The Philomathean Society was founded on January 4, 1852, at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia. Mary Ann DuPont (Lines) likely came up with the idea. She joined with Mary Elizabeth Myrick (Daniel) and Martha Bibb Hardaway (Redding) and they are the founders of Phi Mu. Founders’ Day is celebrated on March 4, the day the new society was announced. In 1904, the Philomathean Society became Phi Mu and established its second chapter at Hollins College in Virginia.
At the 1919 Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Zenobia Wooten Keller, became National President, following in the footsteps of Nellie S. Hart. She was a charter member of Theta Chapter at Belmont College, established in April 1907. In addition to being her chapter’s president, she was vice president of her class. She earned a “Certificate of Distinction” for having the highest GPA for two semesters. A soloist for the Belmont Glee Club, she was also its president. She served as vice president of the YWCA and on the yearbook editorial staff.
In 1908, she was elected First Vice President and three years later she became National Secretary. The Chicago Alumnae Association was established in 1909, the first of Phi Mu’s alumnae associations. She served as its president. She married Irvine M. Keller, a Sigma Alpha Epsilon, in 1912. A year later, she served as President of Gamma Province while serving as chair of Phi Mu’s Discipline Board. Additionally, she attended the 1913 meeting of the National Panhellenic Congress, as the Conference was then known. At the 1910 Phi Mu Convention, she seconded the motion to abolish all chapters institutions that were not up to NPC standards (sometimes call B-rank chapters or non-collegiate rank chapters). The motion carried and by closing the chapters, Phi Mu could join NPC. It also meant that Keller’s chapter was one of the chapters that had to close.
She rejoined the national council in 1916. It was noted that “poise and dignity are indeed characteristic of our new President. Business-like she can be; but she is very human and approachable, too.” After serving as National President from 1919-1923, she served as National Secretary until 1956. That year Phi Mu honored her at convention as its Woman of the Years. She died later that year at the home of her only child, a daughter.
Keller spent 45 years as a national officer and nearly 50 years as a Phi Mu volunteer. For 33 years, she ran the Phi Mu Executive Offices. Her knowledge of Phi Mu business and history was likely second to none. Woman of the Years was certainly an appropriate title for her.
