Augustina Hess   Rose Salmowitz   Tina Hess Not Pictured

Out of a desire for friendship, mutual understanding and respect for the high ideals of womanhood, Alpha Epsilon Phi was born.  Seven Jewish Barnard College women met one day in 1909 to found a "club" where they could foster their aims and desires and, in founding Alpha Epsilon Phi, they formed the great sorority we know today.  Their dreams of a sorority free from religious prejudice and void of pettiness, where young women could nourish their ideas and ideals, has grown beyond what any of them could possibly have expected.  Yet the firm basis upon with Alpha Epsilon Phi was founded has never changed.   In the early 1900's a college education for a woman was quite rare.  However, in 1907 Barnard College opened its door and young ladies from well-to-do families came to continue their high school studies.  There were seven: Helen Phillips, Ida Beck, Rose Gerstein, Augustina Hess, Lee Reis, Stella Strauss and Rose Salmowitz.  Helen Phillips was the one who really inspired the idea of forming a club.  She wanted some material thing to keep in closer contact with her friends.  Helen suggested that the others meet in her room and discuss the possibilities of such a club.  And so, on October 24th, 1909, Alpha Epsilon Phi came into being.  The other women met in Helen's room were not chosen because of any special scholastic prominence, financial circumstances or other arbitrary standards, but because they had a common heritage, shared common interests and were imbued with the ideals of true friendship.

Rose Gerstein Helen Phillips Stella Strauss and Ida Beck