Tonight’s Vice-Presidential debate will take place at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Longwood has a prominent place in the history of sororities. Ever heard the phrase “Farmville Four”? It refers to the four NPC groups founded at the Virginia’s State Female Normal School, the former name of Longwood University.
The Farmville Four and their founding dates are: Kappa Delta (October 23, 1897); Sigma Sigma Sigma (April 20, 1898); Zeta Tau Alpha (October 15, 1898); and Alpha Sigma Alpha (November 15, 1901).
The Association of Education Sororities (AES) was founded in 1915 as the Association of Pedagogical Sororities, those organizations at teacher training institutions. It was founded by members of Alpha Sigma Alpha and Sigma Sigma Sigma with the assistance of Ida Shaw Martin. Martin, when she was Sarah Ida Shaw, founded Delta Delta Delta.
Alpha Sigma Alpha and Sigma Sigma Sigma as AES members chartered chapters at teacher’s colleges and normal schools. Kappa Delta and Zeta Tau Alpha chose to join the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) and in doing so, closed their Alpha chapters to comply with the gentleman’s agreement between AES and NPC.
At the NPC meeting in November 1947, the six AES sororities were unanimously accepted as associate members of NPC. In 1949, Kappa Delta and Zeta Tau Alpha reestablished their Alpha chapters.
Gift of the Farmville Four to Longwood University. Each side of the clock has the letters of one of the four NPC groups founded there.
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OTD in 1905, Grace Goodhue and Calvin Coolidge were married at her family’s home in Burlington, Vermont. The native Vermonters were Massachusetts residents for most of their lives except for a stint in Washington, DC.
The Coolidge family – Calvin, Jr., Calvin, Grace, and John shortly before Calvin, Jr.’s death. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Grace was a charter member of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at the University of Vermont. Calvin was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta chapter at Amherst College.
The Goodhue home in which Grace and Calvin Coolidge were married. It is now a part of Champlain College.
