alpha in its highest office. The more I study the grace, the determination, and the vision of our presidents, the more confident I am that Alpha Sigma Alpha will continue to thrive, no matter what the challenge. I hope you will join me in remembering the Sorority’s national presidents each Presidents’ Day and thanking each of them for the gift of her leadership and the strength of our sisterhood.