#40162

                         RECORDS OF THE
                      ORDER OF THE OLD WELL

                             in the
             University Archives and Records Service
           University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
                    Wilson Library, CB# 3926
                   Chapel Hill, North Carolina
                           27514-8890

                          January 1993

RESTRICTION:   Use of these records is restricted to members of
               the Order and to non-members with written
               permission from the presiding officer of the Order
               or his/her designee.

     The Order of the Old Well was formed in 1949 by a group of
students and faculty members under the guidance of Dr. E. L.
Mackie, Dean of Awards.  The organization "honors students who
have demonstrated exemplary, unrecognized service to the
University either independently or through an organization. 
Typically, these persons have served in a generous capacity and
displayed a willingness to perform functions that do not offer
recognition."  Nomination guidelines stipulate that candidates
for membership should not have been previously honored for their
service by another campus organization and should not be
nominated based on service in highly public or well-recognized
leadership positions.
 
     The original members were selected through open interviews
in Steele Building.  The interviewees were evaluated based on a
point system that took into account self-help, work, scholarship,
honors, and participation in student government, publications,
dramatics, music, athletics, or other campus organizations.  More
than one hundred seniors were interviewed, resulting in
fifty-five original members.  From this first class in 1949 to
the present, membership in the Order of the Old Well has been
open to both male and female students.

     The Order's officers include a President, Vice President,
Treasurer, Secretary, and Member-at-Large.  Listings of the past
officers for the Order may be found in The Yackety Yack,
available in the North Carolina Collection.  These officers lead
monthly meetings, maintain relations with other campus honorary
organizations, plan the Order's annual banquet, guide the member
selection process, and plan the tapping and induction ceremony.

The records of the Order of the Old Well are arranged as follows.

Box 1:
     Annual Reports, 1990
     Banquet, 1990
     Induction (See Tapping and Induction, below)
     Meeting Minutes and Agendas, 1989
     Membership Lists, 1990
     Nomination and Selection, Forms and Procedures, 1988-1990; 
          undated
     Officers, 1989-1990 (includes officer selection information
          and minutes of officer meetings)
     Tapping and Induction, 1990