Although there was a deep routed involvement by students in Greek life during the 1934 school year, several other non-Greek organizations flourished as well. Honor societies were in full swing as well as several extra curricular clubs and organizations with no greek affiliation. Both men and women participated in and led an entire spectrum of activities on campus ranging from all college dances, to perfectionist musical groups to literary groups. There were trends in these groups on campus, but not ones developed by Greek involvement; organizations were usually, with few exceptions, all male or all female and most clubs membership was governed in some way by academic achievement. Dickinson's faculty was also very involved in student organizations on campus, holding advisory positions across the board. Overall, Dickinson's social life was a well-developed one with a large portion of the student body involved in some aspect of several organizations. Greek life was an important part of student life, but as a closer look at these clubs will show, it was not the only important aspect of student life. Below you will find links to several different clubs and organizations that were active on campus in 1934. Class of 1934 graduate, Ben James, while speaking about campus involvement, stated "There were very few people on campus who didn't participate (in some aspect of campus life)."
 
 

    The majority of the information found on the above page and it's links can be found in the 1934 Micrcosm and the 1933 Microcosm which can both be found in the Archives and Special Collections of the Dickinson College Library, as can any additional sources used. Specifics on Wheel and Chains policies and traditions was found in the book Dickinson College, A History by Charles Coleman Sellers under the call number  D.C.378.748   DEsec.2. Information on the Raven's Claw was found in an article by Rich Mathieson in the Dickinsonian on Oct.10,1996. Information on ODK was found in ODK, box 1, folder 8 on pages 60-69. Information on Belles Lettres was found under Belles Lettres, box 2, folder 2. Finally, information was found for Phi Beta Kappa under it's title, box 1, folder 12 and box4, folder 1 and specifically a handbook from 1939 contained in that folder.

Class of 1934     Chronicles Dickinson College

Dickinson 1934 is a project of Prof. Osborne's History 204 Class, Fall Semester 2000.