Philomathean Society - Other Philomathean Societies

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 invitation only.

Philomathean Literary Society (Erskine College) was established in 1842. A number of South Carolinian politicians, theologians, lawyers, writers, and thinkers were inducted as members or honored with membership. It is one of Erskine College's four literary societies today.

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.