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The Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania is the oldest continuously-existing literary society in the United States and the oldest student group at Penn. Founded in 1813, its goal is "to promote the learning of its members and to increase the academic prestige of the University." Philomathean is derived from the Greek philomath, which means "a lover of learning." The motto of the Philomathean Society is sic itur ad astra (Latin for "thus we proceed to the stars").
The society is governed by a Cabinet of eight officers: the Moderator, First Censor, Second Censor, Scriba, Recorder, Treasurer, Librarian and Archivist. The first four are attired in full academic gown at all society meetings, which are held eight times per semester on the top floor of College Hall. Philo also has regular afternoon teas with professors and sponsors other academic events such as lecture series.
Traditionally, the Society emphasized the arts of rhetoric, oratory, and writing. Its three-step membership process retains vestiges of this emphasis, but its modern members' activities extend to a broad range of academic and artistic pursuits.
"Philo," as members affectionately refer to the Society, is credited with helping to found entire academic departments, including American History, Comparative Literature, and History of Science, and many campus groups and publications, including the Daily Pennsylvanian and the Mask and Wig Club.
The Society has published several books, including, most recently, The Philomathean Society Anthology of Poetry in Honor of Daniel Hoffman — Hoffman, a former professor at the university and a distinguished poet in his own right, had brought many renowned poets and authors, including John Updike, Seamus Heaney, Joyce Carol Oates, and Yevgeny Yevtushenko, to read in the Philomathean Halls.
In 1858, the Society published the first complete English translation of the Rosetta Stone. The work was performed solely by three undergraduate members, Charles R Hale, S Huntington Jones, and Henry Morton. The translation quickly sold out two editions, and was internationally hailed as a monumental work of scholarship. In 1988, the British Museum bestowed the honor of including the Philomathean Rosetta Stone Report in its select bibliography of the most important works ever published on the Rosetta Stone. The Philomathean Society maintains a full-scale cast of the stone in its meeting room.
In 1984, the Philomathean Endowment Trust was founded by Simon Glinsky, Charles Fine Ludwig, Michael Gessel, and Sylvie Steber Muldoon to support the Society with a perpetual endowment.
Every year, Philo brings a public annual oration to the University, given by a prominent figure in the arts and sciences. Recent orations have been given by Arthur Miller (2004) [1] and Salman Rushdie (2003) [2].
Philo publishes Philomel, a literary magazine.[1]
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Awards and Accomplishments
Philolmatheans have:
- Included:
- 7 United States Senators
- 2 Ambassadors
- Founded
- The Philadelphia Museum of Art
- The Daily Pennsylvanian
- Mask and Wig
- The Punch Bowl
Notable Philomatheans
In addition to the names cited above, prominent Philomatheans have included:
- Henry Dilworth Gilpin, 1819, US Attorney General
- Robert James Walker, 1819, US Senator from Missouri, Secretary of Treasury, Governor of Kansas and debating nemesis of Henry Clay
- George Sharswood, 1828, founder, University of Pennsylvania School of Law and Chief Justice of Pennsylvania
- Persifor Frazer, 1862, Professor of Chemistry and Pioneering Chemist/Geologist/Naturalist
- Henry Laussat Geyelin, 1877, the first to wear red and blue as the University colors
- Eli Kirk Price, 1881, founder, Philadelphia Museum of Art
- George Wharton Pepper, 1887, US Senator from Pennsylvania, author and chronicler of the Senate
- Jasper Yeates Brinton, 1889, US Legal Advisor to Egypt, architect of the Egyptian court system and Justice of the Egyptian Supreme Court
- Alfred Bester, 1934, Recipient of the first Hugo Award for a Science Fiction Novel: The Demolished Man (1953), Science Fiction Grand Master (1988), and author of The Stars My Destination (1956)
- Carl Kaysen, 1940, director of the Institute for Advanced Study and University Trustee Emeritus
- Hilary Putnam, 1948, philosopher, Walter Beverly Pearson Professor of Modern Mathematics and Mathematical Logic at Harvard University, and past president of the American Philosophical Association
Other Philomathean Societies
Several other societies share the Philomathean name. Among them are:
Phi Mu, the second oldest secret organization for women, was originally founded as "The Philomathean Society" in 1852 at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.
New York University's Philomathean Society was founded in 1832.
Phillips Academy's Philomathean Society, founded in 1825, is the oldest high school debate society in the nation.
Catawba College of Salisbury, NC also charters a Philomathean Society. The group was created in 1851, after the founding of the college, and served as a society for debate and fellowship for young men. Soon after its inception, the Philomathean Society began a library in their home because the college did not yet have one. In the early 1900s the society became inactive, but was resurrected in 1991 to serve in a different capacity. The all-male society now serves as a group dedicated to "Scholarship, Culture, Character, and Service", the motto of the College. Membership is by application and invitation only.
Founded in 1849, the University of Virginia's Philomathean Society formed as a splinter group from the Washington Literary Society and Debating Union.
Ouachita College, now Ouachita Baptist University, had a Philomathean Literary Society that existed from 1888 to 1931. The Philos and their rivals, the Hermesians, were the result in a split in the college's original literary society, the Adelphian Circle, formed in 1886.
References
External links
- Philomathean Society of the University of Pennsylvania
- Daily Pennsylvanian Article about Philomathean Tea with Gov. Rendell
- The Pennsylvania Gazette Article about Philo
- "Philo. Society reigns as Penn's oldest student group" from the Daily Pennsylvanian
- Hood, Clifton R. "Philomathean Society: Foundation as the University's First Student Organization, 1813." University Archives and Records Center, University of Pennsylvania, 2006.
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