Student Life: Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, Zeta of Ohio Chapter Records, 1878-2009
| Oberlin College Archives
Administrative/Biographical History
Phi Beta Kappa, America's premier honor society, originated as a secret literary society at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1776. The founders named their society after the initials of the words in its Greek motto: Philosophia Biou Kubernetes, or "the love of wisdom is the guide of life." Meetings featured formal and often heated debates over various political and philosophical questions then rendered vitally significant by the American Revolutionary War. The war finally forced the suspension of the Virginia chapter, which remained inactive for the next sixty-eight years. In 1780, the Alpha chapter of Connecticut at Yale College was founded, followed in 1781 by the Alpha of Massachusetts Bay at Harvard. In 1787, the two Alphas united to establish the Alpha of New Hampshire at Dartmouth. Until 1817, these three chapters constituted the only members of the society.
At the 1881 celebration of the centennial of the Harvard University chapter, delegates put forward a plan for closer ties between chapters. A constitution was adopted in the following year which established the National Council, a representative governing body, and the Senate, an executive committee. Local chapters were to elect delegates to attend the triennial meetings of the National Council. It was left to the Senate, which wielded full authority between meetings of the Council, to approve applications for new chapters.
The campaign for a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Oberlin got underway in 1904. Led by Associate Professor of French, Kirk L. Cowdery (1866-1946), the General Faculty sought some form of recognition for their students' academic excellence. At the time, there were already five chapters of Phi Beta Kappa in Ohio: Western Reserve (1847), Kenyon (1858), Marietta (1860), Cincinnati (1899), and Ohio State (1904). According to trustee William Cox Cochran (1848-1906; B.A. Oberlin 1869), one of the reasons for the lateness of an Oberlin chapter was Oberlin's austere theological position, which held that "while all men were justly entitled to punishment...no man was entitled to a reward." Oberlin's antipathy for acknowledging scholarly achievement began during the presidency of Henry Churchill King (1858-1934). Institutional opposition to secret societies was overcome by the recognition that Phi Beta Kappa had long ceased to be a such a fraternity, and that its sole purpose was the promotion of scholarship.
In April, 1905, the general faculty voted to establish a Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Oberlin. Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Charles Nelson Cole (1871-1945), took charge of securing the necessary institutional support for Oberlin's application to the United Chapters. Endorsement was received from seven Phi Beta Kappa chapters, two more than were necessary, and the Senate's vote in favor of Oberlin's petition was unanimous.
The Zeta Chapter of Oberlin College held its first organizational meeting in the office of President King on October 4, 1907. At that meeting, it was voted to adopt the prescribed Constitution of the United Chapters. Chapter By-Laws, drawn up by members Frank Fanning Jewett (1844-1926), John Taylor Shaw (1854-1932), and William James Hutchins (1871-1958), were approved on October 29, 1907. The 1907 By-Laws established four officers: a President, a Vice-President, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. Together, these officers constituted the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee was to meet three times per year: for the election of undergraduate members, for a business meeting, and for one public meeting. Section four of Article III provided that "no meetings of the chapter shall be secret." The Nominating Committee, consisting of three members appointed by the presiding officer from among the members present at the annual meeting, elected chapter officers and eligible persons, other than students, for membership in the chapter.
Oberlin's thirteen charter members consisted of the President of the college and members of the faculty who were already members of the chapters of other institutions. These were Henry Churchill King (chapter President), Frank Fanning Jewett (Yale, 1870, chapter Vice-President), Charles H. A. Wager (Colgate, 1892, chapter Secretary-Treasurer), Edward Increase Bosworth (Yale, 1883), John Roaf Wightman (Johns Hopkins, 1896), Frederick Orville Grover (Dartmouth, 1890), William James Hutchins (Yale, 1892), George Walter Fiske (Amherst, 1895), John Taylor Shaw (Brown, 1876), Edwin Bayer Branson (Kansas, 1903), William Stearns Davis (Harvard, 1900), John W. Bradshaw (Middlebury), and Albert Henry Currier (Bowdoin, 1857).
