Sarah Ida Shaw Martin (7 September 1867 – May 11 1940) was a founder of the

Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta Delta (), also known as Tri Delta, is an international women's fraternity founded on November 27, 1888 at Boston University by Sarah Ida Shaw, Eleanor Dorcas Pond, Isabel Morgan Breed, and Florence Isabelle Stewart. Tri Delta part ...

sorority and the author of ''The Sorority Handbook.'' She served as national president of two sororities--Tri Delta and

Alpha Sigma Alpha Alpha Sigma Alpha () is a United States National Panhellenic sorority founded on November 15, 1901, at the Virginia State Female Normal School (later known as Longwood College and now known as Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Once a sor ...

-- a notable feat since both organizations forbid membership in other sororities. She graduated

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

in 1889. In November of her senior year, 1888, she founded Tri Delta with friends Eleanor Dorcas Pond, Isabel Morgan, and Florence Isabelle Stewart. She is noted as having extensive knowledge of Greek, Hindu, and Egyptian mythology, as well as geometry, which aided her in the formation of Tri Delta's rituals. Shaw Martin first connected with Alpha Sigma Alpha in 1904 while working on an edition of ''The Sorority Handbook''. Alpha Sigma Alpha gave her honorary membership in May 1913 and elected her as the sorority's national president in November of the following year. She would serve Alpha Sigma Alpha in this capacity until 1930. She also worked with

Alpha Epsilon Phi Alpha Epsilon Phi ( or AEPhi) is a Fraternities and sororities in North America, sorority and one of the members of the National Panhellenic Conference, an umbrella organization overseeing 26 North American sororities. It was founded on Octobe ...

sorority to draft its first official constitution.

Books

*
Full View Edition online
) ** The Sorority Handbook. Collegiate Press. Sixth Edition. 1918. **

References

1867 births 1940 deaths Boston Latin Academy alumni {{US-academic-administrator-stub