Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest and largest academic honor society, was
founded on December 5, 1776 by five students at the College of William & Mary
in Williamsburg VA. It was the first society to have a Greek letter
name and in its early years it introduced the essential characteristics
of such societies: an oath of secrecy (discarded in 1831), a badge, mottoes
in Latin and Greek, a code of laws, and an elaborate initiation ritual.
The members held regular meetings, generally with an emphasis on literary exercises,
especially composition and debating. Fraternal sentiments were fostered, and
the purpose of some meetings was simply good fellowship. Anniversaries were
celebrated in the Apollo Room of the Raleigh Tavern, which the College of William & Mary
has recreated on its campus in Phi Beta Kappa Hall.
The original Phi Beta Kappa
Society was active for only four years because the approach of the
British Army under General Cornwallis forced the college to close. But
the faith of those youthful scholars in the future of their Society is
shown by their preparation of charters for branches at two other
institutions. A charter was voted to Harvard, on December 4, 1779,
and to Yale four days later. The charters were delivered--in
reverse order--to groups of students in New Haven CT and in
Cambridge MA, creating Alpha of Connecticut at Yale in November
1780, and Alpha of Massachusetts at Harvard in September 1781.
This began the tradition of designating each state's chapter with a
letter from the Greek alphabet to indicate where it fits
chronologically in that state's chapters.
Alpha of Virginia at the College of William & Mary was inactive between
1780 and 1851, and again from early in the Civil War until 1893. However Alpha
at Harvard has had an uninterrupted existence, and Alpha at Yale has had only
one inactive period, from 1871 to 1884. These chapters largely determined the
permanent character of Phi Beta Kappa and shaped its policy on the establishment
of other new chapters.
The two New England branches preserved the essential qualities of the Virginia
experience, adopting changes in procedure to suit local conditions. Shortly
before the end of the academic year, the members selected from the junior class
a small group of outstanding students who, the following year, constituted
the "immediate society." Later this role would be assumed by faculty
members who had been invited to join Phi Beta Kappa as undergraduates, and
most of a chapter's new members would be initiated as seniors.
Fifty years after the Society's move into New England, only four more chapters
existed: Alpha of New Hampshire at Dartmouth in 1787; Alpha of New York at
Union in 1817; Alpha of Maine at Bowdoin in 1825; and Alpha of Rhode Island
at Brown in 1830. The new charters were granted by the concurrent action of
the existing Alphas.
Fifteen more chapters were established in the next three decades. In 1883 the
United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa was founded, which provided a unified organization
for the Society. By that time, 25 chapters had been chartered, although not
all were active, and about 14,000 members had been elected.
Alpha of Vermont, at the
University of Vermont, admitted the first women members in 1875. And in
1876, four women were elected by Gamma of Connecticut at
Wesleyan. Although this step was regarded in some quarters as
revolutionary, it aroused no formal protest. A few years later, when a
general constitution and bylaws were adopted, the right of women to
membership was accepted without question.
The University of Vermont also led the way in electing the Society's first
black member, who was initiated in 1877. The first black woman member was elected
at Cornell in 1905. The first Society chapters at historically black institutions
were established at Howard and Fisk, both in 1953.
Since 1883, the number of chapters has increased from 25 to 276, and membership
has grown accordingly. In 1900, when the first general catalogue was published,
the living membership was about 10,500. Today it is more than 500,000.
As the organization acquired a truly national character, some members created
off-campus groups in their communities, called Phi Beta Kappa Associations,
to foster the Society's educational mission. The development of the Associations
made it clear that the term "United Chapters" - implying existence
only at colleges and universities -- no longer described the scope of Phi Beta
Kappa's programs. In 1988 the delegates at the 35th Triennial Council voted
to change the organization's name to "The Phi Beta Kappa Society." This
inclusive designation, also the historic name of the Society, now appears on
all of its legal documents and publications. |
