From the Archives: The First Alumnae Chapter

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The story of Delta Gamma’s first alumnae chapter reflects an important cultural moment in the United States in the 19^th century. Allowing women to attend higher education institutions alongside male students was a controversial issue in the 1800s. The first college to admit female students, Oberlin College, did not do so until 1837. When Adelbert College began admitting women in 1883, a Delta Gamma chapter was installed that very year. Out of the 12 female students, seven were Delta Gammas. The women were met with hostility by the male students, as Cornelia Beardslee, Theta II-Adelbert recalls, “The [women] were not popular at Adelbert, and there was a sharp rivalry and jealousy on the [men’s] part as the girls did take the honors in every class.” Despite the women performing so well in their academics, feeling against coeducation grew until, in 1888, Adelbert barred women from attending.  

That year at Convention (the fifth ever held) in Evanston, Illinois, the Delta Gammas from Adelbert applied for a charter of an alumnae chapter. Alumnae had been an active and integral part of the Fraternity for years, and a few had held gatherings. For example, alumnae in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Akron, Ohio, organized from time to time, but no formal alumnae chapter had ever been formed. The Delta Gamma Constitution did not even provide for alumnae chapters at the time women of Adelbert made their request. An article had to be created and incorporated into the Constitution, and the requested charter was ultimately granted.  

Unfortunately, by 1891, the charter was returned. The number of members in the Cleveland area had dwindled to the point that continuing the chapter was not possible. Then, in 1912 meetings were once again taking place with close to 38 Delta Gammas living in the vicinity. Today, there are two Cleveland alumnae chapters, Cleveland East and Cleveland West Shore. This article, published in the Cleveland Press in 1968, details some of the remarkable history of the first alumnae chapter. Though it does contain one error, suggesting Delta Gamma was founded in 1883 instead of 1873.  

From the Archives: Lewis School Door

Sometimes, the most seemingly mundane, everyday object can have an extraordinary history and symbolism. This is the case with this door from the Lewis School. Founded in the mid-1850s by Mrs. C.E. Lewis in Oxford, Mississippi, it went through several name changes over the years. Similar schools for young women, called female seminaries, existed throughout the country, with an estimated 3,000 operating in 1850. They were very often the only option a woman had to receive a formal education. Such institutions were only accessible to a small portion of women. The Lewis School, like other schools for girls at the time, would have focused on teaching their students “lady-like” subjects such as the arts and classical literature with little math or science.  

When the Founders went away to school in 1873, they were virtually completely cut off from their family and friends back home. The closest train station to their hometown Kosciusko was 16 miles away in Durant, and Oxford was another 100 miles away. Roads at the time could be rough and hazardous, and there was no quick, easy way to travel back home. Walking through the door, the school was a metaphorical portal into a new phase of their lives.  

Less than ten years later, the nearby University of Mississippi began admitting women. The Lewis School was able to continue for several years, but like other female seminaries, they could not survive in the face of coeducation becoming more common. Before the building was torn down, alumnae of Psi-Lewis rescued several pieces of the structure, including this door. Its survival, and the survival of the other Lewis School artifacts, is remarkable. Kept in Frances Lewis Stevenson Archives at Executive Offices, it is one of our oldest artifacts.