This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
By Finding Aid prepared by Erika Castaño; updated by Helena Egbert and Elizabeth Nielsen; updated by Jozie Billings and Natalia Fernández.
Title: Panhellenic Council Records, 1922-2015
Predominant Dates: 1926-1993
ID: RG 056
Primary Creator: Oregon State University. Panhellenic Council
Extent: 3.0 cubic feet. More info below.
Arrangement: Series 1: Minutes, 1958-2011; Series 2: Constitutions, 1922-2007; Series 3: Publications, 1924-2014; Series 4: Organizational Records, 1958-2015; Series 5: Awards and Applications, 1967-2011; Series 6: Scrapbooks, 1962-1990; Series 7: Photographs, 1973-2011
Languages of Materials: English [eng]
The Panhellenic Council Records document the origins, administration, and activities of sororities at Oregon State University. The Panhellenic Council, established in 1917 at OSU, is the governing body for a portion of the sororities at OSU, responsible for creating rules and oversight that is outside of the institution's range.
A number of the Rush Handbooks from the 1930s-1990s have been digitized and are available via Oregon Digital.
The Panhellenic Council Records (RG056) document the administration and activities of this administrative body, which regulated and organized the Panhellenic sorority chapters on OSU's campus. The materials are mainly generated by the Panhellenic Council, including administrative materials such as meeting minutes, constitutions, handbooks, as well public-facing materials such as posters, newsletters, scrapbooks, and photographs. These materials pertain to the rules and promotion of rush week, recognition of council officers, activities organized by Panhellenic or the sororities, and recommendations to the sororities to improve their houses. The collection also contains records on the houses, such as the average GPAs of the houses. Other materials include scrapbook pages and award applications generated by the sororities, including applications for the Vanderpool Award, and newspaper clippings from various newspapers about events, rush, and fundraisers. The collection materials primarily focus on the sororities associated with the Panhellenic Council, although fraternities and other sororities associated with the other councils are mentioned.
A number of the Rush Handbooks from the 1930s-1990s have been digitized and are available via Oregon Digital.
This collection includes one digitized microfilm reel, 1957-1960; the six digital files (31 MB) are available upon request. The files are full-text searchable, however, due to the poor quality of the original physical microfilm reel, the full-text searchability is flawed.
The Panhellenic Council, established in 1917 at OSU [Oregon Agricultural College at the time], is the governing body for a portion of the sororities at OSU, responsible for creating rules and oversight that is outside of the institution's range. The sororities within the purview of the Panhellenic Council mirror those of the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC), founded in 1902. The NPC provides guidelines and resources for its members, twenty-six national and international women's sororities, and serves as a national voice on contemporary issues of sorority life. Composed of representatives from the sorority chapters on the Oregon State University campus, Panhellenic is the governing body of the sorority chapters and is responsible for providing support to the chapters and facilitating cooperativeness between the sororities and with the University.
The first sorority associated with the National Panhellenic Conference formed at Oregon Agricultural College was Alpha Chi Omega in 1915. Pi Beta Phi, Chi Omega, and Kappa Alpha Theta were established in 1917. The formation of these three additional sororities led to the need for an oversight body. At OSU, the name of the Council has evolved. It was called the Panhellenic Association of the Oregon Agricultural College as early as 1922, Oregon State College Panhellenic in 1937, and Oregon State University Panhellenic Association or Council from 1995 onward.
The purpose of the Panhellenic Council within OSU is to maintain the standards of the sororities, ensure academic achievement and scholarship, maintain good relations with the University, and set rules for the sororities, such as related to rushing, pledging, disaffiliation, and member count for each house. It is able to do this through four different areas: legislation, administration, advisory authority, and judicial authority. Panhellenic also follows rules set by the University and by the National Panhellenic Conference.
The Panhellenic Council does not encompass all sororities such as those under the purview of the National Pan-Hellenic Council (Divine Nine) or the Multicultural Greek Council. The National Panhellenic Conference, of which the Panhellenic Council is under, is responsible for 26 national and international sororities, seventeen of which have been chartered at OSU.
The seventeen OSU chartered chapters within the Panhellenic Council include: Alpha Chi Omega, 1915-Current; Alpha Delta Pi, 1926-1996; Alpha Gamma Delta, 1921-Current; Alpha Omicron Pi, 1926-1992 and 2014-Current; Alpha Phi, 1947-Current; Alpha Xi Delta, 1919-1964 and 1979-2005; Chi Omega, 1917-Current; Delta Delta Delta, 1918-Current; Delta Gamma, 1946-Current; Delta Zeta, 1919-1977; Gamma Phi Beta, 1918-1997; Kappa Alpha Theta, 1917-Current; Kappa Delta, 1926-1982 and 1987-Current; Kappa Kappa Gamma, 1924-Current; Pi Beta Phi, 1917-2006; Sigma Kappa, 1918-Current; Zeta Tau Alpha, 1923-1970.