One of the first actions of the Oberlin chapter was the election of members from classes which graduated prior to 1908. In May 1908, it was voted that all graduates of Oberlin College who would have been eligible for membership in Phi Beta Kappa at the time of their graduation (if a Chapter had existed) be elected to membership. Accordingly, records were examined as far back as 1878 (earlier records had been destroyed in the 1903 chapel fire), and alumni members were elected from each of thirty college classes. For classes prior to 1878, the committee corresponded with all surviving members of those classes and examined pertinent college records. Their task was completed in 1910, the year of the first initiation banquet. Among those to whom keys were awarded posthumously were Oberlin College President James Harris Fairchild (A.B. 1838), Professor of Geology George Nelson Allen (A.B. 1838), Mrs. George Nelson Allen (Mary Caroline Rudd, A.B. 1841), and Jacob Dolson Cox (A.B. 1851).
Membership in Phi Beta Kappa is based upon scholarly achievement and moral character. As academic standards and systems of grading have changed over the years, it is difficult to interpret historical variations in levels of scholarship required for election. On the whole, the percentage of the graduating class elected to membership at Oberlin has remained constant, fluctuating between not more than 12% in 1912 and not more than 15% in 1990. In 1912, a grade point average of 4.4 was required of students in residence three or four years, and 4.5 for students in residence less than two years. (The scale ran from 4.9 to 3.2, from A+ to D). Presently, the qualifying grade point average "floats", dependent upon the strength of the graduating class. In 1989, a grade point average equal to or greater than 3.79 was required for juniors and equal to or greater than 3.54 required for seniors. The By-Laws were amended in 1985 to include a requirement of "broad cultural interests," and were further amended in 2011 to add a requirement of proficiency in a second (non-native) language, as well as completion of a college-level course in mathematics, logic, or statistics.
Sound moral character remains a requirement for election to Phi Beta Kappa. The 1907 By-Laws require that moral character be "irreproachable." The 1985 By-Laws stipulate "good character,” which is verified through consultation with the college Deans and with faculty members. A judicial violation disqualifies a student from election.
Traditionally, the Secretary of the local chapter directs the election of new members, conducts the chapter's correspondence and maintains all records of the chapter. The position at Oberlin came to incorporate the duties of the Treasurer; thus, both an annual report and a Treasurer's report are prepared for submission to the United Chapters. Other duties of the Secretary-Treasurer include planning for the spring initiation banquet, organizing the annual Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholars Program (initiated by the United Chapters in 1942), and ordering keys and certificates. Since 1907, the term of the office has varied between two and three years. Meetings are held in the fall and spring to elect new members to the society.
Sources
“Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences: Phi Beta Kappa,” Oberlin College website, accessed 5/9/2023.
“Membership Requirements,” The Phi Beta Kappa Society website, accessed 5/9/2023.
Staff files of Kirk L. Cowdery, William James Hutchins, and John Taylor Shaw (RG 28).
Forms of Material (links to similar genres) Administrative InformationConsult the Commencement files in Record Group 0, College General, for commencement programs (after 1912) listing junior and senior members of Phi Beta Kappa. Also consult the Oberlin College yearbook, Hi-O-Hi, for student members and officers of the local chapter. For correspondence of F.W. Shepardson and President King relating to the establishment of an Oberlin Chapter, see the Calendar to the papers of President Henry Churchill King, 1907-10, under Shepardson. Related correspondence (letter dated March 4, 1905) is located in the papers of Professor of Philosophy Florence M. Fitch, Series III, Subseries 1. Consult the Annual Report of the President for 1907-08 for a history of the Oberlin chapter. For an index to articles on Phi Beta Kappa appearing in issues of the Alumni Magazine prior to 1958, consult the card file in the Department of Special Collections of the Oberlin College Library.
