Flat Hat Club
Encyclopedia
The Flat Hat Club is the popular name of a society founded after 1916 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia
, and revived there in 1972. The organization was named after the F.H.C. Society, which had been founded at the College on November 11, 1750, and was itself known informally as the Flat Hat Club.
The F.H.C. Society is the first recorded collegiate society within the territory of the present United States of America. The New York Times
Education section recently profiled America's oldest university clubs and societies, including a letter by Thomas Jefferson to Thomas McAuley provided by Swem Library archives) mentioning his membership of the F.H.C.
"Flat Hat Club" in probable allusion to the mortarboard caps then commonly worn by all students at the College (now worn at graduation by students at most American universities).
William & Mary alumnus and third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson
, is perhaps the most famous member of the Flat Hat Club. Other notable members of the original Society included Colonel James Innes, St. George Tucker
, and George Wythe
. Jefferson noted that "When I was a student of Wm. & Mary college of this state, there existed a society called the F.H.C. society, confined to the number of six students only, of which I was a member, but it had no useful object, nor do I know whether it now exists."
A second Latin-letter fraternity, the P.D.A. Society (publicly known as "Please Don't Ask"), was founded at William and Mary in March, 1773, in imitation of the F.H.C. Society. John Heath, a student at William and Mary who in 1776 sought but was refused admission to the P.D.A., later established the first Greek-letter fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa Society
.
The student members of the F.H.C. suspended the activities of the Society in 1781, probably as a result of the suspension of academic exercises at the university as the contending armies of the American Revolution
approached Williamsburg during the Yorktown campaign.
"The memory of this fraternity had entirely died out at William and Mary, but [after 1909, there was a] discovery of certain manuscript material in the correspondence of St. George Tucker, who was a student of the College in 1772.... These manuscripts consist of (1) a letter of Mr. Jefferson, written to John D. Taylor, of Maryland, giving some account of the club at the College, stating that he was a member, ...[;] (2) a list of the books described as compiled for the club's library, in 1772, by Rev. Thomas Gwatkin, Professor of Mathematics; (3) the credentials of Robert Baylor as a member in abbreviated Latin." Therefore we know the society existed for some years, and possessed a small library.
The modern F.H.C. Society was revived in May of 1972. It remains an all-male fraternity, with most of its activities comparatively secret within the university.
Williamsburg, Virginia
Williamsburg is an independent city located on the Virginia Peninsula in the Hampton Roads metropolitan area of Virginia, USA. As of the 2010 Census, the city had an estimated population of 14,068. It is bordered by James City County and York County, and is an independent city...
, and revived there in 1972. The organization was named after the F.H.C. Society, which had been founded at the College on November 11, 1750, and was itself known informally as the Flat Hat Club.
The F.H.C. Society is the first recorded collegiate society within the territory of the present United States of America. The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Education section recently profiled America's oldest university clubs and societies, including a letter by Thomas Jefferson to Thomas McAuley provided by Swem Library archives) mentioning his membership of the F.H.C.
History of the original society
The initials of the original F.H.C. Society stand for a secret Latin phrase, likely "Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio" or "Fraternitas Humanitas Cognitioque" (two renderings of "brotherhood, humaneness, and knowledge"). The "brothers" of the F.H.C. devised and employed a secret handshake, wore a silver membership medal, issued certificates of membership, and met regularly for discussion and fellowship. The Society became publicly known by the backronymBackronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
"Flat Hat Club" in probable allusion to the mortarboard caps then commonly worn by all students at the College (now worn at graduation by students at most American universities).
William & Mary alumnus and third U.S. President, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, is perhaps the most famous member of the Flat Hat Club. Other notable members of the original Society included Colonel James Innes, St. George Tucker
St. George Tucker
St. George Tucker was a lawyer, professor of law at the College of William and Mary, and judge of Virginia's highest court. In 1813, upon the nomination of President James Madison, he became the United States district judge for Virginia.-Early life:Born in St. George, Bermuda, near Port Royal...
, and George Wythe
George Wythe
George Wythe was an American lawyer, a judge, a prominent law professor and "Virginia's foremost classical scholar." He was a teacher and mentor of Thomas Jefferson. Wythe's signature is positioned at the head of the list of seven Virginia signatories on the United States Declaration of Independence...
. Jefferson noted that "When I was a student of Wm. & Mary college of this state, there existed a society called the F.H.C. society, confined to the number of six students only, of which I was a member, but it had no useful object, nor do I know whether it now exists."
A second Latin-letter fraternity, the P.D.A. Society (publicly known as "Please Don't Ask"), was founded at William and Mary in March, 1773, in imitation of the F.H.C. Society. John Heath, a student at William and Mary who in 1776 sought but was refused admission to the P.D.A., later established the first Greek-letter fraternity, the Phi Beta Kappa Society
Phi Beta Kappa Society
The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...
.
The student members of the F.H.C. suspended the activities of the Society in 1781, probably as a result of the suspension of academic exercises at the university as the contending armies of the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
approached Williamsburg during the Yorktown campaign.
"The memory of this fraternity had entirely died out at William and Mary, but [after 1909, there was a] discovery of certain manuscript material in the correspondence of St. George Tucker, who was a student of the College in 1772.... These manuscripts consist of (1) a letter of Mr. Jefferson, written to John D. Taylor, of Maryland, giving some account of the club at the College, stating that he was a member, ...[;] (2) a list of the books described as compiled for the club's library, in 1772, by Rev. Thomas Gwatkin, Professor of Mathematics; (3) the credentials of Robert Baylor as a member in abbreviated Latin." Therefore we know the society existed for some years, and possessed a small library.
History of the subsequent societies
The name of the Society was revived in the twentieth century by application to a select group of twelve undergraduate men and four professors which had been founded in 1916 as the Spotswood Club (it thus differed markedly from the original Society, a fraternity of six undergraduate men with alumnus members "in urbe"). This society operated as a college honorary society. The Society suspended its activities in 1943 as the number of men enrolled at the College steeply declined because of American involvement in World War II.The modern F.H.C. Society was revived in May of 1972. It remains an all-male fraternity, with most of its activities comparatively secret within the university.
External links
- Thomas Jefferson's letter to Thomas McAuley regarding the F.H.C. Society, June 14, 1819.
- Flat Hat History from The Flat Hat, William and Mary's student newspaper
- F.H.C. Society Collection at the Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary.
