The Phi Beta Kappa Society (ΦΒΚ) is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded at the College of William & Mary in Virginia, in December 1776. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, and to induct outstanding students of arts and sciences at select American colleges and universities. Since its inception, its inducted members include 17 United States presidents, 42 United States Supreme Court justices, and 136 Nobel laureates.
The College of William & Mary is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High Research Activity". In his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's Best Public Undergraduate Colleges and Universities, Richard Moll included William & Mary as one of the original eight "Public Ivies". The university is also one of the original nine colonial colleges.
The Seven Society is the most secretive of the University of Virginia's secret societies. Members are only revealed after their death, when a wreath of black magnolias in the shape of a "7" is placed at the gravesite, the bell tower of the University Chapel chimes at seven-second intervals on the seventh dissonant chord when it is seven past the hour, and a notice is published in the university's Alumni News, and often in the Cavalier Daily. The most visible tradition of the society is the painting of the logo of the society, the number 7 surrounded by the signs for alpha (A), omega (Ω), and infinity (∞), and sometimes several stars, upon many buildings around the grounds of the university.
The Flat Hat is the official student newspaper at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. It prints Tuesdays during the College's academic year. It began printing twice-weekly in 2007; since its inception in 1911, The Flat Hat had printed weekly. It returned to weekly printing in 2015. In fall 2020, The Flat Hat began printing biweekly due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The Flat Hat staff operates out of its office in William and Mary's Sadler Center.
There are many collegiate secret societies in North America. They vary greatly in their level of secrecy and the degree of independence from their universities. A collegiate secret society makes a significant effort to keep affairs, membership rolls, signs of recognition, initiation, or other aspects secret from the public.
The Sunken Garden is the central element of the Old Campus at the College of William & Mary. The garden consists of a long stretch of grass, about 2.7 acres (1.1 ha), lying lower than the surrounding area, that runs west from the rear of the Wren Building to Crim Dell pond. The area is very popular for students wanting to study outside or play games like Ultimate. Functionally, it is similar to a university quadrangle.
The Earl Gregg Swem Library is located on Landrum Drive at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The library is named for Earl Gregg Swem, College Librarian from 1920-1944. In 2008, the Princeton Review rated William & Mary's library system as the eighth best in the United States. The ranking was based on a survey of 120,000 students from 368 campuses nationwide.
Earl Gregg Swem was an American historian, bibliographer and librarian. Swem worked at the Library of Congress and Virginia State Library, and for more than two decades was primary librarian at the College of William & Mary, where the Earl Gregg Swem Library was named in his honor.
The North American fraternity and sorority system began with students who wanted to meet secretly, usually for discussions and debates not thought appropriate by the faculty of their schools. Today they are used as social, professional, and honorary groups that promote varied combinations of community service, leadership, and academic achievement.
The Seven Society, Order of the Crown & Dagger is the longest continually active secret society of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The clandestine, yet altruistic group is said to consist of seven senior individuals, selected in their junior year. While, historically, graduating members formally announced their identities each spring, today's membership is steeped in mystery and is only revealed upon a member's death.
The history of the College of William & Mary can be traced back to a 1693 royal charter establishing "a perpetual College of Divinity, Philosophy, Languages, and the good arts and sciences" in the British Colony of Virginia. It fulfilled an early colonial vision dating back to 1618 to construct a university level program modeled after Cambridge and Oxford at Henricus. A plaque on the Wren Building, the college's first structure, ascribes the institution's origin to "the college proposed at Henrico." It was named for the reigning joint monarchs of Great Britain, King William III and Queen Mary II. The selection of the new college's location on high ground at the center ridge of the Virginia Peninsula at the tiny community of Middle Plantation is credited to its first President, Reverend Dr. James Blair, who was also the Commissary of the Bishop of London in Virginia. A few years later, the favorable location and resources of the new school helped Dr. Blair and a committee of 5 students influence the House of Burgesses and Governor Francis Nicholson to move the capital there from Jamestown. The following year, 1699, the town was renamed Williamsburg.
A number of secret societies operate at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, dating back to the founding of the nation's first known collegiate secret society, The F. H. C. Society, founded on November 11, 1750. Today several secret societies are known to exist at the college, including Bishop James Madison Society, the Flat Hat Club, the Ladies of Alpha, the Live Oak Society, the Phi Society, the Seven Society, the Society, the 13 Club, the W Society, the Wren Society, and the Zodiac Society.
Robert Saunders Jr. was an American politician and school administrator who served as president of the College of William and Mary from 1847 to 1848. Prior to that, Saunders served as professor of mathematics from 1833 to 1847. He also served as a Virginia state senator from 1852 to 1858 and as mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia in 1859 and 1868 as well as the head of Eastern State Hospital. His family papers are held by the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William and Mary.
Alvin Duke Chandler was an American Navy officer and the twenty-first president of the College of William & Mary, serving from 1951 to 1960. He also served as the chancellor of The Colleges of William & Mary from 1960 to 1962; after that system was disbanded, he served as Chancellor of the College from 1962 to 1974. Prior to his career at the College of William & Mary, Chandler served in the United States Navy, eventually reaching the rank of vice-admiral. His father, Julian Alvin Carroll Chandler, also served as president of the College of William & Mary. His personal papers as well as the papers from his time as president can be found in the Special Collections Research Center at the College of William & Mary.
John Edwin Pomfret was an American academic and administrator who served as the director of the Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery and the twentieth president of the College of William & Mary.
The Gentlemen of the College is a Tenor/Bass singing group, and the oldest Tenor/Bass a cappella group at the College of William & Mary. Founded in 1990 the Gentlemen started out as a men's choir that concentrated in barbershop and traditional pieces—a repertoire that has since evolved to encompass a large selection of contemporary music. Known for their navy blazers, khaki pants, and novelty ties, the Gentlemen perform at the collegiate, local, and national level. The Gentlemen usually field four 'fixed' concerts per year—a Homecoming concert in the Sadler Center, Two "Wren 10"s on the portico of the Wren Building, and a final concert in Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall Additionally, the Gentlemen have performed on national television, at The White House, The Capitol the Waldorf Astoria, and for Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The Gentlemen have 21 studio CDs in their discography, having just released their most recent album, YuleTied, in 2023.
Bathurst Daingerfield Peachy II, sometimes misspelled as "Dangerfield" was the head baseball coach for William & Mary College for just the 1918 season. The Indians, as they were then known, compiled a 5–7 record that year. He graduated from William & Mary in 1914 and was a member of the Flat Hat Club while attending. "Peachy" as he was nicknamed also played four years as a left fielder for the baseball team, winning a championship in 1911 and serving as team captain in 1914.
The College of William & Mary has maintained a campus in what is now Williamsburg, Virginia, since 1693. The cornerstone of the Wren Building, then known as the College Building and the oldest surviving academic building in the United States, was laid in 1695. The college's 18th-century campus includes the College Building, the President's House, and Brafferton–all of which were constructed using slave labor. These buildings were altered and damaged during the succeeding centuries before receiving significant restorations by the Colonial Williamsburg program during the 1920s and 1930s.
Ewell Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The building was constructed in 1925–1926 on what is now Old Campus, across from Tucker Hall on the Sunken Garden. It was originally named Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall for Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society founded at the College of William & Mary and the oldest such society in the United States. John D. Rockefeller Jr. attended the hall's 1926 dedication; during this visit, W. A. R. Goodwin convinced Rockefeller to participate in a restoration program that became Colonial Williamsburg.
