Phi Beta Kappa records

Phi Beta Kappa, the nation's oldest academic honor society, advocates excellence in liberal arts and sciences among its faculty and student members. After having their original petition for membership denied in 1947, the University of Maryland's Gamma chapter was founded in 1964, initiating forty-three seniors, three juniors, and two alumni in the first year. The collection contains administrative records of Phi Beta Kappa including bylaws, correspondence, meeting minutes, membership lists, recruitment materials, statistics, financial reports, and copies of the Phi Beta Kappa newletter, The Key Reporter. Other records consist of lists documenting the University of Maryland faculty members elected to Phi Beta Kappa at their respective undergraduate institutions and professors involved in the Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholars program. Correspondence and reports related to the university's initiative to form a national chapter are also included.