chronological evolvement of sororities

[oldu]

I am attempting to put together the earliest evolvement of our current sorority system. Here is what I have discovered to date:

?/?/1847 at Olivet College (Michigan): Iota Kappa Omicron (aka Soronian), active today

5/15/51 at Wesleyan College (Georgia): Adelphian Society, became Alpha Delta Pi in 1905

1/4/52 at Wesleyan College (Georgia): Philomathean Society, became Phi Mu in 1904

3/4/54 at Moores Hill College (now University of Evansville): Sigournian Literary Society, to Gamma Epsilon Sigma in 1929, to Chi Omega in 1951

?/?/55 at Baldwin-Wallace College (Ohio): Alethian Literary Society, to Alpha Kappa Sigma in 1918, to Alpha Gamma Delta in 1940

?/?/56 at Troy Female Seminary (New York): Chi Theta Delta, died in 18??

?/?/56 at Elmira College (New York): Callisophia Literary Society, to Kappa Sigma Sorority in 1883, died in 1911

?/?/66 at Elmira College (New York): Philomathean Literary Society, to Phi Mu (local) Sorority in 1883, died in 1911

4/28/67 at Monmouth College (Illinois): I. C. Sorosis, became Pi Beta Phi in 1888

?/?/67 at Maryville College (Tennessee): Kappa Phi, still active

12/21/68 at Iowa Wesleyan College: Pi Beta Phi

1/27/70 at DePauw University (Indiana): Kappa Alpha Theta

5/18/70 at Indiana University: Kappa Alpha Theta

9/?/70 at DePauw University: Pi Beta Phi, closed in 1877, revived in 1942

10/4/70 at S. U. N. Y., Brockport: Sigma Gamma Phi (aka Arethusa), died in 1939

10/13/70 at Monmouth College (Illinois): Kappa Kappa Gamma

?/?/70 at Baldwin-Wallace College (Ohio): Philomanthean Literary Society, part to Phi Lambda Sigma in 1921, to Beta Sigma Omicron in 1929, to Alpha Phi in 1964

?/?/70 at Baldwin-Wallace College: Philomanthean Literary Society, part to Gamma Sigma in 1921, to Alpha Xi Delta in 1941

?/?/70 at Baptist Young Ladies Seminary (Indianapolis): Pi Beta Phi, died in 1871

12/?/70 at Cincinnati Wesleyan College: Kappa Alpha Theta, died in 1871

These are the earliest dates that I can find. Early history is a little dicey as some of those groups were probably literary societies more than they were secret sororities. I'll not split hairs and give them the benefit of the doubt. It is interesting that several sororities have chapters whose roots are earlier than that of the national.

Anyone with additions or corrections?

[DoctorD]

Originally Posted by oldu

I am attempting to put together the earliest evolvement of our current sorority system. Here is what I have discovered to date:


?/?/55 at Baldwin-Wallace College (Ohio): Alethian Literary Society, to Alpha Kappa Sigma in 1918, to Alpha Gamma Delta in 1940



These are the earliest dates that I can find. Early history is a little dicey as some of those groups were probably literary societies more than they were secret sororities. I'll not split hairs and give them the benefit of the doubt. It is interesting that several sororities have chapters whose roots are earlier than that of the national.

Anyone with additions or corrections?

You threw me with this - so much that you had me googling, because I've never seen any connection to Alpha Gamma Delta that you have made here.

May 30, 1904 - Syracuse University. Theta Sigma Upsilon did merge with AGD in 1959, but their roots are later than Alpha Gamma Delta's.

Would love to see where you got this information, though.

[modorney]

?/?/56 at Troy Female Seminary (New York): Chi Theta Delta, died in 18??

Troy Female Seminary was renamed to Emma Willard, that may provide more info?

(trivia - Jane Fonda went there, as well as "Sara Lee")

[honeychile]

I have to admit, I've never heard of Soronian or Iota Kappa Omicron until I read this. Unless the reasoning is that IKO never became part of the NPC or NPHA (sorry if I have that wrong), I can't imagine why no one's ever brought this up before. ETA: Maybe because, over 150 years later, it's still the only chapter? OR, that's there is no mention of either Soronian OR Iota Kappa Omicron in Baird's Manual?

One correction that many people make is in spelling Adelphean. There are no "I's" in our Adelphean sisterhood!