Records of honor societies Sigma Chi and Pi Kappa Lambda are located in Record Group 19.
The records of the Zeta of Ohio Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa document the multiple administrative functions of the chapter, including electing new members, communicating with the United Chapters, and planning for the annual initiation banquets and Visiting Scholars Program. A small amount of material relates to the history of the United Chapters and its triennial meetings.
Records are arranged into thirteen series:
I. Historical Files
II. Constitution and Bylaws
III. Annual Reports
IV. Minutes of Chapter Meetings
V. Correspondence
VI. Chronological Files
VII. Financial Records
VIII. Membership Records
IX. Student Eligibility Data Files *restricted
X. Files Relating to Secretarial Procedure
XI. Miscellany Relating to Initiation Banquets
XII. Files Relating to the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa.
XIII. Posters
Within series, records are typically arranged either chronologically or alphabetically by topic or type of material.
Synopses of the history of the Zeta Chapter and United Chapters are located in Series I. They include a 1912 account by trustee William Cox Cochran entitled, "Zeta's Posthumous Membership," in which Cochran explains Oberlin's late establishment of a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. Also present are articles from the Alumni Magazine written by Charles N. Cole and Professor of French Kirk L. Cowdery, which summarize the history of the chapter at Oberlin.
The minutes of the meetings of the Oberlin chapter, kept by the Secretary-Treasurer, are of considerable historical value. They are the most consecutive of the records present and contain the chapter Bylaws with annotations and emendations. Minutes housed in Series IV begin in October 1907 with the first organizational meetings and are complete through 1970. There are no minutes for the war years 1941-44, although banquet programs for those years indicate members were elected. According to recent practice, later minutes are interfiled in the chronological files housed in Series VI. The minutes provide an excellent source for tracing changes in student eligibility for membership in Phi Beta Kappa. Minutes also list elected members and note the appointment of speakers and other routine matters of business.
The correspondence and chronological files supplement the minutes by providing a detailed picture of the duties of the Secretary-Treasurer; however, a significant gap exists for the period 1928 to 1954. Correspondence (largely incoming) with the office of the United Chapters and with other local chapters mainly concerns the Visiting Scholars Program. Other topics covered include the election and decease of members, the nomination of new chapters, special Phi Beta Kappa celebrations such as the sesquicentennial, chapter dues, and key orders. The chronological files, maintained separately from the correspondence, contain a variety of materials, including correspondence, news releases, and clippings, which relate to elections, speaker selection, and planning for the annual banquet.
Annual reports are not narrative accounts but forms filled out by chapter Secretaries and submitted to the United Chapters headquarters. Forms provide the following information: officers of the chapter, numbers of new members elected, names of deceased members, married names of women members, recent address changes for other members, speakers who have addressed the chapter in the last year, and descriptions of special programs or projects undertaken.
The financial records of the Zeta Chapter summarize the financial transactions of the chapter. They include passbooks and the annual reports of the Treasurer detailing receipts, disbursements, office expenses, and special expenditures such as the subscription to the Phi Beta Kappa Key. Series VII contains Treasurer's reports. Earlier reports are bound in with the minutes of meetings at which these reports were presented. Thus, Series IV includes the bulk of the Treasurer's reports. Additional reports are located in the chronological files of Series VI. Other financial records, ephemeral in nature and of minimal research value, consist of invoices for keys and various supplies.
The balance of this record group consists of membership listings, including student internal transcripts and computer printouts of student data compiled by the Registrar; procedures to be followed by the chapter Secretary; and miscellaneous materials relating to the initiation banquets, including programs and publicity. Files concerning the United Chapters include official correspondence received by the local chapters, the national constitution and Bylaws; a selection of official publications, and proceedings of triennial meetings.
SERIES DESCRIPTIONS
Series I. Historical Files, 1907-32, 1957, n.d. (0.1 l.f.)
