During winter term 2025 Dr. Kara Ritzheimer’s History 310 (Historian’s Craft) students researched and wrote blog posts about OSU during WWII. The sources they consulted are listed at the end of each post. Students wrote on a variety of topics and we hope you appreciate their contributions as much as the staff at SCARC does!
Blog post written by Allyson English.
Like many people in the United States, sorority women around the nation were involved in contributing to the war effort to beat the Axis powers. In the case of Kappa Delta at Oregon State University, previously called Oregon State College (OSC), this sorority did their part during WWII to contribute to the war effort. One example would be a letter written to Kappa Delta from an organization supporting children impacted by the war in Europe. The letter itself is in excellent condition and contains creases where the paper has been folded to fit inside an envelope. The letter also contains pencil marks emphasizing paragraphs of Kappa Delta’s specific involvement with the organization. This letter shows Kappa Delta’s involvement towards the war effort on OSC’s campus. This blog post aims to articulate not only the efforts made by OSC’s Kappa Delta, but the organized effort among the Greek community on OSC’s campus and nationwide.
Jane Chase Rogers, the Educational Chairman for the organization Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Inc., wrote this letter to the Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta. This organization was founded during the Spanish Civil War in 1937 by British war journalist Langdon-Davies and refugee worker Eric Muggeridge to protect children by evacuating them to safe countries.[1] Written on September 11, 1944, Rogers wrote this letter to thank the Kappa Delta chapter of OSC for their sponsorship of two foster children named Barbara Reader and Melvyn Jones. OSC’s Kappa Delta was assigned Barbara and Melvyn in September of 1944 by the organization.[2] The money that Kappa Delta raised and donated went to the provision of Barbara and Melvyn. The means of provision would go towards clothing and other necessities the children would need that they would not be able attain themselves. The letter continues to express the continuation for the provision of the children as well as asking some of the sorority members to write letters to Barbara as she is old enough to read and was asking for letters from her foster parents because she sees other children getting letters according to Rogers.[3]
While some sororities organized their own contributions to the war effort, Panhellenic sororities and other campus organizations across OSC banded together to do their part to aid wartime contributions. In result of the ongoing war, sororities faced the direct effects. These direct effects are expressed through the Oregon State Barometer, OSC’s student newspaper. In the fall rush season of 1943, one article reported: “Panhellenic [had] just recently deferred the first fall rushing period of three weeks” due to “Oregon State’s accelerated war setup”, according to the Oregon State Barometer. [4] Within the same issue of the newspaper, the reason for the deferment of the fall rushing period is because “Panhellenic council thought it inadvisable to take women away from their summer jobs which would probably be associated with war work.”[5] In 1943, Panhellenic approached the war head on. In their response to OSC engaging in war initiatives, “Panhellenic revised many of its policies to program with national defense.”[6] To align with the nation’s efforts to support the war, sororities within Panhellenic, along with other living organizations on OSC’s campus, participated in a coat hanger drive in response to Camp Adair’s request for hangers. Camp Adair was built during 1940 through 1942 to train men for the war.[7] The coat hanger drive required the living organizations who participated “to collect a minimum of two hangers from each Oregon Stater.”[8] During World War Two, metal was reserved for the war effort, resulting in a shortage nationwide among citizens. At Camp Adair, the men stationed there only had access to cardboard hangers which couldn’t support the weight of their coats, so “wire and wooden hangers [were] specifically needed.”[9]
Panhellenic sororities, along with contributions of OSC’s Interfraternity Council (IFC), contributed to the war effort by buying war savings stamps. During World War Two, the United States Treasury Department issued war savings stamps that “allowed everyone in the country, rich or poor, young or old to save and contribute to the war effort.”[10] Sororities and fraternities at OSC pledged an amount of how many war savings stamps they purchased. In the early 1940’s, war savings defense stamps were priced ten cents, twenty-five cents, fifty cents, one dollar, and five dollars, the color of each stamp reflecting a different price.[11] Many of the sororities and the fraternities went over the initial pledge of stamps they originally made to buy. Lambda Chi Alpha took first, exceeding their original pledge of stamps by ninety-one thousand, eight hundred and fifty-one percent and taking second, Kappa Alpha Theta exceeding five thousand, nine hundred and seventy-one.[12] These percentages represent the percent of stamps exceeded by sororities and fraternities’ initial amount the pledged to buy.
