I just rediscovered this copy of a postcard sent by Margaret Mason Whitney to the women who were scheduled to attend the first National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) meeting on May 24, 1902. This one meeting was the stopping point of my dissertation. It signaled the coming of age of the seven founding NPC members and the need for an umbrella organization to oversee the comings and goings of the women’s fraternity movement.
I enrolled in the Ph.D. program with no intention of teaching in academia. What I wanted to do was write the dissertation. And I wanted to be hooded with a wine and silver blue hood (wine for Southern Illinois University’s maroon color and silver blue for education – both the colors of Pi Beta Phi!). I had a wonderful adviser and a committee who knew that my intentions were noble; moreover, I loved the topic, “Coeducation and the History of Women’s Fraternities 1867-1902.”
And I still do love the topic. In 2004, I was lucky enough to find a job in this one-horse town, as an Executive Director of a non-profit organization, coordinating three conferences a year. The job has kept me very busy and it has helped us pay college expenses for our three offspring.
This blog has provided me with the opportunity to revisit the topic I love to discuss (my sincere thanks to those of you who encouraged me). I thank the few of you who are subscribed to this blog (including those who are related to me!). It has given me the opportunity to discuss topics of general fraternity interest.
This weekend, I have been going through the boxes of copies and research notes that have been in the basement since I finished the dissertation. Oh the treasures I have discovered!
The first National Panhellenic Conference meeting is chronicled in another post.
Here is the postcard Margaret Mason Whitney sent to the women who were scheduled to attend the first meeting on May 24, 1902.
It reads:
Inter-sorority Conference, Chicago
On May 24 (Saturday) at 2:30 p.m. (sharp) the following representatives of Greek letter national college fraternities will meet at Mandel’s Tea Room to discuss rushing and pledging.
Pi Beta Phi, Miss Gamble, Detroit, Mich
Kappa Alpha Theta, Miss Laura Norton, 2556 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago
Kappa Kappa Gamma, Miss Margaret Jean Paterson, 6117 Kimbark Ave.
Delta Gamma, Miss Nina F. Howard, Glencoe, Ill.
Gamma Phi Beta, Miss Lillian Thompson, 326 W. 61st Place
Delta Delta Delta, Miss Kellerman
Alpha Phi, Miss Ruth Terry, 1812 Hinman Ave., Evanston
We trust nothing will prevent your being present.
Margaret Mason Whitney, President Alpha Phi
May 17, 1902
The history of the National Panhellenic Conference is fascinating. I hope to chronicle some of it in future posts. (And yes, there was a meeting in 1891, called by Kappa Kappa Gamma, and a day at the Columbian Exposition World’s Fair in Chicago in 1893, but this 1902 meeting was followed by one in 1903 and so it signaled the start of a sustained Panhellenic movement).
At the time of NPC’s centennial I did some research on Tri Delta’s representative to this meeting, and I thought you might find this interesting. “Miss Kellerman” was Ivy Kellerman, an initiate from Ohio State. She went on to become an accomplished linguist and received four academic degrees for work in Latin, Greek, Persian and Sanskrit as well as in several modern languages. She became very involved in the movement for an international language, Esperanto and wrote Practical Grammar of the International Language, which is still in use today. She also translated Winnie the Pooh into Esperanto. Esperanto is still spoken fluently today by about 10,,000 people with 1 million people understanding it!