Delta Phi Delta

Delta Phi Delta National Art Honor Society was an American collegiate art honorary society. Delta Phi Delta was a member of the Association of College Honor Societies. The national society is defunct, with one former chapter operating as a local organization.

History

The society was originally organized as the Palette Club on January 10, 1909, in Old Snow Hall at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Its founders included fourteen girls and one male student who were students in the fine arts department. It began publishing its magazine, Palette, in 1911. By March 1912, the Palette Club had initiated twenty members and two faculty members.
On March 19, 1912, members of the Palette Club discussed becoming a national Greek letter society. This plan received support from the university's chancellor and regents. two colleges had also expressed an interest in joining such a group. The Palette Club was renamed Delta Phi Delta at a Des Moines, Iowa conference on May 28, 1912.
Its charter members were Emly Annadown, Wilma Arnett, Arta Briggs, Lo Alma Brown, Edith Cooper, Myrtle Ellsworth, Neva Foster, Mae Jordan, Lucile Krieder, Lida LeSuer, Irene Russell, Nettie Smith, and Addie Underwood. Neva Foster Gribble was the sorority's first national chair and wrote its ceremonies, constitution, and bylaws. Delta Phi Delta was the first honorary art society.
The purpose of Delta Phi Delta was to encourage scholarship, promote art in the United States, and recognize accomplishment in the arts. Chapters were located at four-year colleges that granted degrees in the arts. The Beta chapter was established at the University of Montana in 1918, followed by Gamma at the University of Minnesota in 1919, and Delta at Bethany College in 1920.
The sorority held its first national convention at the University of Kansas from June 3 to 5, 1920. The cost of the convention was supplemented by a member's art sale in December 1919. Mrs. W. H. Humble, president of the Alpha chapter alumnae association, was elected the sorority's first grand president. At its second national convention, the sorority agreed to admit men and women. The following year, around one-third of its members were males. Later, it was called the Delta Phi Delta National Art Honor Society.
Delta Phi Delta joined the American Federation of Arts and the Association of College Honor Societies. It had 41 chapters in attendance at its June 1956 convention. By 1964, it had initiated 13,450 members.
Delta Phi Delta went dormant in the late 20th century, with the chapters at Texas Women's University and Purdue University continuing to operate as local fraternities. In 2024, Texas Women's College disbanded what was still called Delta Phi Delta, forming the local group SpaceCraft. The only surviving chapter of Delta Phi Delta is at Purdue and calls itself the Delta Phi Delta Fine Arts Club.

Symbols

The Delta Phi Delta badge was a gold artist's pallet with three paint brushes crossed to the rear with raised Greek letters ΔΦΔ across the front, encircled by crown-set pearls. It originated as the pin of the Palette Club. The society's key was similar to its badge. There was a different key for laureate members.
Delta Phi Delta's coat of arms included a shield of argent with a sable border. Above the shield is a crest consisting of an artist's palette with three brushes on top of a radiant star. Below the shield is a scroll with the motto Δέλτα Φτ Δέλτα in Greek.
Delta Phi Delta's colors were originally red and bright blue; in 1936 they were listed as gold and old rose. Its flower was the sweet pea. Its jewel was the pearl. Its publication was Palette, continuing the name from the Palette Club. "The Delta Phi Delta Song" was written by Frances Jones.

Activities

Delta Phi Delta offered scholarships for its members. One of its awards was the Ruth Raymond Scholarship to the Little Artists Colony in Stillwater, Minnesota. In the 1920s, the it developed an annual National Traveling Exhibit of Delta Psi Delta. The first traveling exhibit was developed in the fall of 1920 and featured work from members of all five chapters. The society also held a juried art show for its student members at its national convention.
The chapters sponsored demonstrations and talks about architecture, arts, and related subjects. Chapters also provided space for art students to be creative outside of the classroom and encourage experimentation with new mediums or methods. In addition, chapters hosted annual art exhibits featuring the work of members. Another chapter activity was an annual costume ball, themed to eras in art history.
Chapters also sponsored fairs, auctions, and sales where their current members and alumni sold their art. A 1973 ad for the annual art sale at the Texas Women's University listed a wide range of art forms for sale, including drawings, macramé, paintings, photographs, pottery, prints, sculpture, silk screens, water colors, and weavings. In some cases, the art sales were open to any student, with a small commission fee raising funds that allowed the chapter to sponsor guest speakers and other programs.

Membership

Delta Phi Delta's members were selected by faculty based on overall grade point average and artistic ability. Members were juniors and seniors studying fine arts, who placed in the upper 35 percent of their class. In addition, members were required to have a B average or 3.0 GPA. Initially, membership was open only to female students. However, it opened for male members after the 1922 national convention.

