Sorority life proved an essential part of many women’s lives at Hope in the 1930’s and 1940’s. While athletic events, musical groups, and theatre provided some entertainment, many students also organized primarily in literary clubs. While many sororities and fraternities formed prior to the 1930’s, their popularity among students exploded as the Great Depression progressed. On January 1, 1930, the Anchor states that 32.1% of women enrolled at Hope belonged to a sorority [1]. However, thanks to the scrapbook of Eleanor Dalman Vanderhill (42’), one can see an obvious change in these greek life participation statistics. According to a welcoming letter to Vanderhill prior to her freshman year in 1938, Hope College Student Council immediately explained Greek life as the main social outlet for students, followed by college funded groups. They note that 75-80% of Hope women belonged to sororities in the preceding year [2]. While the Depression wreaked havoc across the country and tested Hope financially, students flocked to organizations such as Greek Life. 
We can’t confirm if either of these numbers are completely accurate, as they came from multiple sources and are not official Hope College statistics. However, they do provide information on the importance of Greek life and the way students communicated its importance to their peers. Mary C. McComb in her book The Great Depression and the Middle Class writes that nationwide, Greek life suffered during the Depression and almost didn't survive. However, while Hope sororities did struggle financially through the Depression, their popularity only increased [3]. Hope men and women relied on Greek Life heavily to establish themselves in the Hope community. 

While the Hope College Bulletin, presidents’ files, faculty information, Anchor, and Milestones provide an abundance of information of the events at Hope College in the 1930’s, they can’t pinpoint the daily lives of students. Because of the importance of sororities to women’s lives throughout the 1930’s, one can look past the official Hope College publications to get a closer look into the everyday social lives of women of the time by investigating the culture of these organizations. We can also begin to understand students’ values, their forms of entertainment, how they learned to conduct themselves in social settings, as well as how their sorority influenced them.

Many of the sororities available to students in the 1930’s remain in existence today. In the 1930’s women could choose to rush Sorosis, Dorian, Sibylline, Alethea, and Delphi [4]. These sororities were not nation wide but rather Hope founded and remain Hope based today. Women had fewer options for sororities than women have today; however, this did not hinder sorority life as the largest social organizations on campus. During this time, there were also less women and total students at Hope. Throughout the 1930’s, enrollment did not exceed 500 students total.

However, the process of rushing has changed since the Great Depression. This process reflects the popularity of sororities during this time. While gathering information on the experiences of incoming freshmen, sorority involvement and education on sororities proved to be a delicate subject. A woman’s entrance into the Hope community as well as into the Greek life community began as a woman awaited her freshman year. In many of the personal scrapbooks and memory books donated by women during the period, women saved letters from the college or president, student council, and their “big-sisters” that told them of what to expect in their first semester at Hope. The 1938 student council’s letter to Vanderhill communicated the general groups and activities at Hope, emphasizing Greek life as important to the majority of students [5]. However, they did not promote one sorority. Margaret Kole, who attended Hope from 1929-1933, included a guide to acting as a big sister of an incoming freshman in her scrapbook. Hope paired each incoming freshman with an upperclassman student that would become their companion and confidante as they entered college. In this guide, Hope instructed women to inform their “little sister” of college activities, introduce her to other students, and make her feel at home without spending any money. The guide specifically states in these endeavors that a woman should not favor a particular society or speak with her little sister about her own society [6]. Hope wanted each incoming student to choose her society for herself. This emphasizes the importance of sorority life to the future of incoming freshmen as well as to current students. 

Kole includes an example of a sister letter by keeping a letter from her own Big Sister, Anna Marie Peelen from August 8, 1929, the summer prior to her freshman year. Peelen writes to assure Kole that she planned to be a trusted confidante and to help her through any questions she had during the transition into college [7]. When I found this letter, it reminded me of the big sisters/little sisters sororities utilize today. Peelan follows all rules and regulations that Kole later learns of in her own guide. However, this avoidance of conversation about sorority did not deter Kole from joining Greek life, as she joined the Alethea sorority in the fall of her freshman year [8]. 

Sororities would welcome new members in the fall and have them pledge before becoming new members, looking at the dates of invitations to rushing events [9]. According to the Sorosis minutes from 1930-1939 as well as the clippings and saved invitations from many of the scrapbook owners, societies would meet weekly. The order of these meetings across societies remained relatively the same. Each meeting would include a theme for the order of business and the invitations [10]. Examples of these themes from the Dorian and Alethean scrapbooks as well as the Sorosis Minutes included meetings with a Bird theme, Great Women of America, Gems, a Bell theme, Around the World, etc. Each order of business would center around this theme. For example, in Alethea’s Gem meeting, the order of events included: “Gems of Joy, Gems of Today, Gems of Value, Gems of Song, and Gems of Jest” [11]. The Sorosis minutes provide a clear example of what each event truly entailed. The documentation noted that members met in their sorority room allocated to them and would first begin with a time for devotions. They then addressed any business issues such as the electing of officers or committees, the treasurer report, addressing of any behavioral, financial, or social issues, as well as planning any sorority events. The president of the sorority would also address the payment of dues during this time. After serious conversation, the Sigma Sigma girls typically put on a skit regarding the theme of the meeting or provided a performance of some sort. The group would also sing sorority songs during this more leisurely, entertaining portion of the meeting [12].

