Historic photograph help needed
 

I am a museum curator trying to find a home for a sorority photograph. Writing on the back of the photo dates it as members of the Delta Nu sorority in June 1912, and the photo shows ten women in the living room of a house. They are holding a Delta Nu banner, but writing on the back does not identify the college or university. Some of the women's names are: Ester [sic] Allen, Helen Gliot, Sigrid Jespersen, Marie Swansen [sic], Gertrude Apelt, Lillian Kubbert, and Bertha Iten [?] I don't know if Delta Nu was a local chapter of a national sorority or a national sorority now disbanded. I tried an internet search, but all I found was that it was a sorority in the movie Legally Blonde! The person who donated the photo to our museum bought it at a yard sale in Michigan. I would like to pass the photo on to a museum or archive at the appropriate institution. Any help you could offer would be appreciated.

I also did a search and found a page for the Delta Nu Sorority at Dickinson College. The site says that they were founded in 1971, though, and that they are a former Chi Omega chapter.

What's interesting to note is this:

Just...wow. :eek:

To the OP, sorry I couldn't be of any help, but GC has several history buffs (with Baird's manuals!) and I'm sure someone will be able to track down a campus for you. Thank you for taking the time to preserve a little of Greek history and hopefully you'll be able to find a home for the photo!

I did a search on Sigrid Jespersen and found this:

And this looks like Gertrude Apelt's daughter.

I'm finding something in South Dakota for a Bertha Iten, but the dates don't quite jive. It says she was born in 1908. Still working on it because I hate to give up

I've been looking on genealogical sites, since these ladies would be gggrandparents by now. Here's some on Sigrid Jespersen:

"I am looking for family of the any of the following:
Sigrid H Jespersen born Dec 30, 1889 Died Jan 1967 in Illinois Married
William Strodtz.
She had the following siblings
Emilie Peters (Jespersen) b May 20 1879 in Denmark died Apr 1925 In Chicago Illinois

Herman Jespersen born Jan 30 1897 Chicago Illinois died Nov 1978 St Joseph Berrien Michigan

Magdalene Bruhn nee Born Jul 7 1888 Died Feb 1964 married a Charles A Bruhn

Kamma Osborne nee Jespersen born jan 13 1888 died Apr 1984 In Florida Married a Peter J Osborne Had 3 kids, Virginia, Robert and William

Elise Nelson No other information!

Henry Jespersen No other information!

I have more ancestors of this family if anyone is related to this family. I am willing to share.
Please email me at LRLSMIR37@msn.com"

To me, this doesn't sound like a connection to the Dickenson Delta Nu, but there well could have been others.

I've found some info from Baird's on three different Delta Nus. The only one that fits in the timelime first appeared in Baird's in 1912 and later became a chapter of Alpha Chi Omega at the University of Washington.

This doesn't necessarily mean that this is the correct Delta Nu though. Baird's failed to included many local sororities and fraternities. I'll keep looking around.


ETA: Just looked at AXO's U of W website and saw: "The Rho Chapter Founding Date is October 15th, 1910." Something's not adding up.

My best guess is the college is somewhere in the upper Midwest. At that point in time, this is where a lot of Scandanavian descendents settled. And, based on their names, I would say most of the ladies would be of that heritage.

One thing I did consider is maybe this is the Delta Nu chapter of XYZ sorority. Not knowing how every sorority names their chapters, I don't know if this is possible. For example, in 1912, my sorority would still have been designating single-letter for chapters.

The oldest national sorority (I think) is Alpha Delta Pi (1851). Their Delta Nu chapter is http://www2.semo.edu/adpi/chapterhistory.asp and founded in 1959.

The largest national sorority (I think) is Chi Omega (300,000 initiates), but they were founded only in 1895. No way were they prolific enough to get to Delta Nu by 1912.

Therefore, I definately think you are dealing with a local sorority.

My dear Watson, I think you've got it!



by the way that's terrible deducting skills to decide that because Chi-O has the most people they didn't make it to Delta Nu until later. At least one sorority (AOPi...who chooses chapter designation, I believe) doesn't follow that pattern of Alpha Beta, Alpha Gamma, Alpha Delta, etc. Likewise several fraternities don't do this either. So clearly a sorority with far less initiates could make it to Delta Nu in possibly their first year.

Okay, just checked and it's not any of the current NPCs. I'll check the formers but I have a feeling it was a local. It may have been picked up by an NPC though. Will continue searching.

Don't forget, though, that some sororities have changed the way they name chapters. Pi Phi currently uses a system by naming each chapter by state (for example, my chapter was Virginia Theta). BUT early in Pi Phi's history, there were Alpha, Beta, Gamma, chapters, etc., which switched over to the current system at some point (which occurred pretty early).

Between the names, genealogy stuff, definitely looks like you're looking at something in the upper midwest.

Another thing to think about: could it have been a high school sorority?

Good idea! I didn't even consider that part. I spent about an hour & a half on some good genealogical sites, only found what I posted.

Aha! Good thinking. I'll do a recheck.


Another good idea. Somewhere around here I have a book on secondary school GLOs. I'll try to find it tomorrow.

Not to throw a wrench in the gears, but this may be a possibility also...

Sometimes a local will affiliate with a national and the national will allow them to keep their local letters as their national chapter designation. For example, the Sigma Nu chapter at Knox College in Galesburg, IL was founded in 1861 as Delta Theta. They affiliated with Sigma Nu and were chartered 30 years later in 1891. Even though Sigma Nu was in its "Beta series", (after Beta Beta and before Beta Gamma) they allowed the chapter at Knox to keep Delta Theta as its chapter designation. Sigma Nu would not have reached Delta Theta until 1909 at the earliest...

http://www.sigmanu.org/groups/underg...rs/listing.php

If the Sigrid Jesperson in the info I posted is the same Sigrid Jesperson in the photo, it can't be a high school sorority because Sigrid would be 23 in that photo. This also leads me to wonder about when HS sororities first started.

Benzgirl mentioned something about Scandinavians settling in the Midwest, and that's what I thought too. My 6th grade teacher was Sister Agnes Iten, CSJ -- and she was very proud of her Minnesota roots!