Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Psi Omega Chapter Records

Collection

Identifier: SC-MS-387

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection contains records pertaining to chapter and regional events of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Alpha Psi Omega chapter. Alpha Kappa Alpha was the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. Alpha Psi Omega, the Southeast North Carolina chapter, was chartered in 1932. Materials include event programs, souvenir booklets, newspaper clippings, invitations, magazines, posters, and a photocopy of the Alpha Psi Omega chaper charter. The bulk of the materials pertain to debutante presentations. Material dates from 1932 to 2019, with the bulk dated from 1969 to 2019.

Dates

Creation: 1932, 1969-2019

Creator

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority (Organization)

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research use.

Copyright Statement

Copyright 2021 University of North Carolina at Wilmington, all rights reserved (subject to exceptions). Certain items in this collections were conveyed to UNCW without the accompanying copyright. Where the donor did not convey copyright to UNCW, copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Biographical / Historical

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, DC, becoming the first African American Greek-letter sorority. In 1912, Alpha chapter president Nellie May Quander formed a committee with other members to pursue incorporation, resulting in the sorority’s incorporation on January 29, 1913. Alpha Kappa Alpha’s mission “is to cultivate and encourage high scholastic and ethical standards, to promote unity and friendship among college women, to study and help alleviate problems concerning girls and women in order to improve their social stature, to maintain a progressive interest in college life, and to be of ‘Service to All Mankind’.”

On June 2, 1932 the Alpha Psi Omega chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority was formed in Southeast North Carolina. The first five members of the chapter were educators in the New Hanover County public schools: Bettye Estelle Graves, Alice Wood Lofton, and Fannie Penelope White, graduates of Wilberforce University (Wilberforce, Ohio); Catherine Howze Robinson, a graduate of Shaw University (Raleigh, NC); and Dora Tynes, a graduate of Virginia State University (Petersburg, VA). Since its inception, Alpha Psi Omega chapter has served the Southeast North Carolina community, notably through education and mentorship programs, health initiatives, scholarship programs, fashion shows, and an annual debutante program.

Extent

15 Containers (Contains 2 document boxes, 10 oversized folders, and 3 map case folders)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

This collection is arranged into the following series: Administrative Records, 1932; Alpha Psi Omega Chapter Events, 1969-2019; and Regional Alpha Kappa Alpha Events, 1969-2010.

Acquisition Information

This collection was donated by Cynthia Brown and Chrystal Fray Davis on behalf of Alpha Psi Omega in April 2021.

Separated Materials

The publication "The Visionary Five: Timeless Service" arrived with the materials accessioned May 2021 and was physically separated from the collection and catalogued for Randall Library Special Collections' SENC Collection. This book was published in 2013 by the Alpha Psi Omega Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and discusses the chapter's history from 1932 to 2013.