Wofford College received its chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at the 1940 triennial meeting of the United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa, bringing to fruition more than ten years of work by three Phi Beta Kappa members who were then serving on the faculty: President Henry Nelson Snyder, Dr. David Duncan Wallace, class of 1894, and Dr. John West Harris '16, a brash and brilliant young English professor not afraid to campaign vigorously in the conviction that his alma mater deserved membership. (Dr. Harris later founded the National Beta Club, which still has its headquarters in Spartanburg).

History of Phi Beta Kappa