Phi Beta Kappa. Beta Chapter of North Carolina (Duke University).

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest and largest academic honor society, was founded on Dec. 5, 1776, by five students at the College of William and 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.

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 Dec. 4, 1779, and to Yale four days later. The charters were delivered-in reverse order-- to groups of students in New Haven, Conn., and in Cambridge, Mass., 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.

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.

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.

Beta of North Carolina, the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Duke University, was founded at Trinity College in March, 1920, after ten years of effort by the President and Dean of the College to secure a charter.

From the guide to the Phi Beta Kappa. Beta of North Carolina Chapter (Duke University) Records, 1913-1996, (University Archives, Duke University)