On a national level, Kappa Delta supported the war effort. Every Kappa Delta member has a subscription to the Kappa Delta magazine called The Angelos. The Angelos is a quarterly magazine with the purpose of informing Kappa Delta’s about other Kappa Deltas and their respective chapters around the nation on other college campuses. In the November 1942 edition of the magazine, National Kappa Delta announced its War Service Project written by the National President Clementine Newman Militzer. Headed by Helen Bunting Brown as the War Service Chairman and Julia Fuqua Ober and the Honorary Chairman, the purpose of Kappa Delta’s War Service Project would be “devoted to the purpose of supplying recreational equipment of all types for [the] armed forces.”[13] This excerpt is an excellent condition and there is no evidence of damage whatsoever. The announcement of National Kappa Delta initiating a War Service project shows that they are acknowledging the war and requesting aid in the war effort by recruiting as many Kappa Delta chapters on college campuses as possible to provide for the armed forces of the United States. While National Kappa Delta is initiating chapters around the nation to contribute their part to Kappa Delta’s War Service Project, National Kappa Delta addresses the war through letters to individual chapters. Addressed to Kappa Delta on September 1, 1944, Militzer the National President, opened the letter by noting that the “country is nearing the close of its third year at war,” acknowledging the impact of the war on the chapter, and emphasizing that the chapter “continue for high scholarship, undertake projects of worthwhile service for [the] campus and [the] country, and to take full advantages of the opportunities offered by sorority relationships.”[14] With the persistent attitude of contribution through National Kappa Delta’s War Service Project and a letter acknowledging the impact of the war shows the nature of importance made by Kappa Delta to contribute to the war effort during World War Two.
Much like other groups around the nation, college sorority women were no exception in contributing to the war effort to defeat the Axis powers. With the perspectives of Kappa Delta at Oregon State College and on a national level with National Kappa Delta, the devoted actions are shown from both, highlighting the importance what can be done on the home front to support the war overseas. If anyone is researching this topic, I would like to highlight the difficulty on finding scholarly writings on Greek life as a whole during World War Two.
Endnotes
[1] “History,” Plan International USA, https://www.planusa.org/about-us/history/.
2 Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta, September 11, 1944, Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.
3 Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta.
4 “Panhellenic Adopts Rushing”, Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 2, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c.
5 “Open Rushing to Continue This Summer.” Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c.
6 “Panhellenic” in 1943 Beaver (Corvallis, OR: Oregon State College, 1943), 292.
7 National Park Service, Preserving the Historic Military Landscape at Camp Adair, U.S. National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/preserving-the-historic-military-landscape-at-camp-adair.htm.
8 “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers,” Oregon State Barometer, January 26, 1943, 3, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj33f.
9 “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers”, January 26, 1943, 3.
10 Harry K. Charles, Jr, Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems: The War Years (paper presented at the National Postal Museum Symposium, Washington DC, September 26, 2015), 1 https://postalmuseum.si.edu/sites/default/files/charles-blount_symposium_paper.pdf.
11 Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems, September 26, 2015, 34.
12 “Savings Pledges Led by Chi Alpha,” Oregon State Barometer, January 19, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj29v.
13 Clementine Newman Milizter “Announcing Kappa Delta’s War Service Project,” The Angelos of Kappa Delta, November 1942, 2.
14 Mrs. Walter E. Militzer to Kappa Delta, September 1, 1944, Kappa Delta National Council, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.
[1] “History,” Plan International USA, https://www.planusa.org/about-us/history/.
[2] Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta, September 11, 1944, Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.
[3] Jane Chase Rogers to Kappa Delta, September 11, 1944, Foster Parents’ Plan for War Children, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.
[4] “Panhellenic Adopts Rushing”, Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 2, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c
[5] “Open Rushing to Continue This Summer.” Oregon State Barometer, May 21, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nk01c
[6] “Panhellenic” in 1943 Beaver (Corvallis, OR: Oregon State College, 1943), 292.
[7] National Park Service, Preserving the Historic Military Landscape at Camp Adair, U.S. National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/preserving-the-historic-military-landscape-at-camp-adair.htm
[8] “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers,” Oregon State Barometer, January 26, 1943, 3, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj33f
[9] “Campus Begins Drive for Coat Hangers”
[10] Harry K. Charles, Jr, Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems: The War Years (paper presented at the National Postal Museum Symposium, Washington DC, September 26, 2015), 1 https://postalmuseum.si.edu/sites/default/files/charles-blount_symposium_paper.pdf
[11] Postal and Treasury Savings Stamp Systems, September 26, 2015, 34.
[12] “Savings Pledges Led by Chi Alpha,” Oregon State Barometer, January 19, 1943, 1, Oregon Digital, https://oregondigital.org/concern/documents/8k71nj29v
[13] Clementine Newman Milizter “Announcing Kappa Delta’s War Service Project,” The Angelos of Kappa Delta, November 1942, 2.
[14] Mrs. Walter E. Militzer to Kappa Delta, September 1, 1944, Kappa Delta National Council, Alpha Kappa chapter of Kappa Delta Personal Records at OSU.
