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P.E.O. Sisterhood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The P.E.O. Sisterhood is a women's organization with chapters throughout the United States and Canada, headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa. Ann H. Fields is the president.
The Sisterhood was founded January 21, 1869, as a seven-member sorority at Iowa Wesleyan College in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The founding members were Mary Allen [Stafford] (1848-1927), Ella Stewart (1848-94), Alice Bird [Babb] (1850-1926), Hattie Briggs [Bousquet] (1849-77), Franc Roads [Elliott] (1852-1924), Alice Virginia Coffin (1848-88), and Suela Pearson [Penfield] (1851-1920). It has grown into an international organization of about 250,000 members with a primary focus on providing educational opportunities for female students worldwide.
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- Cottey College (est. 1884) is a junior women's college of 350 students in Nevada, Missouri.
- The Educational Loan Fund (est. 1907) makes loans available to qualified American and Canadian women with financial need.
- The International Peace Scholarship Fund (est. 1949) provides scholarships for international women to pursue graduate study in the U.S. and Canada.
- The Program for Continuing Education (est. 1973) provides need-based grants to women in the U.S. and Canada whose education has been interrupted and need to return to school to support themselves and/or their families through continuing education programs.
- Scholar Awards (est. 1991) are merit-based awards to U.S. and Canadian women who are pursuing a graduate degree or are engaged in graduate research at an accredited institution.
The Sisterhood also established in the 1960s a number of retirement homes for its members in various U.S. states, some of which still operate.[1]
The meaning of "P.E.O." in the organization's name is an official secret.[2] No explanation is given on the group's website or in its published materials.
Some members of the Sisterhood have suggested publicly that "P.E.O." stands for "Philanthropic Educational Organization."[3] This explanation for the acronym has been used by many mainstream news outlets and organizations, including other colleges and universities not affiliated with the groups.[4][5][6]
Multiple published sources, however, state that "P.E.O." stands for "Protect Each Other".[1][2] Other sources reporting this meaning are not as conclusive.[7]
Because of the secrecy around its name and rituals, the P.E.O. Sisterhood may be considered a secret society. In 2005, the Sisterhood unveiled a new logo and an “It’s OK to Talk About P.E.O.” campaign, seeking to raise the public profile of the organization while maintaining its traditions of secrecy.[8]
- ^ Stahl, Dean A.; Karen Kerchelich (eds.) (2001). Abbreviations Dictionary, 10th Edition, Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, p. 805. ISBN 0-8493-9003-6.
- ^ Keister, Douglas (2004). Stories in Stone: A Field Guide to Cemetery Symbolism and Iconography. Layton, UT: Gibbs Smith Publishers, p. 220. ISBN 1-58685-321-X.
- P.E.O. Sisterhood
- P.E.O. Projects
- Talking P.E.O.: How does an organization introduce a new identity to the public? By first reassuring itself that “It’s OK” to change. (article by Sheree Clark in Feb./Mar. 2006 issue of Dynamic Graphics magazine)