Kappa Delta Trivia

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by SigKapAngel767

Thanks to everyone for receiving me so kindly on your forum!

You might want to check with your headquarters with what original KD or Tri-Sigma artifacts are actually in Farmville. From what I have heard, most of it is at their headqurters. As I am not a member of either, I am not sure

I think you're right about that. There's just one thing that I'm looking for (that's not directly related to the foundings, but I'm curious about) that I don't think any of the FF4 have. Not sure though.

Originally Posted by SigKapAngel767

I went to Longwood the fall after the fire. We are very lucky one person was only minorly injured. I felt horrible for the ZTA's though, because one of the buildings damaged, I think is where a lot of their founding sisters had started the sorority. I'm not completely sure though. :-/

It was VERY lucky that there weren't any fatalities! It was actually the room where Kappa Delta was founded that got lost in the fire. I was really sad about that.

Originally Posted by SigKapAngel767

The Farmville Four are very strong chapters, as are all the chapters at Longwood! All 9 chapters at Longwood are capped around 55. We have one dorm called "Stubbs" with four floors. The top three floors are each divided into 3 sections so each sorority has a "hall" which includes a chapter room. The sororities at Longwood get along very well, and it is frowned upon to be rude to another sorority, Alpha chapter or not. We have friends in other sororities, and often socialize with them. Longwood Greeks have a sense of pride. We like to set the example at school, and treat everyone nicely. Your Alpha sisters would make you so proud...they carry themselves with dignity, respect everyone, and make Kappa Delta look amazing everyday!

It's great to hear that everyone gets along. Thank you so much for the compliments. Yay, Alpha!

Thanks for answering my questions. You're a sweetheart!

[DaffyKD]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

Thanks for posting this information, SigKapAngel767!

It really seems like an amazing tradition. I would love to visit Longwood some day. I've been studying so much about KD's founding that Farmville is like Mecca to me. Ms_Gwyn (a tri sigma) and I are actually planning to go if we can get permission to visit the archives.

Leslie,

Our archives are at National Headquarters. If you get to Memphis you should stop in and take a look. It is really fascinating. Some of the items, along with the Alpha Trunk, were at convention this year.

DaffyKD

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by DaffyKD

Leslie,

Our archives are at National Headquarters. If you get to Memphis you should stop in and take a look. It is really fascinating. Some of the items, along with the Alpha Trunk, were at convention this year.

DaffyKD

Oh, I've definitely got to see the archives at HQ! I'm in graduate school right now working towards becoming an archivist myself. I envy anyone who got to see the Alpha Trunk.

What I'm interested in reading at Longwood is an account of those early days. Specifically, I want to know what the curriculum was. I've checked and it's in the Longwood holdings.

Now I just have to get there! (to both Farmville and Memphis)

[ta kala]

Grand Chapter's famous member was Georgia O'Keefe from Beta chapter.

[SydneyK]

It looks like you've stumped us again, ta kala!

I keep waiting for some of the KD history buffs to give us an answer, but either they aren't reading or no one knows!

[Leslie Anne]

I'm certainly stumped!

I don't even know where to begin looking for something like that. Any hints for us? It's a great question.

[Katmandu]

I can only find reference to a revised edition of the Chapter Officers' Handbook 1942--

Soooo I would say sometime after the establishment of the Central office in 1925, and prior to the revision in '42.

Since the Pledge Manual was published in 1935, and the Province President's Handbook in '36, I am going to guess around then, mid 30's.

[ta kala]

I didn't mean for it to be a stumper! As for a hint, I found the question in a document that is on the 24/7 and since that covers a ton of documents, more specifically in one of the appointed officer's folders.

I'll see if someone can find it now!

[SydneyK]

Thanks for the tip, ta kala!

Sara Blue prepared the first COHB in 1921.

[ta kala]

Correct! Did you find it in the history jeopardy? I love that thing! Your turn!

[SydneyK]

Yes, ta kala, I found it in the history jeopardy. I had never looked at that before - thanks for pointing us to it!!!

