Old Letters

[bejazd]

out of curiosity...When did "wearing letters" as we know it today come into fashion? my parents were Greeks in the late 50s and they claim they never had the sweatshirts with letters as we do now. Both men and women had blazers with the crest. Women wore their pins on dresses and sweaters with skirts, never with pants. The sororities had sweatshirts with the crests and the name spelled out. My dad still wears his college class ring with the greek letters in the stone.

[Leslie Anne]

Originally Posted by bejazd

out of curiosity...When did "wearing letters" as we know it today come into fashion?

I'm not sure exactly when but it definitely was not in fashion in the 1940s. I have a lot of old yearbooks that I'm using for some research into particular groups. I've looked at the ones from the 40s and early 50s and letters simply weren't worn. The only minor exception seems to be during intramural sports.

I've found candid photos in those yearbooks with letters on houses, floats, plaques, etc. but the men in the photos are almost always wearing a coat and tie.

I have a few more yearbooks from that era that I still have to go through. I'll let you know if I find anything.

[SNBullet]

Originally Posted by Leslie Anne

I'm not sure exactly when but it definitely was not in fashion in the 1940s. I have a lot of old yearbooks that I'm using for some research into particular groups. I've looked at the ones from the 40s and early 50s and letters simply weren't worn. The only minor exception seems to be during intramural sports.

I've found candid photos in those yearbooks with letters on houses, floats, plaques, etc. but the men in the photos are almost always wearing a coat and tie.

I have a few more yearbooks from that era that I still have to go through. I'll let you know if I find anything.

Thats what i have found so far, simple black t shirts with letter for intramurals. I wanted to know if it was a local thing or widespread

[honeychile]

Pitt has put all of their old yearbooks (The Owl) online, and you can see Greeks year by year. Some of the pictures are a riot!

Enjoy!!

[SthrnZeta]

Originally Posted by honeychile

Pitt has put all of their old yearbooks (The Owl) online, and you can see Greeks year by year. Some of the pictures are a riot!

Enjoy!!

Wow, that's really neat to look through And I saw they had Beta Sigma Omicron there (some chapters were later absorbed by ZTA).

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by nittanyalum

^^^Wow, THAT is a serious undertaking on behalf of the university. Impressive.

Originally Posted by SthrnZeta

Wow, that's really neat to look through And I saw they had Beta Sigma Omicron there (some chapters were later absorbed by ZTA).

When I have time, I just love to check those out! I can't believe how many sororities were at Pitt at one time or another - even if there were only about 20-30 in each one! I just wish there was a better explanation of where they lived, prior to the houses, and prior to moving to Amos Hall. I think that's when the number somewhat solidified at eleven. There are SO many sororities and fraternities that I've never, ever heard of before! Thanks to whomever sent me the link - I think kddani?

[GeekyPenguin]

http://digitalmarquette.cdmhost.com/HT/

Marquette also has all the issues of the Hilltop online. It's really neat - I looked up my mom!

[skylark]

Originally Posted by bejazd

out of curiosity...When did "wearing letters" as we know it today come into fashion? my parents were Greeks in the late 50s and they claim they never had the sweatshirts with letters as we do now. Both men and women had blazers with the crest. Women wore their pins on dresses and sweaters with skirts, never with pants. The sororities had sweatshirts with the crests and the name spelled out. My dad still wears his college class ring with the greek letters in the stone.

I'd love to hear a detailed answer/analysis of this, too. Where's oldu when you need him?

[Tom Earp]

Maybe the material and how letters were attached could be compared to the types of helments that the football team used.

Times and materials along with designs do change!

In the mid sixtys, the letters were printed on with a rubber type letters that after washing begin to fall of!