Sororities to many women proved to be a lifeline throughout their experience at Hope. They connected individuals to the community of Hope, to alumni, and to their peers during the 1930’s. Not all women participated in Greek life and we sadly don’t have access to their personal experiences. However, documentation of sorority life provides us access to a large portion of the Hope community’s social experience during this period. With this documentation, we can glimpse the events, topics, and behaviors that many of these women within the Greek community admired. 

References: 

[1] "Societies Not Cause", Hope College Anchor, 1 January, 1930. 
[2] Letter from Student Council to Eleanor Dalman Vanderhill, 1938, Vanderhill, Eleanor Dalman. Papers, 1926, 1938-1942, Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI. 
[3] Mary C. McComb, Great Depression and the Middle Class: Experts, Collegiate Youth and Business Ideology, 1929-1941 (New York, New York: Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, 2006), 79.
[4] Milestones, 1930-1940 (Holland: Hope College, 1930-1940), https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/milestone/12/.
[5] Letter from Student Council to Eleanor Dalman Vanderhill, 1938, Vanderhill, Eleanor Dalman. Papers, 1926, 1938-1942.
[6] "Duties and Interdictions" in Memory Book, 1925-1933, Kole, Margaret J. (1909-1994). Papers, 1925-1933 (H95-1250), Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI.
[7] "Letter from Anna Marie Peelen" in Memory Book, 1925-1933, Kole, Margaret J. (1909-1994). Papers, 1925-1933 (H95-1250).
[8] Memory Book, 1925-1933, Kole, Margaret J. (1909-1994). Papers, 1925-1933 (H95-1250).
[9] Memory Book, 1925-1933, Kole, Margaret J. (1909-1994). Papers, 1925-1933 (H95-1250)., Scrapbook, 1929-1936, Swets, Ethel Leestma Papers, 1929-1936 (H18-1988), Joint Archives of Holland, Holland, MI., Scrapbook, 1934-1938, Stegenga Groenevelt, Marian Ruth (1917-1996). Papers,1934-1938,1996 (H12-1818), Joint Archives of Holland, MI. 
[10] Minutes, 1925-1930, 1932-1935, Sigma Sigma Sorority, Records, 1906-[ongoing] (H01-1413), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland, MI.
[11] Scrapbook, 1935-1948, Dorian Sorority (Kappa Beta Phi). Records, 1922-2008 (H09-1695), Joint Archives of Holland, Hope College, Holland MI.
[12] Minutes, 1925-1930, 1932-1935, Sigma Sigma Sorority, Records, 1906-[ongoing] (H01-1413), 58-59.

While sororities provided women with a needed community in the 1930’s, their organization allowed for massive social training that molded members into the perfect college woman, or rather, the time’s ideal white, upper middle class woman. In order to fit into their new community, women relied on social behaviors that their societies or college culture deemed acceptable. This also allowed colleges to shape the type of women they produced and as well as to shape how middle class white women behaved during this time. Margaret L. Freeman writes on this topic in her book, Women of Discriminating Taste: White Sororities and the Making of American Ladyhood, arguing the colleges and universities partnered with sororities in order to enforce desired behaviors and regulations [1]. We can see a similar kind of social training at Hope College within sororities and the general social culture of women at Hope that upheld the beliefs of Hope’s affiliated denomination, The Reformed Church of America, as well as etiquette that made them respectable upper class women. Analyzing the goals of Hope College as an institution, women’s saved sorority event programs, and Anchor articles about ideal women, we can analyze the valued behaviors that societies and the Hope community in general taught women at Hope, shaping how they functioned in society. 

Hope as an institution affiliated with the Reformed Church of America and relied on the church for financial backing. In addition, according to Jacob Nyenhuis in his book Hope at 150, the college began with the intent of producing ministry focused Christian individuals [2]. Both their affiliation with the Reformed Church in America and their faith based founding and mission inspired the way they enforced rules and taught their students. According to the Board of Trustees Minutes from April, 1930 in a letter to the General Synod, Dimnent wrote, “The ethical religious situation on the campus is normal. The family background of a student group on any campus is the major element in determining the campus situation. The college continues to produce noble manhood and womanhood, though the task becomes more difficult as present day American parentage has relieved itself of responsibility to a greater extent. The religious activities have held their own and cover the habitional work” [3]. Hope as an institution believed in fostering commendable behaviors in their students richly based in the Christian faith, even if their parents failed to do so, as they believed. 

Within our sources, we found evidence of similar social training among Hope sororities in both Christian values as well as general etiquette. Looking at all of the sorority scrapbooks and the women’s personal programs from sorority events, each weekly program began with a devotion. This tradition opened every program or meeting across every sorority on campus. As organizations belonging to a Christian institution, Hope’s sororities embodied the faith that the college wanted its students to actively practice. This instilled important rhythms and habits not just within Hope College sanctioned functions but also in social environments. It surrounded women with the Christian mission of Hope in every facet of their lives.

In addition to practicing Christian habits and virtues, sororities taught women etiquette expected of a 1930’s middle to upper class white woman. Multiple sororities held programs that taught women manners and ways to behave. For example, the Dorian scrapbook outlined their program on October 22, 1937 that taught Dorian women how to behave. They began the event with blind date rules. They then listed guidelines they recommended for a woman in the program outline. They advised women to join as many activities as possible, to get everything out of college, to use the library frequently, to cooperate in class, etc. They then included other parts of the event that included “Notes on Fashion”, “Mind Your Manners”, and “Sponge Cake Recipe” [4]. The Dorian sorority informed women of social behaviors they should adopt as their own that would allow them to be successful at Hope and in the middle class.