I'm drawing a blank on another question right now (and since everyone is probably looking through the history, I don't want to get something from there... yet ). If anyone else has a question, feel free to put it out there!

[Katmandu]

I have a question, but it's a real question.... I don't know the answer and I am hoping someone will. It probably sounds stupid, but I always thought that our chapters were named down the greek alphabet by order of founding; i.e. Old chapters being single letter chapters, etc. Alpha, Beta....; then Alpha Alpha...

But aparently that's not correct. University of Cincinnati, Omega Xi, was founded in 1913, fairly early to have Omega Xi as a chapter designation.

Also, I recently found out that the first northern Chapter, located at Northwestern, was named Lambda chapter in honor of SAE leader, William Levere, who was instrumental in Northwestern's colonization. Also, that Florida State's chapter was named Kappa Alpha chapter in honor of The KA Society which helped in the establishment of the chapter at FSU.

So, what I was told lo these many years ago is not true, or at least not true all the time, so I am stumped. Ta Kala, SydneyK, Leslie Anne, and all of you fellow KD history buffs, help me out! Are our chapters in greek letter order with a few exceptions, or is there no order?

[Leslie Anne]

The first 3 chapters were done alphabetically (in Greek, of course) then there was a pretty long period of time when chapters got their names from the local sororities that had petitioned Kappa Delta for a charter. There are also those that were named for people and other groups, like you mentioned.

It wasn't until 1924 that KD started naming the chapters strictly alphabetically. This began with Alpha Alpha chapter at Michigan State (our 60th chapter) and went from there.

I'll post particulars in a bit for those interested.

(Great question, by the way!)

[Leslie Anne]

So for those who are interested, I'll post some details of the early names.

(I have a complete list of all chapters chartered by Kappa Delta, their locations, and their years, but for some reason it was considered unwise to post it on GC, so I won't post it but rather just lay out the basics that I know. I definitely don't have the whole story though, as you'll see.)

Alpha, Beta and Gamma are clearly alphabetical. Then came:

Sigma (1902) - I have no idea why -- wild guess would be because it was installed by Susie Scott, National Treasurer at the time.

Theta (1903) - Again, no idea why.

Epsilon Prime (1903) - Possibly an attempt to get back to an alphabetical naming system? Also possibly named for it's location at Elizabeth College. Regardless, this chapter only existed for one year, sub rosa, before Kappa Delta determined that sub rosa chapters were not a good idea. (Not to be confused with Epsilon chapter at LSU chartered 6 years later.)



Starting in late 1903, a lot of chapters were named for the local sororities that petitioned Kappa Delta for a charter. This was the norm back then (for a local to select one particular national sorority with which they wanted to affiliate.)

Phi Psi (1903) - The local sorority was named Mu Phi Psi.

Zeta (1904) - Perhaps an attempt to return to alphabetic naming after Epsilon Prime?

Phi Delta (1904) - The local sorority's name.

Kappa Alpha (1904) - Named in honor of KA fraternity.

Rho Omega Phi (1904) - The local sorority was named R. O. F. Society.

Delta (1905) - Wild guess would be because a KD from Phi Delta chapter assisted in getting the group together to petition KD, then participated in the installation.

Iota (1907) - no clue

Lambda (1907) - Named in honor of William C. Levere of SAE for his assistance in Kappa Delta's expansion in the North.

Omicron (1908) - no clue

Sigma Sigma (1908) - The local sorority's name.

Epsilon (1909) - no clue

Epsilon Omega (1910) - The local sorority, originally named Black Cats, changed their name to Epsilon Omega Delta.

Alpha Gamma (1911) - The local sorority's name.

Sigma Delta (1912) - The local sorority's name.

Kappa (1913) - My only guess is because the local was named Kappa Lambda.

Omega Xi (1913) - I have no idea, but I'm very curious. Such an unusual name had to come from somewhere. Maybe Kaydee_cutie knows since that's her chapter.

Eta (1913) - Either from the name of the local, Eta Pi, or the location, Hunter College.

