QEBH is a senior honor society at the University of Missouri. Founded in 1897, it is the oldest of six recognized secret honor societies on campus.[1]
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The society was founded in November 1897 by eight men. They were Royall Hill Switzer, Thomas Benton Marbut, Gurry Ellsworth Huggins, William Frank Wilson, Clarence Martin Jackson, Horace Beckley Williams, Antoine Edward Russell, and Galius Lawton Zwick. Royall Hill Switzer organized the first class of the society, and he is therefore credited as being the founder of the QEBH.[2]
The introduction of class societies to the Missouri campus is generally attributed to Luther DeFoe, an 1881 graduate and then junior member of the faculty.[3] Defoe was a primary organizer and inspiration for a chapter of Theta Nu Epsilon at Missouri in 1895, and he played an advisory role to the founders of QEBH as well.[4]
QEBH's workings, purposes and affairs are known only to its members. The underlying idea of the society is to bring together a few men of recognized standing among their fellows, men who have been long enough on the campus to be in sympathy with the whole body of students, and sufficiently broad and advanced in spirit to take the viewpoint of Alma Mater in their university interests; and through these few men and concerted example to instill in the undergraduates a real affection for their University, a sentimental loyalty, enduring in adversity and defeat as in prosperity and victory. Membership in the society comes only after significant accomplishment.
Throughout its history, QEBH has maintained a rivalry with MU's Mystical Seven society. This rivalry has often involved the two societies playing pranks on each other. In one instance in 1985, members of QEBH disguised themselves as members of Mystical Seven and surprised Mystical Seven's yet to be initiated candidates at 4:30am one morning. The new candidates were convinced the activity was part of their initiation process, and they were taken to Jefferson City, Missouri where they were dropped off and abandoned by the disguised QEBH members.[5]
The primary symbol of QEBH is winged sphere. The symbol's origin is that of the winged sphere that was once the distinctive mark of Jesse Hall. The wings broke from the top of the dome when a patriotic student scaled the dome one night around the time of World War I and fastened the staff of a large American flag to the structure. The flag caught enough wind to tear the wings from the dome, leaving only the golden sphere, which is still in place. The original winged sphere has direct symbolism to the meaning of "QEBH". The destruction of the wings from the dome was foreshadowed in the 1901 Savitar where mention is made of QEBH's secret meetings at the top of the dome, but followed later by stating that "QEBH didn't take the wings off the dome."[6] The hundreds of names carved into the inner walls of the Jesse Hall dome are well known to be those belonging to the members of QEBH; however, those affiliated with the society will not give out any information regarding the mystery of what takes place inside the dome.[7]
The tradition of the Victory Bell originated in 1927. The bell was originally stolen from a church in Seward, Nebraska by Phi Delta Theta and Delta Tau Delta in 1892. The two fraternities shared housing at the time, but when the groups later acquired their own individual houses they began an annual tradition of awarding the bell as a trophy to the winner of a specified athletic or academic contest. When then Missouri athletic director Chester Brewer suggested a trophy be established for the winner of the annual Missouri–Nebraska Rivalry football game, the bell was chosen to fill the role. An "M" was then engraved on one side of the bell and an "N" was engraved on the opposite side. QEBH is the caretaker of the bell at Missouri, and the Innocents Society is the caretaker of the bell at Nebraska.[8][9]
Chapter of 1898
Chapter of 1899
Chapter of 1900
