Paddles "Traditional size" vs. current.

[GreekOne]

The size that you describe is what we were using in the early 80s. They were gifts given from Littles to their Bigs. We never used them to actually paddle anyone. It was just a keepsake.

[andthen]

Yes I've been seeing these for quite some times with the decorations. There are loads of pintrest pages dedicated to sharing differing styles, and methods of decoration. Some of them are super creative.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by GreekOne

The size that you describe is what we were using in the early 80s. They were gifts given from Littles to their Bigs. We never used them to actually paddle anyone. It was just a keepsake.

So this leads to two questions...
1) Did the Sororities ever use the "traditional" 2+ foot long "paddling size" paddles
2) If the Sororities did, when did they go away?

Basically, at this point I'm trying to connect the Fraternity 2+ foot long paddles used until the early 1960s with the Sorority "Decoration" paddles of the 1980s.

[Cheerio]

Originally Posted by naraht

So this leads to two questions...
1) Did the Sororities ever use the "traditional" 2+ foot long "paddling size" paddles
2) If the Sororities did, when did they go away?

Basically, at this point I'm trying to connect the Fraternity 2+ foot long paddles used until the early 1960s with the Sorority "Decoration" paddles of the 1980s.

At Northwestern University (IL) in the early 90s sorority house windows still featured many 2+ foot long paddles, usually in a crossed-paddles pattern like the letter 'X', two to each window, in house after house.

I can also state my Dad's local greek fraternity during the early 1950's created carved signature paddles for each member that were only sixteen inches long; don't know what size paddles other frats on his campus used.

[GreekOne]

Originally Posted by naraht

So this leads to two questions...
1) Did the Sororities ever use the "traditional" 2+ foot long "paddling size" paddles
2) If the Sororities did, when did they go away?

Basically, at this point I'm trying to connect the Fraternity 2+ foot long paddles used until the early 1960s with the Sorority "Decoration" paddles of the 1980s.

Our chapter did not have a house. So, therefore not adequate storage for large size paddles as decoration. I know the fraternities on our campus did have the larger paddles on display representing each pledge class hanging throughout the house. So, perhaps it's not an issue of era as much as it is an issue of places to display larger paddles. Today, our chapters aren't permitted to use any paddles for decoration or otherwise, considered as symbols of hazing, but then they were just a symbol of Greek tradition.

[navane]

Originally Posted by naraht

So this leads to two questions...
1) Did the Sororities ever use the "traditional" 2+ foot long "paddling size" paddles
2) If the Sororities did, when did they go away?

Basically, at this point I'm trying to connect the Fraternity 2+ foot long paddles used until the early 1960s with the Sorority "Decoration" paddles of the 1980s.

I did a Google search for "vintage sorority paddle". Lots of pictures turn up for those 2ft long paddles for NPCs. The general date range appears to be for the 1950s, '60s and '70s. There were a couple paddles that came up that were dated for the 1980s. So, just from that perspective, one could speculate that they began to fall out of favor in the 1980s. I went to college in the mid to late '90s and decorated paddles were the "thing" in my area.