|
There is a great article that looks at fraternity and sorority popularity in a book called Brothers and Sisters. I'd recommend the whole book in general, but that first chapter is what will help you the most. It is a very concise history and may not provide as much information as you would like or need. Here's the citation:
Torbenson, C. L. (2009). From the beginning: A history of college fraternities and sororities. In C. Torbenson & G. Parks (Eds.), Brothers and sisters: Diversity in college fraternities and sororities (pp. 15-45). Madison, NJ: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
--
Are there old school or local newspapers available that might shed some insight? That would be the first place that I would look--they can tell you a lot about local attitudes, especially for that post-WW2 shift. How about yearbooks--how do the descriptions of organizations change, if at all? What about other nearby schools? Were these shifts unique to Erskine or part of a larger movement?
Were there any faculty members or administrators advising these literary societies at the time? Assuming so, do the school's archives (if they keep archives) contain any letters, notes, or other documents that mention these societies at all? Those can also be invaluable sources of information if they exist.
I don't know anything about Erskine, but those sorts of resources have helped me tremendously when researching GLOs at other schools.
Good luck with your project!
|
Hybrid Mode
