Category Archives: Fran Favorite

Irma Ginsberg Kalish, Phi Sigma Sigma, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2023

Irma Ginsberg (Kalish) served as treasurer and archon (president) of the Phi Sigma Sigma chapter at Syracuse University.  She was also valedictorian of the December 1945 graduating class and a member of Phi Beta Kappa. Her writing career began early … Continue reading

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Mynelle Westbrook Green Hayward, Kappa Delta, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2023

Mynelle Westbrook (Green Hayward), horticulturalist and garden enthusiast, was born in 1902 in Kentwood, Louisiana, and moved to Jackson, Mississippi, when she was a young child. She attended Mississippi State College for Women and Millsaps College. In 1920, she became … Continue reading

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Elva L. Bascom, Kappa Alpha Theta, #NotableSororityWomen, #WHM2023

Elva L. Bascom, was a librarian. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta.

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Crowdsourcing a New Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities

William Raimond Baird published the first edition of Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities in 1879. Baird’s death, others took on the job of editing Baird’s Manual. The twentieth and last edition, edited by Jack Anson, Phi Kappa Tau, and … Continue reading

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“The Duchess” on Kappa Alpha Theta’s Founders’ Day

Kappa Alpha Theta was founded on January 27, 1870.  In 1867, 17-year-old Bettie McReynolds Locke [Hamilton] was the first female to enroll in Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw University) in Greencastle, Indiana.  Although the first decision to allow women to … Continue reading

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Ola Babcock Miller, P.E.O.

On January 21, 1869, the P.E.O. Sisterhood was founded by seven young women. They were among the 85 or so collegiate level students enrolled at Iowa Wesleyan University. Legend has it that some, but not all of the seven had … Continue reading

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On Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc’s Founding Day!

Arizona Cleaver, along with her four friends, Pearl Neal, Myrtle Tyler, Viola Tyler, and Fannie Pettie, are the five pearls of Zeta Phi Beta. They are the organization’s founders. The idea for the organization happened several months earlier when Cleaver … Continue reading

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On Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.’s Founding Day

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, the first Greek-letter organization for African-American women, was founded on January 15, 1908 by nine young female Howard University students. They were led by the vision of Ethel Hedgeman (Lyle); she had spent several months … Continue reading

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Happy Birthday, Grace Goodhue Coolidge!

January 3 is the birthday of Grace Goodhue Coolidge. She was born in Burlington, Vermont in 1879. Gracious and humble, she was a dedicated member of Pi Beta Phi. SHe was a charter member of the chapter at the University … Continue reading

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Madeleine Zabriskie Doty, Alpha Omicron Pi, #NotableSororityWomen, on Founders’ Day

Alpha Omicron Pi was founded on January 2, 1897, at the home of Helen St. Clair (Mullan). She and three of her Barnard College friends, Stella George Stern (Perry), Jessie Wallace Hughan, and Elizabeth Heywood Wyman had pledged themselves to … Continue reading

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