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Zeta Tau Alpha was founded October 15, 1898, by nine women at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood
University) in Farmville, Virginia. Only 14-15 years of age, these young women desired permanence to their friendships and
hoped to perpetuate their sisterhood long after college. Though dedicated to the formation of a Greek-letter group, the band
of nine delayed selecting a formal name. A temporary name of “???” was taken when, as legend has it, a member
of another group met with the Founders. Raising her eyebrows and forming her fingers in the shape of a question mark, she
asked “Who are you?” In unison, the group answered “Yes, Who? Who? Who?” Thus, the group came to be
known as “???” while they sought an appropriate Greek name and symbols. During this time, the group received valuable
assistance from two of the members’ brothers -- Maud’s brother, Plummer Jones, and Frances Yancey Smith’s
brother Giles Mebane Smith. Both were students at the college of William and Mary, members of men’s Greek-letter organizations
and knowledgeable of Greek lore. After a year of careful contemplation, the group chose the formal name, the patron goddess
and the badge.
Today, Zeta Tau Alpha consists of three entities: Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity (for general purposes referred
to as Zeta Tau Alpha or ZTA), Zeta Tau Alpha Foundation, Inc. (for general purposes referred to as the Foundation or ZTAF)
and Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity Housing Corporation (for general purposes
referred to as the National Housing Corporation
or NHC). The names Zeta Tau Alpha, ZTA and National Fraternity are often used when referring to the three organizations as
a whole.
The Founders of Zeta Tau Alpha:
Maud Jones Horner,
Died 1920
Della Lewis Hundley, Died July 12, 1951
Alice Bland Coleman, Died June 11, 1956
Mary Jones Batte, Died
December 3, 1957
Alice Grey Welsh, Died June 21, 1960
Ethel Coleman Van Name, Died January 24, 1964
Helen M. Crafford,
Died September 17, 1964
Frances Yancey Smith, Died April 23, 1977
Ruby Leigh Orgain, Died October 22, 1984
The Purpose of Zeta Tau Alpha:
The purpose of Zeta Tau Alpha is to intensify
friendship, promote happiness among its members, to perform such deeds, and to mould such opinions as will conduce to the
building up of a purer and nobler womanhood in the world.
Open Motto: “Seek the Noblest”
The Creed of Zeta Tau Alpha:
To realize that within our grasp, in Zeta Tau Alpha, lies the opportunity
to learn those things which will ever enrich and ennoble our lives; to be true to ourselves, to those within and without our
circle; to think in terms of all mankind and our service in the world; to be steadfast, strong, and clean of heart and mind,
remembering that since the thought is father to the deed, only that which we would have manifested in our experience should
be entertained in thought; to find satisfaction in being, rather than seeming, thus strengthening in us the higher qualities
of the spirit; to prepare for service and learn the nobility of serving, thereby earning the right to be served; to seek understanding
that we might gain true wisdom; to look for the good in everyone; to see beauty, with its enriching influence; to be humble
in success, and without bitterness in defeat; to have the welfare and harmony of the Fraternity at heart, striving ever to
make our lives a symphony of high ideals, devotion to the right, the good, and the true, without a discordant note; remembering
always that the foundation precept of Zeta Tau Alpha was love, “the greatest of all things.” -- Shirley Kreasan
Strout
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