One hundred and five years ago today, in a classroom at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, a small group of history students gathered at the invitation of their professor and voted to change the world of academic history forever. They could not have known that the society they were founding that afternoon would grow to serve more than 600,000 members across more than 900 chapters worldwide. But Dr. Nels Andrew Nelson Cleven knew exactly what he was building.
The Man Behind the Mission
Born on December 21, 1874, in Lake Mills, Iowa, Nels Cleven came to academia through the classroom door. He began teaching in public schools in 1893, years before earning his Bachelor of Philosophy and Literature from the University of Chicago in 1900 and his Ph.D. from the same institution in 1913. He taught at San Diego High School and Junior College before serving as a research assistant for the War Trade Board's Bureau of Research and Statistics in Washington, D.C., during 1918 and 1919.
It was in September 1919 that Dr. Cleven accepted an assistant professorship under Dr. David Yancey Thomas, Head of the Department of History and Political Science at the University of Arkansas, and relocated with his wife Hilda to Fayetteville. The couple quickly embraced the spirit of the small university town nestled in the Ozarks, volunteering at campus fraternity and sorority gatherings — organizations for which, by his own admission, Dr. Cleven had previously held little regard.
"The possibility of diffusing information through socialized channels was due to the kindly cooperation of my students in Arkansas."
— Dr. Nels Andrew Nelson Cleven, Founder of Phi Alpha Theta
The Phi Alpha Theta Idea
Those gatherings sparked what Dr. Cleven would come to call "the Phi Alpha Theta idea." He began to see fraternities as potential vehicles for something grander — what he described as "an essential spirit of the age — watchers at the Truth in History." Despite the rapid proliferation of social and professional fraternities during that era, he recognized a glaring absence: there were no honor societies dedicated to history. He was determined to remedy that deficiency.
In his mind, he envisioned a secret fraternity open equally to women and men, one that would embrace the full sweep of human experience — "the active History of Mankind." The society's central symbol came to him almost by chance: a painting depicting ancient Athens hung on the wall of his classroom, featuring figures robed in striking crimson. That red became the defining color of the new history fraternity, a thread connecting the scholarly societies of antiquity to the one he was creating.
March 17, 1921 — A Date That Made History
On March 14, 1921, Dr. Cleven presided over the first organizational meeting in his classroom. Those present voted to create the University Historical Society, elected officers, and appointed committees for the Constitution, Programs, and Membership. Though Dr. Cleven himself regarded that March 14 meeting as the anniversary of the founding, the name Phi Alpha Theta was not formally adopted until a month later. The date March 17, 1921 — today, one hundred and five years ago — stands as the society's official founding date.
What began as a single chapter at the University of Arkansas has grown into the largest history honor society on earth. From those first students gathered in an Ozark classroom, Phi Alpha Theta now connects historians, professors, students, and professionals across every corner of the globe.
A Legacy Still Being Written
Dr. Cleven's original vision — a society that would make history both rigorous and social, open to all, committed to scholarship and fellowship equally — remains the animating spirit of Phi Alpha Theta today. Every induction ceremony, every chapter meeting, every issue of The Historian, every scholarship awarded carries forward the idea he formed while attending those Ozark fraternity gatherings more than a century ago.
As we mark 105 years today, we celebrate not just an institution but an idea: that the study of history matters, that it deserves a home, and that the people devoted to it deserve a community. Dr. Cleven built that home. We live in it still.
Happy 105th birthday, Phi Alpha Theta. The active History of Mankind continues.
Carry the Legacy Forward
Whether you're a current member, a faculty advisor, or a history student who hasn't yet joined — there's a place for you in Phi Alpha Theta.