Governance

Delta Phi Delta was overseen by a grand council elected at its annual national convention. Its officers included a grand president, grand secretary, grand treasurer, and grand corresponding secretary.

Chapters

Following is a list of known Delta Phi Delta chapters. Active chapters are indicated in bold. Inactive chapters are in italics.

Chapter	Charter date and range	Institution	Location	Status
Alpha		University of Kansas	Lawrence, Kansas	Inactive
Beta	1918–October 1928	University of Montana	Missoula, Montana	Inactive
Gamma	–after 1973	University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, Minnesota	Inactive
Delta	– 192x ?; February 4, 1927	Bethany College	Lindsborg, Kansas	Inactive
Epsilon		Washburn University	Topeka, Kansas	Inactive
Zeta	1921	Art Institute of Chicago	Chicago, Illinois	Inactive
Eta	– 19xx ?	University of Wisconsin–Madison	Madison, Wisconsin	Inactive
Theta		Ohio Wesleyan University	Delaware, Ohio	Inactive
Iota	1922	Ohio University	Athens, Ohio	Inactive
Kappa	– 1960	University of North Dakota	Grand Forks, North Dakota	Inactive
Lambda		Drake University	Des Moines, Iowa	Inactive
Mu		University of Missouri	Columbia, Missouri	Inactive
Nu	– 19xx ?	James Millikin University	Decatur, Illinois	Inactive
Xi		Santa Barbara State Teacher's College	Santa Barbara, California	Inactive
Omicron	1928	Iowa State University	Ames, Iowa	Inactive
Pi	–19xx ?	University of California, Berkeley	Berkeley, California	Inactive
Rho	1930	University of Colorado Boulder	Boulder, Colorado	Inactive
Sigma	1930	Washington State University	Pullman, Washington	Inactive
Tau	1930	Miami University	Oxford, Ohio	Inactive
Upsilon	– 19xx ?	University of Southern California	Los Angeles, California	Inactive
Phi	1932–after 1973	Montana State University	Bozeman, Montana	Inactive
Chi	1932	Edinboro State College	Edinboro, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Psi	1936	University of Nebraska–Lincoln	Lincoln, Nebraska	Inactive
Omega		University of Oklahoma	Norman, Oklahoma	Inactive
Alpha Alpha	– 19xx ?	University of New Mexico	Albuquerque, New Mexico	Inactive
Alpha Beta		California College of the Arts and Crafts	Oakland, California	Inactive
Alpha Gamma		University of Northern Colorado	Greeley, Colorado	Inactive
Alpha Delta	1939	Ohio State University	Columbus, Ohio	Inactive
Alpha Epsilon	– c. 2024	Texas Woman's University	Denton, Texas	Inactive
Alpha Zeta		University of Cincinnati	Cincinnati, Ohio	Inactive
Alpha Eta		Ball State University	Muncie, Indiana	Inactive
Alpha Theta	– after 1973	Southwest Missouri State University	Springfield, Missouri	Inactive
Alpha Iota				Unassigned ?
Alpha Kappa	1946	San Jose State University	San Jose, California	Inactive
Alpha Lambda		Indiana University of Pennsylvania	Indiana, Pennsylvania	Inactive
Alpha Mu		Michigan State University	East Lansing, Michigan	Inactive
Alpha Nu		Illinois Wesleyan University	Bloomington, Illinois	Inactive
Alpha Xi	– after 1974	Bowling Green State University	Bowling Green, Ohio	Inactive
Alpha Omicron		University of Puget Sound	Tacoma, Washington	Inactive
Alpha Pi		Bradley University	Peoria, Illinois	Inactive
Alpha Rho	1952–after 1972	Kansas State University	Manhattan, Kansas	Inactive
Alpha Sigma	1956	Mount Mary College	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	Inactive
Alpha Tau	1959	College of Saint Mary	Omaha, Nebraska	Inactive
Alpha Upsilon		Purdue University	West Lafayette, Indiana	Active
Alpha Phi	– after April 1976	East Carolina University	Greenville, North Carolina	Inactive
Alpha Chi	1964–after May 1982	College of St. Catherine	Saint Paul, Minnesota	Inactive
Alpha Psi	1964	Northern State University	Aberdeen, South Dakota	Inactive
Alpha Omega ?		University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point	Stevens Point, Wisconsin	Inactive
Beta Alpha	– after 1978	South Dakota State University	Brookings, South Dakota	Inactive
Delta Gamma		Northern Illinois University	DeKalb, Illinois	Inactive