Guide to AC005 - Records of the Kappa Beta Pi Legal Sorority

Abstract

Records of the Kappa Beta Pi Legal Sorority, 1908-1958 Kappa Beta Pi, the first legal sorority in the U.S., was founded on December 15, 1908 at the Chicago-Kent College of Law to promote high professional standards among women law students and lawyers. In 1916, the publication of Kappa Beta Pi Quarterly began, and members used these publications to share both serious and lighthearted news, announce professional appointments, office openings, address changes, and accomplishments. In 1924, it also reprinted the article “Indian Country,” the first article written by a woman to be printed in the Journal of the American Bar Association. The sorority was founded by Chicago-Kent students Alice Craig Edgerton, Nettie Rothblum, Sue M. Brown, Phyllis M. Kelley, Charlotte Doolittle White, Katharine S. Clark, Mary A. Sellers, Claire L. Gleason, Alice A. Prince and Anna K. Buck. Edgerton, Doolittle, Clark, Kelley, and Prince signed the sorority certificate, and the following are listed as founders on the Articles of Incorporation: Sue Brown Hassell, Katharine S. Clark, Charlotte Doolittle White, Alice Craig Edgerton, Claire L. Gleason, Phyllis M. Kelley, Anna Buck, Nettie Rothblum Loew, and Mary Sellers Connery