Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois, opened in 1856. Students who did not live in town needed to find lodging and board with local families. Ada Bruen and Libbie Brook, friends from Henderson County, found a room to share in Jacob Holt’s home. That southwest second-floor bedroom is where Pi Beta Phi was founded on April 28, 1867. The name they chose for their “women’s fraternity” was I. C. Sorosis. They modeled their organization on the men’s fraternities that were then at Monmouth. Its grip was accompanied by the motto “Pi Beta Phi.”
Chapters began using the Greek letters prior to the official name change at the 1888 convention. There was never any discussion of which Greek letters to use as they had been with the organizations since its beginning. The first edition of The Arrow, published in 1885, has “Organ of Pi Beta Phi” on its masthead even though it began publishing three years before the name change was official. The chapter at the University of Kansas was charged with the magazine’s publishing and they were one of the chapters making use of the Greek letters.
Pi Beta Phi’s twelve founders included two sisters, Emma Brownlee (Kilgore) and Clara Brownlee (Hutchinson), and their friends Ada Bruen (Grier), Nancy Black (Wallace), Inez Smith (Soule), Fannie Whitenack (Libbey), Libbie Brook (Gaddis), Rosa Moore, Jennie Horne (Turnbull), Margaret Campbell, Jennie Nicol, M.D., and Fannie Thomson.
In 1921, 100 years ago, some of the Founders were in their 70s. The June 1921 Arrow included these two thank you notes.
The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, June 1921
Ada Bruen Grier’s name was misspelled, likely by the typesetter. The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, June 1921
That June 1921 Arrow of Pi Beta Phi contained information about the upcoming convention being held in Charlevoix, Michigan. It also had this full page photo of a member of the University of Vermont chapter. She had recently moved to the District of Columbia from Northampton, Massachusetts. She was a loyal Pi Phi having served as a chapter, alumnae club and province officer.
Her stay in Washington would be celebrated three years later with the unveiling of her official White House portrait, a gift from Pi Beta Phi. Her golden arrow adorns the red dress in the portrait which is in the China Room. That, however, is a story for another day. Happy Founders’ Day to my Pi Phi sisters. Here’s to another 154 years!
The Arrow of Pi Beta Phi, June 1921