Unpublished essay (typescript draft), published magazine articles, and miscellaneous printed materials relating to the founding of the Oberlin College Chapter and the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa. Arranged by chapter, with the Oberlin chapter preceding the United Chapters.
Series II. Constitution and Bylaws, 1907-2009 [span] (0.05 l.f.)
Model constitution (photocopy) for local chapters, with local chapter Bylaws in the following formats: original typescripts, annotated carbon drafts, photostats, computer-generated copies and photocopies. Includes chapter handbooks. Arranged chronologically. See also Series IV, Minutes, for Bylaws attached to minutes of chapter meetings.
Series III. Annual Reports, 1944/45-2007 [span] (0.05 l.f.)
Incomplete run of annual report forms prepared by the Oberlin chapter with attached official correspondence from the United Chapters. Arranged chronologically.
Series IV. Minutes of Zeta of Ohio Chapter Meetings, 1907-81, 1992-98, 2002-03 (0.8 l.f.)
Miscellaneous, record books, bound and unbound, and carbon and miscellaneous drafts of minutes with correlative documents, including correspondence, memoranda, meeting agendas, treasurer's reports, charts, and lists of members and banquet speakers. Arranged chronologically.
Series V. Correspondence, 1909-27, 1955-81, 1994-2006 (0.8 l.f.)
Incoming and outgoing correspondence of the Oberlin chapter Secretary with attached and related materials. Includes a set of postcards received (1910-14). Arranged chronologically.
Series VI. Chronological Files, 1972-85 (0.8 l.f.)
Contains material originally maintained in three-ring binders, including official correspondence of the Oberlin chapter Secretary, file copies of outgoing correspondence, memoranda, agendas, treasurer's reports, news releases, and newspaper clippings. Arranged chronologically.
Series VII. Financial Records, 1908-2006 (0.4 l.f.)
Miscellaneous passbooks, treasurer's reports, invoices, and miscellaneous records of bills paid. Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Series VIII. Membership Records, 1878-1939, 1953-79, 1983-89, 1994-2007 (1.4 l.f.)
Miscellaneous record book (disbound), carbon, typescript, and printed lists of student and honorary members with attached correspondence and memoranda, 5 x 7 index cards showing faculty membership, and one oversize computer print-out of current members. Arranged in in exact chronological order.
Series IX. Student Eligibility Data Files, 1984-89, 1993-98, 2000-07 (1.2 l.f.) (RESTRICTED)
Files constitute a sampling of the original lot. Included are computer-generated listings of eligible students ranked by grade point average, internal transcripts, student data sheets, and Phi Beta Kappa certificate orders. Arranged chronologically. Access to this material is restricted.
Series X. Files Relating to Duties of the Chapter Secretary, 1940-80, 1992-95 (0.3 l.f.)
Miscellaneous, carbon, typescript, and mimeographed drafts of instructions and printed materials relating to procedures followed by the chapter Secretary. Arranged alphabetically by topic.
Series XI. Miscellany Relating to Initiation Banquets, 1918-29, 1936, 1949-2004 (0.3 l.f.)
Official correspondence and memoranda, drafts of speeches, invitations, diplomas, banquet programs, and other miscellaneous ephemera. Arranged alphabetically by type of material.
Series XII. Files Relating to the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, 1922-85, 1988, 1994-2003 (0.8 l.f.)
Printed constitutions and bylaws, official correspondence sent to local chapters, reports, data sheets on institutions applying for membership, periodicals, and conference proceedings. Arranged into three subseries by type of material: Subseries 1. Constitution and Bylaws; 2. Official Correspondence; and 3. Publications. Within subseries, material is arranged chronologically or alphabetically by title.
Series XIII. Posters, 2004, n.d. (0.2 l.f.)
Posters advertising upcoming on-campus talks hosted by guest lecturers, including Ann Ellis Hanson, Lawrence D. Bobo, and Alejandro Garcia-Rivera. Arranged chronologically.