MS 756 - Omega Phi Alpha
MLA Citation
Tags
| Title | MS 756 - Omega Phi Alpha |
|---|---|
| Subject | BGSU Centennial History |
| Introduction | The records of the Omega Phi Alpha, a national service sorority with 27 active college chapters, and more than 3,000 members world-wide, were donated to the Center for Archival Collections starting in 1998 through the cooperation of Marlene Purdy, with continuing periodic additions. The collection includes convention and mid-year minutes, membership records, some financial records, chapter files, subject files, scrapbooks, and photographs. No restrictions exist on the research use of this collection. This register was initially prepared by Marilyn Levinson, Curator of Manuscripts, in 2009, with additions as required. |
| Agency History | As described in the history on the sorority’s official website, the origins of Omega Phi Alpha came about in 1953 on the campus of Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio when members of a men’s service fraternity, the Zeta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega pushed for the establishment of a comparable unit for women on campus to help with projects. Choosing a similar name, Omega Phi Alpha, the group was initially open to university women who had been member of Girl Scouts or Camp Fire Girls, although that rule was changed in 1958. Around that time in 1958 a chapter was established on the campus of Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti with their first pledge class in the fall of 1959 and in 1962 another group was established in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In the spring of 1966 a need was recognized for clear reorganization of OPA as efforts were underway to register as a national sorority and there were competing claims as to which chapter would be recognized as Alpha Chapter. A national organizing convention was held in Bowling Green, Ohio the summer of 1967 at which the consolidation of the organization with Bowling Green as Alpha, Bridgeport as Beta, and Ypsilanti as Gamma Chapters was finalized on June 15, 1967. |
| Scope and Content | The collection of Omega Phi Alpha consists of convention and mid-year minutes and reports, membership records, some financial records, chapter files, subject files, scrapbooks, and photographs. The most continuous series is for the Convention and Mid-year minutes and files, running with only a few gaps from 1967 through 1994. Newsletters, both the Chevron and earlier Yellow Rose cover from 1967 to 1994. Although financial records are scattered, the subject and chapter files include a range of material including constitutions, chapter reports and individual chapter files from 1959 through 1994, with additions supplementing the material added in 2006 and 2007. While they are scattered in coverage and only retained on a selective basis due to space limitations, scrapbooks created by individual chapters and photographs of chapter and convention activities round out the picture of the operation and activities of Omega Phi Alpha. Due to the ongoing activity in the collection and receipt of new material, reprocessing of the collection is likely in the future to consolidate and weed duplicates in the collection which may be currently scattered in the various additions. |
| Series Description | PROCEEDINGS MINUTES FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS FINANCIAL RECORDS SUBJECT FILES SUBJECT FILES SCRAPBOOKS AND SCRAPBOOK MATERIALS SCRAPBOOKS PRINTED MATERIAL NEWSLETTERS PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS SLIDES |
| Inventory | Box 1
Box 2
Box 3
Box 4
Box 5
Box 6: (Financial Records)
Box 7: (Chapter Files)
Box 8: (Subject Files-most dating from the 1970s through the 1980s)
Box 9: (Subject Files-most dating from the 1970s through the 1980s)
Box 10: [ON LOAN]
Box 11: [ON LOAN]
Box 12:
Box 13:
Oversize: Printer's PMTs of the seal and the letters 2006 Addition to the collection: Box 1:
Box 2:
2007 Addition to the collection: Box 1:
Box 2:
Box 3 (Alpha Chapter scrapbooks) 1999/2000 1992 (fall pledge class) |