Harvard College Phi Beta Kappa
About the Chapter
History and Current Mission
Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of Massachusetts at Harvard College was established under a charter dated December 4, 1779.
The charter was granted, along with one for Yale, by the original society
founded three years earlier at the College
of William and Mary in Virginia. The charter
was brought from there to Harvard by Elisha Parmele A.B. 1778, who initiated
four juniors on the day before Commencement 1781. The first meeting of the new
chapter was held on September 8, 1781. That makes Harvard's chapter the oldest
in continuous existence (the William and Mary and Yale chapters having been
inactive for different periods). It was one of the twenty-five chapters at
American colleges that formed the United Chapters, the ancestor of the present
national Phi Beta Kappa Society, in 1883.
The original society adopted a
Greek motto, PHILOSOPHIA BIOU KYBERNETES, "Philosophy the guide of
life," the initials of which furnished the name Phi Beta Kappa. There was
a medal, the precursor of the present gold key, and an elaborate and secret
initiation. (The oath of secrecy was dropped in 1831.) From being a social and
debating club in its early years, Phi Beta Kappa developed in the nineteenth
century into an undergraduate honor society. The constitution of the chapter
still states that "the purpose of Phi Beta Kappa is to recognize and
encourage scholarship, friendship, and cultural interests."
Phi Beta Kappa, Iota of
Massachusetts at Radcliffe
College was established
in 1914. The Harvard and Radcliffe chapters combined in 1995 and joined names
to become Alpha Iota of Massachusetts.
Election to Alpha Iota of Masachusetts
signifies that an undergraduate's course of study is distinguished by
excellence, reach, originality, and rigor. Membership in PBK is an honor
bestowed on those whose coursework demonstrates not only high achievement, but
also breadth of interest, depth of understanding, and intellectual honesty.
Twenty-four juniors are elected each spring, forty-eight seniors each fall, and
in the final election shortly before Commencement, a further number sufficient
to bring the total membership to no more than ten per cent of the graduating
class. (See Eligibility and Election.)
A history of Alpha of
Massachusetts was written by Reginald H. Phelps ("Phi Beta Kappa at Harvard: A bicentennial history") as part of
the program for the two hundredth anniversary of the chapter in 1981. A copy of
this booklet is in the Harvard University Archives (HUD 3684.281.2). An earlier
publication, the Catalogue of the Harvard College Chapter of ΦΒΚ Alpha of
Massachusetts (1970), gives a list of members and officers to that date.
The national Phi Beta Kappa Society has as its wider mission to foster and
recognize excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. More information on the
history and activities of the national Society is available at its website (www.pbk.org).
Phi Beta Kappa Society
Does the Phi Beta Kappa Society Manipulate the U.S. Supreme
Court? You Decide (Past research on the Phi Beta Kappa)
Friday, May 9, 2014
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