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College of William & Mary

Overview

The College of William & Mary (W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the ninth-oldest in the English-speaking world. William & Mary is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".

The university is among the original nine colonial colleges. In 1779, then led by James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and other reformers, it underwent a significant transformation that saw the abolition of the Divinity School, the establishment of the first university-affiliated American law school, and a modernization of the curriculum. It was one of the first American institutions to offer graduate instruction. William & Mary was also the first to adopt an honor code (1736). In 1750, its students founded the first collegiate secret and honor society, the F.H.C. Society, popularly known as the Flat Hat Club, followed by the Phi Beta Kappa in 1776, the first Greek letter fraternity.

The university comprises six schools, and the main campus spans 1,200 acres and includes restored colonial structures, research centers, and modern academic facilities. Its historic Wren Building, attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, is the oldest academic building still standing in the United States. William & Mary is the only U.S. university with an official Coat of Arms granted by the College of Arms in London.

Alumni include three U.S. Presidents (Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Tyler), numerous Founding Fathers, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, Speaker of the House Henry Clay, and early national leaders such as Edmund Randolph and Peyton Randolph. George Washington received his surveyor's license from the college in 1749 and later served as its first American chancellor.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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And surely as nature createth brotherhood in families, and arts mechanical contract brotherhoods in communalties, and the anointment of God superinduceth a brotherhood in kings and bishops, so in like manner there cannot but be a fraternity in learning and illumination, relating to that paternity which is attributed to God, who is called the Father of illuminations or lights.
Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning
States what College of William & Mary is.
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c. 62. For the Bannister Academy.c. 79. For the Belfield Academy. c. 82. For the Petersburg Academy. 1804. c. 40. For the Hotsprings Seminary. c. 76. For the Stevensburg Academy. c.100. For William and Mary College. 1805. c. 24. For the Rumford Academy. 1812. c. 10. For the Literary Fund. To sell the privilege for $30,000 annually, for seven years. 1816. c. 80. For Norfolk Academy, $12,000. Norfolk Female Society…
Thomas Jefferson, Memoir, Correspondence, and Miscellanies, From the Papers of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4
Close in meaning to College of William & Mary; the term itself is not named.
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The Library of Congress owns two copies of this Cincinnati imprint. One, lacking the title page and final leaf, is bound in a volume of unknown provenance, possibly obtained about 1912, containing four early editions of Northwest Territory laws. The other is a separate copy, lacking the last three leaves. This more interesting copy has two inscriptions on its title page, the words written uppermost posing some…
Roger J. Trienens, Pioneer Imprints from Fifty States
Close in meaning to College of William & Mary; the term itself is not named.
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College of William & Mary

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