[Soronian07]

Hi there, I am a current member of Soronian. We were first est. in 1847 as the Ladies Literary Society (first sorority in the U.S. ) We then evolved into Soronian (IKO) in 1868.We are located at Olivet College in Olivet, MI. We are not national, so there is only one of us. Not many have heard of us so its pretty cool to see some mention of Soronian. If anyone is looking for some great history on Greek life come to Olivet because we have have a long history dating all the way back in the early to mid-1800's.

Originally Posted by Soronian07

Hi there, I am a current member of Soronian. We were first est. in 1847 as the Ladies Literary Society (first sorority in the U.S. ) We then evolved into Soronian (IKO) in 1868.We are located at Olivet College in Olivet, MI. We are not national, so there is only one of us. Not many have heard of us so its pretty cool to see some mention of Soronian. If anyone is looking for some great history on Greek life come to Olivet because we have have a long history dating all the way back in the early to mid-1800's.

A lot of people will beg to differ with that statement.

There's a difference with "society," "sorority," and "Greek Lettered Organization." Several organizations will claim to be the first, and I've never heard of your organization ever being mentioned in that group.

[Benzgirl]

Originally Posted by DoctorD

You threw me with this - so much that you had me googling, because I've never seen any connection to Alpha Gamma Delta that you have made here.

May 30, 1904 - Syracuse University. Theta Sigma Upsilon did merge with AGD in 1959, but their roots are later than Alpha Gamma Delta's.

Would love to see where you got this information, though.

I haven't heard the AGD reference at BW, but I know one of the charter members (she is in her 90s). I can send her an email to see what info she can give me.

[BabyPiNK_FL]

Originally Posted by oldu

?/?/66 at Elmira College (New York): Philomathean Literary Society, to Phi Mu (local) Sorority in 1883, died in 1911

That's so cool. They became Phi Mu before we did and the faded out after we incorporated as Phi Mu in 1904! Never knew about this other Philomathean/Phi Mu group!

[Leslie Anne]

oldu,

I love that you're doing this. I have a question though. Are you only looking at sororities that eventually have some connection to current (or former) NPCs?

The reason I ask is because I've been doing quite a bit of research on locals and I'm also one of the dreaded pin collectors. (I focus on the mystery locals though.)

There are literally thousands of sororities and fraternities that have existed over the years. There was a great website up a few years ago listing those mentioned in any edition of Baird's. Fortunately, I copied the entire list before the website went down but the number of groups was well over 4 thousand and there are many that were never included.

Honestly, I'm not trying to rain on your parade. I'm really just curious about how far you plan on taking it.

[oldu]

Leslie Ann --

I am including any organization that professed to be what we today call a sorority, regardless of its affiliation with NPC. That is why I stopped at 1870 because from that point on many were formed and the list would get quite lengthy.

By the way, some of the major sources for the information comes from Baldwin-
Wallace yearbooks, a history of Elmia college and several sorority histories. The sorority at Olivet is listed on their web site today.

I hope you can embellish the list from your research. Thanks

[oldu]

I have just been advised that there is active today a sorority at Mac Murray College in Illinois by the name of Phi Nu which was founded in 1853. It is listed on the college site as a sorority, but with no other information. Anyone have a contact at Mac Murray?

[JillianPhiNu]

Originally Posted by oldu

I have just been advised that there is active today a sorority at Mac Murray College in Illinois by the name of Phi Nu which was founded in 1853. It is listed on the college site as a sorority, but with no other information. Anyone have a contact at Mac Murray?

I am a recent alumna of Phi Nu society at MacMurray, and I have all kinds of information!
I am now working on my Master's thesis at Eastern Illinois University and need some information on purely local as well as national sororities. I'd like it if you would be able to help me with this endeavor.

[honeychile]

BTW, the Adelphean Society became Alpha Delta Phi in 1904 (1991 Baird's), then Alpha Delta Pi when it was discovered that there was a northern fraternity already named Alpha Delta Pi.

[ClioDeb]

I just attended a Clio reunion at McKendree - the oldest attending alumna graduated in 1947, and we were told the oldest living member of the McKendree alumni is a Clionian aged 104.

We still are called Clio, but we do use our letters - Kappa Lambda Iota - and we are still going strong.

[ClioDeb]

One of the recent (2003?) sisters at the Clio reunion at McKendree April 6 did her senior research paper on the history of Clio - I bet if you contacted Clio c/o McKendree University they could put you in touch with her.