Editing Alpha Delta Pi (section)

== History ==
Alpha Delta Pi was first founded as the '''Adelphean Society''' on May 15, 1851, at [[Wesleyan College|Wesleyan Female College]] in [[Macon, Georgia]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name="Baird's" /> The six founders included Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Williams Mitchell, Sophronia Woodruff Dews, Octavia Andrew Rush, Mary Evans Glass, and Ella Pierce Turner.

In 1904, a committee of three, led by Jewel Davis, contacted Attorney Dupont Guerry, the college's president, about to the procedure to become a national organization. They secured a charter of incorporation from the state of Georgia. In 1905, the Adelphean Society changed its name to '''Alpha Delta Phi'''.<ref>Thus briefly, the women's group had a name identical to [[Alpha Delta Phi]] fraternity, which had formed as a men's organization in 1832. As explained in the body text, this coincidental naming was again changed, eight years later, to its present form.</ref> At the time of nationalization, Alpha Delta Phi, as a ''women's fraternity'', had sixty active members and 3,000 alumnae.

In 1905, the ''Beta chapter'' was established at [[Salem College]] in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, by two members of the ''Alpha chapter''. The chapter had seven members and fifteen new initiates until the administration abolished sororities three years later. In 1906 its ''Gamma chapter'' was founded at [[Mary Baldwin University|Mary Baldwin Seminary]]. Visitors were not allowed at the school, so the chapter charter and special instructions were delivered to the new group by mail.

In 1906, Jewel Davis entered the [[University of Texas at Austin]] as a graduate student, organized a group, and installed them as ''Delta chapter'', the fourth chapter of Alpha Delta Phi. Jewel Davis is listed as a charter member as there was no precedent for affiliation. Today, the ''Delta chapter'' at The University of Texas at Austin is the oldest surviving chapter of Alpha Delta Pi. Between 1906 and 1912, eight more chapters were founded at various universities.

In 1913, Alpha Delta Phi officially changed its name to '''Alpha Delta Pi'''. The deliberations over this change remain largely unknown aside from the impetus of the discovery of a pre-existing men's fraternity using those exact letters and which pre-dated the original Adelphean Society's inception by almost 20 years. There seems to be little to no speculation as to why "Pi" was specifically chosen as a replacement letter, and or why it took so long to hear of the pre-existing [[Alpha Delta Phi]] fraternity.<ref>Many years later, in 1992, some of Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity's chapters withdrew to form the co-ed [[Alpha Delta Phi Society]] which came to include several of ''that'' fraternity's oldest chapters (ex: its Columbia chapter, formed as a men's chapter in 1836.) But this later creation of the ADPhi ''Society'' (in 1992) had no bearing on the decision (in 1913) to rename what had started as the Adelphean Society as Alpha Delta '''Pi'''.</ref> Thus in 1913, the Adelphean Society, through Convention legislation, changed the name of the organization, adopted a recognition pin, and appointed a standardization committee.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.alphadeltapi.org/Page/History|title=Alpha Delta Pi – History|agency=Alpha Delta Pi Executive Office}}</ref> The trustees at Wesleyan Female College voted to abolish sororities, leading to the closure of ''Alpha chapter'' in 1915.<ref name="phi">{{cite web|url=https://www.alphadeltapi.org/Page/History|title=History of Alpha Delta Pi|last1=Pi|first1=Alpha Delta|website=Alpha Delta Pi|publisher=Alpha Delta Pi Executive Office|access-date=4 August 2016}}</ref> ''Chi chapter'', at [[Wittenberg University]], was the first chapter to bear the new name at installation. In 1948, Mrs. Carolee Strock Stanard retired as Grand President and part of her keynote address became ''The Creed of Alpha Delta Pi''. In 1960, Alpha Delta Pi's 100th chapter, ''Delta Omicron'', was installed at [[East Carolina University]].

In 1979, Alpha Delta Pi adopted [[Ronald McDonald House Charities|Ronald McDonald Houses]] as the National Philanthropy. In 1983, Alpha Delta Pi Foundation was established. In 2001, Alpha Delta Pi celebrated its 150th anniversary in Atlanta, Georgia, and in 2006, the ''Delta chapter'', the oldest open chapter of ADPi, celebrated its 100th anniversary at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2009, ''Theta Theta chapter'' at [[Quinnipiac University]] was installed. ''Theta Theta'' was the 200th chapter of ADPi to be installed. Chapters continue to be installed and anniversaries are celebrated at numerous university campuses.<ref name="Baird's Manual Online">{{cite web|editor1=William Raimond Baird |editor2=Carroll Lurding |title=Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities (Baird's Manual Online Archive), section showing Alpha Delta Pi |url=https://uofi.app.box.com/v/womens-pdf-folder/file/459803154069 |website=Student Life and Culture Archives |publisher=University of Illinois Archives |access-date=24 Aug 2021 |location=University of Illinois |language=English}} The main archive URL is [https://www.library.illinois.edu/slc/welcome/fraternity-sorority-almanac/ The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage].</ref>