Stanford's early women's fraternity history
 

This post about the beginnings of the women's fraternity system at Stanford University is in honor of the extremely intelligent and very athletic NPC women from Stanford who competed in the 2012 Olympic games.


On November 14, 1885, a special act of the California Legislature granted a charter to Stanford University and a gift of 80,000 acres of land in Palo Alto, California. The university formally opened on October 1, 1891. It was heavily endowed by Senator Leland and Jane Lathrop Stanford as a memorial to their only child, a son, Leland Junior, who died quite suddenly in 1884 (Elliot, 1937; Crothers, 1932).


The Stanfords retained complete control over the university and its properties. Upon their deaths, as stipulated in their wills, the responsibility of administration would fall to the board of trustees (Crothers, 1932). Most of the founding faculty was lured away from Indiana University and Cornell University. David Starr Jordan, Andrew White’s protégé at Cornell, left the presidency of Indiana University to be Stanford University’s President. Due to this connection, Stanford became known in some circles as the “Cornell of the West” (Davis & Nilan, 1989).

This is the section about Stanford that appears in my dissertation, Coeducation and the history of women's fraternities 1867-1902, ©2002. The rest of this Stanford section can be found at

http://wp.me/p20I1i-cP

There is also an updated page of Presidents and First Ladies who belong to GLOs. It can be found at the top of the page under the picture of the fraternity women.

My grandmother and her sister were both Stanford Kappas! I have both of their badges and they are gorgeous. My grandmother was initiated in May of 1929 and her sister was initiated in May of 1927!! Hand engraving of their full names and middle initials! Interesting that initiation was held in late spring--May for both of them. I was initiated (not at Stanford) with my grandmother's badge in 1979. I also have her 50 year pin. I keep all of these pins, along with my own badge, pinned to a felt sigma w/in a delta pillow that my "Big" made for me at my own initiation. I pulled it out of my jewelry box this morning. Brings back many good memories.

Can you post photos of these pins in the badge trends thread? We'd love to see them!