On December 5, 1776, five College of William and Mary students founded the Phi Beta Kappa Society. The first meeting of the organization took place in the Old Raleigh Tavern’s Apollo Room.
As the first Greek-letter collegiate society, it led the way for the other organizations, both social and honorary, which followed it. Among its hallmarks were a badge, an oath of secrecy, a Greek motto, an initiation ceremony, and a handshake. Phi Beta Kappa’s motto is “Love of learning is the guide of life.”
The chapter at the College of William and Mary might have been a footnote in history had it not been for Elisha Parmele, a former Yale College student and Harvard College alumnus. While in Williamsburg, he became associated with Phi Beta Kappa and obtained charters from the society to establish chapters at Harvard and Yale. When William and Mary faced a temporary closure in 1781, prior the British invasion, the Phi Beta Kappa chapter disbanded. However, Parmele had used the charters to establish the chapter at Yale in 1780 and one at Harvard in 1781. The Dartmouth chapter was founded in 1887 and the society became an honorary academic association.
Parmele became a minister; in those days, most Yale and Harvard grads pursued the ministry. He died at the age of 31. The most lasting accomplishment in his short life was likely establishing those two Phi Beta Kappa chapters in New England.
The first two women to become Phi Beta Kappa members were University of Vermont Kappa Alpha Thetas. In 1875, Lida Mason and Ellen Hamilton Woodruff became the first of many fraternity women who have been members of the organization. The first Phi Beta Kappa chapter at a women’s college was established in 1893 at Vassar College.
From November 27-December 1, 1951, the National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) met in Williamsburg. Edith Reese Crabtree, Kappa Kappa Gamma, served as chairman. Alpha Phi Margaret Hutchinson served as secretary and Delta Gamma Mavis Mann was treasurer.
The 11 associate members – Alpha Epsilon Phi, Phi Sigma Sigma, Delta Phi Epsilon, Sigma Delta Tau, Theta Phi Alpha, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Sigma Tau, Delta Sigma Epsilon, Pi Kappa Sigma, Sigma Sigma Sigma, and Theta Sigma Upsilon – were admitted to full membership. Thus, NPC took on its modern face. The total number of NPC members was 31 (today it is 26 due to several mergers).
On December 1, the delegates gathered into Phi Beta Kappa Hall at the College of William and Mary. They were there to commemorate the 175th anniversary of Phi Beta Kappa’s founding on December 5, 1776. The Phi Beta Kappa Hall that the delegates visited is not the one that exists today on the campus; the one they visited was built in 1926. On December 29, 1953, a fire destroyed the auditorium. It was rebuilt and the building is now known as Ewell Hall.
