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Jefferson Literary and Debating Society

The Jefferson Literary and Debating Society (commonly known as "Jeff Soc") is the oldest continuously existing collegiate debating society in North America. The society was founded on July 14, 1825, in Room Seven, West Lawn at the University of Virginia. Named for the founder of the University, Thomas Jefferson, the society regularly meets on Friday evenings at "The Hall" in the Lawn.

Jefferson Literary and Debating Society

July 14, 1825 (1825-07-14)
University of Virginia

Haec Olim Meminisse Iuvabit

  Pink,   Gray, and   Blue

The Jefferson Society

jeffersonsociety.org

The society's members have included several Presidents of the United States, a British Prime Minister as well as governors, senators and congresspeople. Its motto, Haec Olim Meminisse Iuvabit, is taken from Virgil's Aeneid and roughly translates to, "In the future it will be pleasing to remember these things." Its Greek name ΦΠΘ, initials for Φίλοί, Πατρίς, θεός (philoi, patris, theos, or "brotherhood, fatherland, divinity"), makes the society the second oldest Greek-lettered organization in the United States.

The Sully Portrait is one of the only portraits of Thomas Jefferson painted from life. It was painted by and is loaned to the University of Virginia to be displayed in the Rotunda.

Thomas Sully

Edgar Allan Poe signed a minutes book one evening during which he served as secretary pro tem. His signature was later clipped out by Lancelot Blackford in the 1850s, stealing it, yet also saving it from the Great Rotunda Fire in 1895. Society alumni raised money to buy the signature from a collector in the early 1980s, in honor of their friend and fellow alumnus, James F. Perz. The signature is kept in secure storage as part of the University library's special collections.

Thomas Woodrow Wilson signed one of the roll books during his tenure as the Society's President. Furthermore, the Society's minute books also contain many sets of handwritten minutes signed by Wilson when he was the Society's Secretary.

author of "The Raven"[7]

Edgar Allan Poe

28th President of the United States[8]

Woodrow Wilson

Secretary of State and Ambassador to the United Nations[9][10]

Edward Stettinius Jr.

United States Representative and Senator from Pennsylvania[11]

Hugh Scott

Governor of Virginia[12]

Colgate W. Darden

University of Virginia President[13]

John T. Casteen III

Governor of Virginia[14]

James Gilmore III

Miss America 2005[15]

Deidre Downs

political correspondent and journalist[16]

Jamelle Bouie

Chief United States District Judge[17]

Barbara M.G. Lynn

4th President of the United States[18]

James Madison

5th President of the United States[18]

James Monroe

Marquis de Lafayette[18]

Gilbert du Motier

former First Lady of the United States[12]

Edith Bolling Galt Wilson

Nobel Prize for Literature recipient[12]

William Faulkner

former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom[12]

Margaret Thatcher

Thomas Jefferson turned down an invitation for honorary membership in an August 12, 1825 letter, citing his need to avoid altering his relationship with the University and its students.[18]

Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies

Philodemic Society

Philolexian Society

Philomathean Society

Union-Philanthropic Society

Eumenean Society

Euphradian Society

Clariosophic Society

Washington Literary Society and Debating Union

Stubbs Society

Demosthenian Literary Society

Carrier, Jerry and Michael Stewart. Hotel C, West Range, University of Virginia. University of Virginia Press.

(1981). Mr. Jefferson's University: A History. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press. ISBN 0-8139-0904-X.

Dabney, Virginius

Patton, John S. (1906). . New York: Neale Publishing Company. p. 235. jefferson society cabell patton.

Jefferson, Cabell, and the University of Virginia

Official Web Site: Jefferson Literary and Debating Society