From collection Member List
Born on November 26, 1854, Founder Ida Mabel (May) Fuller was raised in Albion, Maine, a small town near Waterville. As a teen, Ida attended the Waterville Classical Institute, completing the “Ladies Preparatory Course” with fellow Sigma Kappa Founders Lizzie G. Hoag and Louise H. Coburn.
When Colby College began admitting women in 1871 - two years before Ida completed her preparatory coursework - Ida was thrilled about the opportunity now open to her. Ida May was known as a vigorous, dynamic girl who would develop into a social-minded woman. Unfortunately, ill health forced her to leave college in her junior year and she never graduated.
Seeking a drier climate and the benefits it would have on her health, Ida moved to Kansas in 1880. There, she met and married Dr. Jonathan B. Pierce. Ten years into their marriage, Dr. Pierce died, but that didn’t leave Ida May at a loss for interest and purpose. She would become a successful business woman and vice president and director of a Kansas bank. Perhaps her greatest achievement was founding the Girls’ Hotel in Kansas City, a hotel that had affordable rates, allowing lower-income women to stay there. Deeply interested in the issue of food conservation, Ida Fuller Pierce travelled around the country lecturing on the subject during World War I and organized supply depots for the American Red Cross.
Ida May Fuller Pierce died on September 6, 1930 at the age of 75. She is buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Eureka, Kansas.
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Officers at National Convention Photograph, 1920
Sigma Kappa officers pose together in front of the Xi, The University of Kansas, chapter house during the 1920 national convention in Lawrence, Kansas. Founder Ida Fuller Pierce, Alpha, Colby College (back row, center with white hair); R...
Ida Fuller Pierce Remembrances of Mary Low Carver, 1926
Founder Ida Fuller Pierce, Alpha, Colby College, writes about fellow Founder Mary Low Carver, Alpha, who recently passed away.
Ida Fuller Pierce to Lorah Monroe Letter, January 24, 1924
Ida Fuller Pierce,Alpha, Colby College, writes to Lorah S. Monroe,Eta, Illinois Wesleyan University, about her determination to attend the 1924 national convention and about Lambda Chapter, University of California, Berkeley.
Unidentified Banquet Toast by Mary Low Carver
This rhyming toast discussing the Founders and the founding of Sigma Kappa was given by Founder Mary Low Carver, Alpha, Colby College, at an unidentified banquet.
Louise Coburn to Sisters of Sigma Kappa Letter, June 22, 1933
In her greeting to the 1933 national convention, Founder Louise H. Coburn, Alpha, Colby College, writes about her fellow Founders and the ideals they had in founding Sigma Kappa.
The Past, Present, and Future of Sigma Kappa, 1964
This presentation, made at the 1964 national convention, consists of three different speeches focused on the past (from National Historian Lillian M. Perkins, Omicron, Tufts University), the present (from past National President Lorah S....
Ida Fuller Pierce Remembrances of Mary Low Carver, 1926
Founder Ida Fuller Pierce, Alpha, Colby College, writes about fellow Founder Mary Low Carver, Alpha, who recently passed away.
