Student Organizations. Thymes Society and Kappa Alpha Theta Records
Thymes Society was a local sorority group at Wake Forest University, active from 1968 to 1993. In 1993, the society, as with other Wake Forest women's societies, became affiliated with a national sorority; in Thymes' case, it was Kappa Alpha Theta. The Zeta Omicron chapter was active 1993 to 2002 and then was re-chartered in 2013. This collection contains Thymes Society member scrapbooks, Theta scrapbooks, newsletters, meeting notes, correspondence, and photographs.
Biographical and Historical Note
The Thymes Society was one of Wake Forest's local women's societies that existed on campus before the first sorority, the historically Black organization Delta Sigma Theta, came to Wake in 1988, with other national Greek-letter organizations following.
According to a 1993 class paper by Deborah Urbach, Thymes was founded on December 8, 1968, by "22 freshman girls desiring a service-oriented group." The societies, at one time numbering 14, were governed by an Inter-Society Council. Symbols and traditions associated with Thymes include lemons and limes, the colors yellow and green, the phrase "doot, doot," and honeybees and daisies.
In 1988, the College women's societies signed an agreement valid until 1991 to not join national organizations. After that period, in April 1991, the Phoenix Society affiliated with national sorority Alpha Delta Pi and the other societies followed, in part due to issues regarding the cost of local organization insurance through the University.
Along with the other societies that affiliated with national groups in 1993, the Thymes Society asked to affiliate with Kappa Alpha Theta, becoming the Zeta Omicron Chapter of KAO. The Zeta Omicron Chapter closed in 2002 due to low enrollment, but was re-chartered in 2013 and as of 2021 is still on campus.
Sources:
- Urbach, Deborah. "A History of the Women's 'Greek' System at Wake Forest," course paper, 1993. Accessed in Z. Smith Reynolds Library Digital Collections at http://hdl.handle.net/10339/61414.
- "CAMPUS LIFE: Wake Forest; Will the Deltas Ever Overtake The Fideles?" The New York Times, 1989 April 23. Accessed at https://www.nytimes.com/1989/04/23/style/campus-life-wake-forest-will-the-deltas-ever-overtake-the-fideles.html.
- "Kappa Alpha Theta: Zeta Omicron chapter, Wake Forest." Accessed at https://www.kappaalphatheta.org/heritage/our-heritage/college-chapters/zeta-omicron.
Collection Overview
From the Thymes Society era, this collection contains correspondence, meeting materials, member scrapbooks, policies, art materials, history materials, notes, and notebooks.
From the Theta years, this collection contains scrapbooks, newsletters, meeting notes, newspaper clippings, letters, and photographs. The bulk of the collection is from 1969-1993, with a handful of materials dated 1993-1997.
Both series, Series 1. Thymes Society materials and Series 2. Kappa Alpha Theta materials are organized in chronological order.
Administrative Information
- Publication Information
- Processed by Natalie Cascario, 2017 April
- Revision Description
- Revised by Stephanie Bennett, 2021
- Access Restrictions
- Collection is open for use.
- Copyright Notice
- The nature of the WFU Z. Smith Reynolds Library Special Collections and Archives means that copyright or other information about restrictions may be difficult or even impossible to determine despite reasonable efforts. The Archives and Special Collections of ZSR Library claims only physical ownership of most materials. The materials from our collections are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study, pursuant to the U.S. Copyright Law. The user must assume full responsibility for any use of the materials, including but not limited to, infringement of copyright and publication rights of reproduced materials. Any materials used for academic research or otherwise should be fully credited with the source.
- Preferred Citation
- Student Organizations. Thymes Society and Kappa Alpha Theta Records (RG8.16), Z. Smith Reynolds Special Collections and Archives, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA.