The Seven Sisters Colleges were founded in the early to late 1800s to promote education for women that would be comparable to the coursework being offered to men at the time. It was not until 1927, at the Seven College Conference, that the term “Seven Sisters” came into use.
The name Seven Sisters is also a reference to the Greek myth of The Pleiades, the seven daughters of the Titan Atlas, and the sea-nymph Pleione. The daughters –Maia, Electra, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope- were collectively referred to as The Seven Sisters. In the field of astronomy a star cluster, in the constellation of Taurus, is also referred to as The Pleiades or the Seven Sisters.
The stars on the Seven Sisters Alumnae Association logo represent the Pleiades formation.