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Finding Aid

Helen and Elmer Lang Collection, 1920 to 1967

UM-89

Size: .5 linear feet

Provenance: Judy Lang

Access: Open

Related Collections:  

Processing Note:

Condition: Fair

Copyright: The literary rights to this collection are assumed to rest with the person(s) responsible for the production of the particular items within the collection, or with their heirs or assigns.  Researchers bear full legal responsibility for the acquisition to publish from any part of said collection per Title 17, United States Code.  The Ward M. Canaday Center for Special Collections may reserve the right to intervene as intermediary at its own discretion.

Completed by: Twyla Wheaton, June 20, 1996

Historical/Biographical Sketch

Helen Williams was born in the Toledo area in 1904 to Thadeus and Rena (Momany) Williams and was a decedent of the family of early Toledo settler, Peter Navarre. She attended Branville School and graduated from Waite High School.

During the 1920s, Ms. Williams attended the University of Toledo and was a founding member of Psi Chi Phi Sorority. In 1926, she was elected vice president of the sorority. This group later became Psi Chi Beta, and consisted of alumni of Psi Chi Phi after the sorority affiliated with the Delta Delta Delta national sorority in 1941.

Psi Chi Phi was founded at the University of Toledo on March 4th, 1924 to “stimulate a keen spirit of friendship among its members and an active interest in the functions of the University.” It became the Phi Alpha chapter of Delta Delta Delta at a ceremony at the Commodore Perry Hotel in November 18, 1944.

Helen Williams met and married Elmer Lang while attending UT in the late 1920s. Mr. Lang was a member of Phi Kappa Chi Fraternity and active in the Men’s Glee Club and on the staff of the Campus Collegian.

Mrs. Lang became a teacher for Toledo Public Schools, retiring in 1967, then a teacher at the Epiphany Nursery School for five years. She was also a member of the Hope Lutheran Church and the University of Toledo Alumni Association.

The Langs had two children: Richard C. (who died in 1972), and Judy.

Scope and Content Note

This collection contains miscellaneous items documenting the college and social activities of Helen and Elmer Lang. The collection is arranged alphabetically by folder title.

Included are two scrapbooks documenting the activities of Psi Chi Phi and its successor, Psi Chi Beta. Also included are scattered copies of its publication, “Poppy Seeds”; photographs from Psi Chi Beta’s twenty-fifth Founder’s Day Banquet in 1948; scattered correspondence with members; and annual luncheon programs from 1948-1949 and 1950-1951. Publications of the groups list members, activities, and community services. A folder of miscellaneous newspaper clippings and photographs document events in the lives of members, especially weddings and engagements.

Three items document the UT activities of Elmer Lang. These include a program from the first Phi Kappa Chi homecoming banquet, a poster of signatures from Phi Kappa Chi members dated February 4, 1936, and a certificate of university service awarded to Mr. Lang in 1923-1924 for his participation in the Men’s Glee Club and Campus Collegian.

Folder List