Chi (1914) - no clue

Rho (1914) - The local sorority was named Sigma Rho.

Mu (1914) - The local sorority was named Kappa Mu.

Phi Tau (1915) - The local sorority was named Phi Epsilon Tau.

Phi Epsilon (1916) - The local sorority's name.

Sigma Alpha (1916) - The local sorority's name.

Omega Chi (1917) - The local sorority's name.

Theta Sigma (1917) - another stumper - the local was called Nous Soeurs Club - there must be a good reason for this chapter's unusual name.

Phi (1917) - no clue (the local sorority was named Copo de Oro)

Sigma Beta (1918) - The local sorority's name.

Psi (1918) - no clue (doesn't match local's name)

Nu (1919) - no clue (doesn't match local's name)

Xi (1920) - no clue (doesn't match local's name) - perhaps Dani would know since this is her chapter.

Pi (1920) - no clue

Tau (1920) - This one has a little story. Four Kappa Deltas from Psi chapter transferred to the University of Wisconsin. One of them, Elsie Taylor, worked to get a local group together to petition KD for a charter. They named the local Tau Kappa Delta (Tau for Elsie Taylor + Kappa Delta for their goal.)

Upsilon (1920) - Just a guess but the local was named Kappa Phi Upsilon.



Now we go into a stage where double letters starting with Sigma were chosen. *Ta kala explains why in a post below.* This begins the first real attempt to go alphabetically with some minor exceptions.

Sigma Alpha and Sigma Beta had already been assigned to chapters so it begins with:

Sigma Gamma (1920)

Sigma Delta was already assigned to a chapter so it was skipped.

Sigma Epsilon (1921) - Although it does fit alphabetically, it's noted that the Epsilon part of this chapter's name was given in honor of Eliza Winn, of Sigma Alpha chapter, who was then a student at UT and assisted in selecting members for the new chapter.

Sigma Zeta (1921) - Again, this one fits alphabetically but there's more. It's noted that a Kappa Delta named Katherine Farrah, of Zeta chapter, transferred to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and joined a group named Caryatides. She pushed for them to petition KD for a charter, which was granted. Whether the Zeta in the chapter's name is for Katherine's Zeta chapter background or it's simply there alphabetically is, as the history books say, up to "the gods of chance."

The next 10 chapters were named alphabetically; Sigma Eta through Sigma Pi. Then it goes out of sequence to:

Sigma Tau (1923) - It's possible that the Tau was given in honor of the local which was called Tonora.

Sigma Rho (1923) - get's us back on track alphabetically, however, it is also the name of the local.

Sigma Sigma was already assigned so it skips to:

Sigma Upsilon (1923) - which brings us back to alphabetical naming.

Sigma Phi (1924)

Sigma Chi (1924) - This one is alphabetical but it's also noted that the local was named Delta Sigma Chi. Here I have a hunch that local groups with an interest in Kappa Delta started naming themselves after the next available chapter name. (Which would apply to Sigma Rho as well.) It's just a hunch though.

And the double letter Sigmas come to an end with Sigma Omega.


Starting with Michigan State in 1924, the chapters are named strictly alphabetically beginning with Alpha Alpha continuing until the present. (The only exception is Alpha Gamma which had already been assigned back in 1911.)

I have a feeling that I'm missing a couple of things. I distictly remember one chapter being named after a prominent Kappa Delta. I also think that one chapter later on in the alphabet is skipped but I'm not sure why.



Anyway, that's as much as I know about the naming of our chapters. If anyone knows the answers to my many "no clue"s or can shed some light on the many mysteries, please chime in! I'd love to find out more.

AOT,
Leslie Anne

[Katmandu]

Oh My Gosh, this is fascinating!!

Thank you so much for posting this. When read about Lambda and Kappa Alpha Chapter, and when I thought about Omega Xi being founded in '13, I realized I didn't know what I thought I knew about chapter naming.

You have some great sources. Now I will see what I can find out about some of the question marks. Kaydee Cutie, do you know about the origin of UC's chapter designation?

Thanks again Leslie Anne!