Alpha Epsilon Phi - History

History

Out of a desire for friendship, mutual understanding and respect for the high ideals of womanhood, Alpha Epsilon Phi was born. Seven Jewish Barnard College women met one day in 1909 to found a "club" where they could foster their aims and desires and became the founders of Alpha Epsilon Phi. Their goal was to foster lifelong friendship and sisterhood, academics, social involvement and community service while providing a home away from home for their members. This idea was the firm basis upon which Alpha Epsilon Phi was founded.

In the early 1900s a college education for a woman was quite rare. However, in 1907 Barnard College opened its door and young ladies from well-to-do families came to continue their high school studies. There were seven: Helen Phillips, Ida Beck, Rose Gerstein, Augustina Hess, Lee Reiss, Stella Strauss and Rose Salmowitz. Helen Phillips was the one who really inspired the idea of forming a club. She wanted some material thing to keep in closer contact with her friends. Helen suggested that the others meet in her room and discuss the possibilities of such a club. And so, on October 24, 1909, Alpha Epsilon Phi came into being. The other women met in Helen's room were not chosen because of any special scholastic prominence, financial circumstances or other arbitrary standards, but because they had a common heritage, shared common interests and were imbued with the ideals of true friendship.