Flat Hat Club
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox fraternity The Flat Hat Club is a collegiate secret society and honor society at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Originally called the F.H.C. Society, it was founded in 1750.
Early in the 21st century, the education section of The New York Times profiled America's oldest university clubs and societies and included a letter, now housed in the archives at Swem Library, which Thomas Jefferson wrote to Thomas McAuley, mentioning Jefferson's membership in the F.H.C.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite book</ref>
History
Original society
The society was founded as the F.H.C. Society at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia on November 11, 1750.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> It was organized for "charity, friendship, and science".<ref name=":0" /> F.H.C. met regularly for discussion and fellowship, especially at the Raleigh Tavern.<ref name=":8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
William & Mary alumnus and third American president Thomas Jefferson may be the most famous member of the F.H.C. Society.<ref name=autogenerated1>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Late in life, Jefferson wrote that, "[w]hen 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. Still, it had no useful object, nor do I know whether it now exists."<ref name = Hastings1>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":3" />
F.H.C. Society is believed to be the precursor of Phi Beta Kappa.<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> 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.<ref name=":4" /> 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.<ref>Jane Carson, "James Innes and His Brothers of the F.H.C."; Charlottesville, Virginia: The University Press of Virginia, 1965.</ref>
The student members of the F.H.C. suspended the club's activities in 1781,<ref name=":0" /> probably due to the suspension of academic exercises at the college 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." Thus, the club possessed a small library.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Subsequent groups
The group's name was revived on September 30, 1920, by twelve undergraduate men and four professors who originally organized as the Spotswood Club, which was formed in 1916.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":9">"F.H.C. Society," University Archives Subject File Collection Template:Webarchive, Special Collections Research Center, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary</ref> It differed markedly from the original society, a fraternity of six undergraduate men with alumnus members in urbe – that is, "in town", having graduated from the university. This society operated largely as a collegiate honorary society whose members were not secret and were published in the college's yearbook and newspapers.<ref name=":0" /> It suspended its activities in 1943 due to World War II.<ref name=":0" />
A third group called the Flat Hat Club was formed in May 1972.<ref name="fhc-swem">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":0" /> It an all-male secret society, consisting of twelve undergraduate men.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8" /> In recent years, an additional six members were added. Most of its activities remain comparatively secret within the university. Members receive medals of distinction upon graduation from William and Mary, showing their membership.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Contrary to the practice of some similar societies, alumni may disclose their membership after graduation.Template:Citation needed
Symbols
The initials of the F.H.C. Society stands for a secret Latin phrase, likely "Fraternitas, Humanitas, et Cognitio" or "Fraternitas Humanitas Cognitioque", two renderings of "brotherhood, humanity, and knowledge".<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":8" /> The group became publicly known by the backronym "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).<ref name=":2">Storm, Robert W. (1973). "In Token of Friendship: Early Fraternity Medals at the College of William and Mary". Typescript in university archives, Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia.</ref>
The F.H.C. brothers devised and employed a secret handshake, issued certificates of membership, and wore a silver membership medal.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":8" /> The front of the medal featured an F.H.C. monogram with the club's date of formation, November 11, 1750.<ref name=":4" /> The medal's back features the club's motto surrounding its coat of arms, consisting of a shield with a chevron and clasped hands; above the shield is a rose.<ref name=":4" /> Its motto is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Latin for "Stability and Faith".<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The organization's name has been used by the campus newspaper, The Flat Hat, since 1911, and as a campus literary magazine, Flat Hat Magazine, since 2019.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" /> The newspaper also uses the club's motto.<ref name=":7" />
Notable members
The following is a list of known notable members of the Flat Hat Club.
- John Stewart Bryan, president of the College of William & Mary<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- J. A. C. Chandler, president of the College of William & Mary<ref name=":0" />
- James Innes, Attorney General of Virginia and member of the Virginia House of Delegates<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" />
- Thomas Gwatkin, cleric and professor at the College of William & Mary<ref name=":4" />
- Thomas Jefferson, Founding Father and President of the United States<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref name=":4" />
- Bathurst Peachy, head baseball coach for the College of William & Mary<ref name=":0" />
- Edmund Randolph, Founding Father of the United States and the 7th Governor of Virginia<ref name=":0" />
- Earl Gregg Swem, historian, bibliographer, and librarian at the Library of Congress and Virginia State Library<ref name=":0" />
- St. George Tucker, judge of the General Court of Virginia and the Court of Appeals, law professor at the College of William & Mary<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" />
- George Wythe, Founding Fathers of the United States, delegate to the Continental Congress, Attorney General of Virginia, Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and mayor of Williamsburg, Virginia<ref name=":0" />
See also
- Collegiate secret societies in North America
- College of William & Mary secret societies
- History of the College of William & Mary