More Extent Information: 4 boxes, including 2 oversize boxes; 1 digitized microfilm reel, 31 MB (6 PDF files); 196 photographic prints
Statement on Access: Collection is open for research.
Related Materials: Other collections related to the Panhellenic Council and sororities at OSU include the Fraternities and Sororities Photograph Collection (P034), the Student Club and Organization Records (RG276), the Greek Life Office Records (RG223), the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority Photographs (P277), and the OSU Memorabilia Collection (MSS MC). Additional photographs are available in the Student Affairs Photographic Collection (P182).
Preferred Citation: Panhellenic Council Records (RG 056), Oregon State University Special Collections and Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
Processing Information:
We acknowledge that materials in SCARC collections and the language that describes them may be harmful. We are actively working to address our descriptive practices; for more information please see our SCARC Anti-Racist Actions Statement online.
Some materials in this collection use derogatory language to describe activities hosted by sororities. We acknowledge the ableism and racism represented by this language and the harm it may cause our users. Providing access to these historical materials does not endorse any attitudes or behavior depicted therein.
[Date of acknowledgement: February 2024]
Finding Aid Revision History: This finding aid was first published in 2004; it was updated in 2017 and again in 2024.
Oregon State University. Panhellenic Council
Oregon State Agricultural College. Panhellenic Council
Oreon State College. Panhellenic Council
Greek letter societies--Oregon--Corvallis.
Oregon State Agricultural College. Panhellenic Council
Oregon State College. Panhellenic Council
Rush handbook.
Student activities--Oregon--Corvallis.
University History
Women--Education (Higher)--Oregon--Corvallis.
Photographic prints.
Scrapbooks.
Series 1 consists of Panhellenic Council meeting minutes. The Council met in different sorority houses each month; the host sorority is listed at the top of the minutes. Each set of minutes describes who called the meeting to order, who did introductions, a summary of the officer’s reports, new business, and old business. The 1958-1960 minutes were digitized from a microfilm reel and are organized in reverse chronological order.
This series contains one digital file (14 MB) from the digitized microfilm reel that is available upon request.
Series 2 contains booklets and packets of OSU’s Panhellenic Council Constitution, as well as By-Laws and Rush Rules. Versions of these exist in years ranging from 1922 to 2007.
This series contains one digital file (1.8 MB), the 1957 constitution, from the digitized microfilm reel that is available upon request.
Series 3 consists of publications, primarily of Rush Handbooks, both in loose volumes and in bound editions, along with informational brochures and newsletters. The handbooks describe what Panhellenic is and what value it could bring to a young woman’s life. They also discuss how to decide which sorority to join, what the financial cost will be, how to plan for joining, and what “Rush Rules” are. The last section of many booklets includes a photo of the sorority house with pertinent information about it, such as location, president, colors, and a short history of the house. In some, they include rent costs. There are also two posters promoting Rush. The 1957 handbook was digitized from a microfilm reel; it contains the Rush Chairman Handbook and the Counselor's and Delegate Handbook.
A number of the Rush Handbooks from the 1930s-1990s have been digitized and are available via Oregon Digital.
This series contains one digital file (3.6 MB) from the digitized microfilm reel that are available upon request.
Series 4 includes newspaper clippings from the 1970s and some from the mid-2000s. Additionally, there is general Panhellenic Council information such as materials about the Panhellenic Conference from 1958-1971, information on the budget, as well as "Strategic Planning." There is also a variety of information on Rush including Rush programs, activities, and statistics.
This series contains three digital files (11.5 MB) from the digitized microfilm reel that is available upon request.
Series 5 is predominately made up of Nancy Vanderpool Award Applications from the years 2007-2010. Vanderpool served as the Assistant Dean of Students at Oregon State University from 1979-1998; during her tenure, she supported the Panhellenic system. The Nancy Vanderpool Award for Panhellenic Council Chapter of the Year is awarded to the chapter that scores the highest on the Relationship Statement of the previous year. The Relationship Statement serves as a way to showcase what the chapter accomplishes within the year, including but not limited to workshops, service events, and philanthropic activities.
These applications are often in the form of a scrapbook and have multiple parts: first, they briefly describe their sorority's history and their founding values; they then may go on to describe new member education and programming, scholarship, leadership, philanthropy and community service, chapter management, honors and awards, and campus and community involvement. Most of the award applications have pictures scattered throughout. While these serve as award applications, they also serve as a kind of yearbook, snapshotting what the sorority did that year. The available records do not describe who won each year. There is also a folder of certificates awarded to Oregon State University Panhellenic groups; the honors and awards that the council has received from various groups include the Panhellenic Conference, Western Regional Greek Conference, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.