IA BETA BITS & HISTORY

Our international fraternity was founded by twelve brave and innovative leaders on April 28, 1867, in Monmouth, Illinois. Iowa Beta was the third chapter established by Pi Beta Phi on October 13,1874, at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.

For information on Pi Beta Phi click on the following link which will connect you to our international fraternity website: pibetaphi.org. Our international fraternity currently has 134 chapters with four in Canada.

On October 13, 1874, the tenth chartered chapter of IC Sorosis, the Lambda Chapter, was chartered and installed at Simpson Centenary College. The journey of the Lambda Chapter, which is today the Iowa Beta Chapter, began in the fall of 1874 when Ida Cheshire Barker was a sophomore at Simpson College. In a letter Mrs. Barker wrote to the chapter in 1940, Mrs. Barker recalled the beginnings of Iowa Beta.

"I was fifteen when I received the letter from Anna Porter of Monmouth asking me to get together other young ladies and organize a chapter of the fraternity. It was S. L. Lindsay who had gone from Indianola to Monmouth, who gave my name to Anna Porter." - Ida Cheshire Barker

The following is an excerpt of the letter Ida Cheshire Barker received from Anna Porter:

"Miss Ida Cheshire,

You will no doubt be surprised at receiving a letter from a person you never heard of before, but I trust we will be very well acquainted before long. . . . Your name has been handed to me with several other ladies, as among the first class of Indianola, and as we are desirous of starting a chapter of the fraternity in your college, to me was given the privilege of writing.. . [The fraternity] is an old fraternity and we always try and have the No.1 ladies of the college. ... We only take in the girls we can love, not only as friends, but as sisters..." - Anna Porter

Ida Cheshire Barker talked to "her best friend," who later became her sister-in-law, Kate Barker McCune and the two along with eight other girls -- Nell Todhunter (Richey), Estella Walters (Ball), Emma Patton (Noble), Louise Noble (Curtis), Bessie Guyer (Linn), Marie Morrison (Samson), Fannie Andrew (Noble) and Elizabeth Cooke (Martin) -- met and organized in the Cheshire house the first woman's national fraternity on Simpson's campus. The Minute Book of Iowa Beta, containing the minutes of the first meeting of the chapter, is the earliest minute book known to be in existence in the fraternity. The members borrowed $20.00 from the bank to buy their pins, large golden arrows, for $3.00 each and a bolt of cloth to make long gingham aprons which they wore to chapel, attending as a group, wearing their arrows for the first time.

The history of Pi Beta Phi parallels the progress of women during its existence, particularly in the field of education. There were few women in colleges in 1874. Higher education for women was just beginning to be established. Iowa Beta's first association with the Woman Suffrage Movement came when Carrie Chapman Catt, a Pi Phi from Iowa Gamma, came to Indianola to speak at a lecture promoted by Iowa Beta.

In 1927 the Schee home was bought for a Pi Phi house through the efforts of Sarah Eikenberry Sigler. The house has undergone many transformations in the last eight decades. The House has been home to hundreds of young collegians and will be your home for the duration of your college career and beyond. For over 125 years the Iowa Beta Chapter of Pi Beta Phi has been "Cultivating Sincere Friendships". Welcome to Iowa Beta.

The golden arrow is our badge and is worn only by initiated members.
The new member pin is an arrowhead or dart.

Our colors are wine and silver blue.

Our flower is the wine carnation.

Our quarterly magazine is The Arrow, also available online at www.pibetaphi.org/aboutus/publications.html

Our philanthropies include: Links to Literacy, Arrow in the Arctic (a book and library program for children in the arctic areas of Canada), Arrowmont which is a school of art education located in Gatlinburg, Tenn., Champions are Readers, and Read Across America. Go to www.pibetaphi.org/philanthropies/literacy.html for information about all of Pi Beta Phi's philanthropies.

Pi Beta Phi is rich in tradition, but with an eye to the future, we are always changing. Two of Pi Phi's newest programs are:

The Values Program sharpens leadership skills for our members while fostering:

Good Citizenship
Civility and Etiquette
Service and Philanthropy
Intellectual Development
Cultural and Horizons
Wellness and Safety
Mentoring

The Transition Program prepares for the transition from being a senior in college to graduation and beyond.