A reader who is a member of Sigma Sigma Sigma and works in higher education recently asked me a question. Her campus has a Delta Delta Delta chapter. She sees some similarities between the two organizations and she asked me if I knew of any connection between them. They are the only two National Panhellenic Conference organizations to use the same Greek letter three times in their name.
Tri Delta was founded at Boston University on November 28, 1888. Its founders are Sarah Ida Shaw [Martin], Eleanor Dorcas Pond [Mann, M.D.], Florence Stewart and Isabel Breed, who were all New Englanders. Shaw would become regarded as an expert on Greek-letter organizations, but her study of the topic began before she was a member. She thought through the creation of Tri Delta. She had much of its symbolism and ritual in place when the organization was founded.
Sigma Sigma Sigma was founded more than 10 years later on April 20, 1898, at the State Female Normal School in Farmville, Virginia (now Longwood University). The founders are Lucy Wright, Margaret Batten, Elizabeth Watkins, Louise Davis, Martha Trent Featherston, Lelia Scott, Isabella Merrick, and Sallie Michie. All were residents of Virginia.
Tri Delta established 17 chapters before Tri Sigma’s founding. None of them were in southern states. The Trident of Delta Delta Delta began publication in 1891, but its first catalogue of members wasn’t published until after 1900. It’s difficult to ascertain if any Tri Deltas lived in Virginia in the mid-1890s.
However, there is an entry for Tri Delta in the fourth edition of Baird’s Manual of American College Fraternities, which was published in 1890. Perhaps the Tri Sigma founders consulted this resource.
In addition to being a founder and Grand President (1889-93) of Delta Delta Delta, (Sarah) Ida Shaw Martin holds a unique place in the women’s fraternity world. She was an influential voice in the history of several sororities, most notably the early years of Alpha Sigma Alpha. Martin helped found the Association of Education Sororities of which Tri Sigma became a member. She was a consultant to these groups through her Sorority Service Bureau. Her Sorority Handbook, first published in the early 1900s, was the reference guide for sororities. I understand that Martin and Tri Sigma leader extraordinaire Mabel Lee Walton were good friends.
In 1911, Martin corresponded with Tri Sigma’s National President Bess Bennett Brower. She helped persuade Brower that the best course of action was for Tri Sigma to investigate teachers’ colleges and normal schools as potential extension opportunities. When Tri Sigma voted to seek opportunities solely in the educational field, two of its existing chapters became Tri Delta chapters.
The Tri Sigma chapter at Randolph Macon Woman’s College was founded in 1904. Tri Delta’s chapter at RMWC was established a year later in 1905. On May 30, 1911, the Tri Sigmas were initiated as members of the Tri Delta chapter.
Tri Sigma’s chapter at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, founded in 1905, also became a Tri Delta chapter. On September 30, 1911, it became the Theta Epsilon chapter of Delta Delta Delta.
Tri Delta’s Delta Eta Chapter at Coe College was originally a local with the name of Sigma Sigma Sigma. The local was founded in 1902, but had no connection to the national Tri Sigma organization.
The Years Remembered of Sigma Sigma Sigma mentions two examples of the close connection between the organizations. Amy Olgen Parmalee, Tri Delta’s Grand President from 1906-15, spoke at the 1917 Tri Sigma convention and Ernestine Block Grigsby, Tri Delta’s President from 1934-38, spoke at the 1936 Tri Sigma convention.
