Fraternity Executive Director Hannah Keenan (Alpha, DePauw University, center) receives the Good Neighbor Award from Chuckles Chapman and Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) at the Alpha Chi (Butler University) chapter house.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: 1938
Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) poses with Jean Sorenson Daiker (Alpha Rho, University of Idaho), who served as a page at the 1953 National Convention in Banff, Alberta, Canada.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: Jul 1953
Alpha chapter (DePauw University, 1920. Hannah Keenan, daughter of Founder Bessie Grooms Keenan, is pictured in the fourth row, far right. Hannah went on to become director of central office from 1937-66 as well as archivist. Hannah identifed the chapter members on the back of the photograph.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: 1920
Founder Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University) writes to Hannah Keenan (Alpha, DePauw University) about the new Alpha Chi songbook she recently received and laments that she cannot attend the upcoming national convention because the arthritis in her knee makes travel difficult.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: Apr 19th, 1953
Alpha Chi Omega was formally celebrated in a Soiree Musicale performance on February 6, 1886 in the DePauw University Music Hall. Dean James Hamilton Howe performed, with the assistance of Founder Amy DuBois (later Rieth), soprano.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: Feb 6th, 1886
This program is for Homecoming Day of the 1935 National Convention, which took place at DePauw University where the Fraternity was founded. It includes a poem by Founder Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University), the words to the Toast and a program of the day's events.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: Jun 26th, 1935
Founder Bertha Deniston Cunningham compiled 12 scrapbooks that are part of Alpha Chi Omega's archives collection. This scrapbook includes numerous event programs, handwritten notes by Mrs. Cunningham, newspaper clippings, memories of State Days, and tributes to Past National President Alta Allen Loud (Beta, Albion College).
Collection: Scrapbook Collection
Date:
Nellie Gamble Childe (Alpha, DePauw University) studied piano from an early age and, after much deliberation, chose DePauw. She was described variously by her sisters as being gentle, energetic, earnest and friendly, leading a life of “quiet influence for good.” Later in life, she cultivated roses and loved to garden. She said that Alpha Chi Omega had a small beginning, but was built by loyal women with high standards who have achieved “marvelous results.”
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: 1886
Olive Burnett Clark (Alpha, DePauw University) grew up in Greencastle, Indiana before eventually moving to Indianapolis, Indiana. She set the example for grace, civility and dignity that defined the Fraternity.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: 1885
When Bertha Deniston Cunningham's (Alpha, DePauw University) parents decided their musically advanced daughter should continue her studies at DePauw, she had to play for Dean Howe to determine just how advanced she was. She went on to become the envy of the school’s music students because of her composing skills. She also was an accomplished performer and successful teacher in the School of Music for 10 years. Hers is the only one of five original badges that exists today.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date:
Bessie Grooms Keenan (Alpha, DePauw University) began studying music as a young child and was an accomplished pianist by the time she entered DePauw. Near the end of her first year there, she strained the muscles of her left hand from over-practice and had to give up the ambition of her life. However, she gave much of her time to help build Alpha Chi Omega. Her daughter, Hannah Keenan, eventually became director of Alpha Chi’s central office, today known as headquarters.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: Jan 1st, 1886
Amy Dubois Rieth (Alpha, DePauw University) was only 15 when she entered DePauw. She studied both voice and pianoforte. She was known as “the little girl with the big voice,” and was selected to sing important roles in school productions. Amy had a quiet and straightforward manner, which belied her fondness for pulling pranks on her Fraternity sisters. Her influence on the Fraternity endured long after she left to teach music in Kansas.
Collection: Archives Collection
Date: Dec 12th, 1885