Founded at Wesleyan University in 1870 as a chapter of Skull and Bones, the society expanded into a new national organization.

Herbert Hull Coston, Coleridge Allen Hart, George Washington Shonk, and Lyman Horace Weeks were members from Alpha Delta Phi.

Benjamin Emmons Gerst, Arthur Collins McClay, and George Bickford Davey Toy were from Delta Kappa Epsilon and Stephen Judson Kirby, George Henry Towle, Alfred Charles True were from Eclectic.

Rounding out the group were Psi Upsilon members George William Elliott, Charles Hamlin Furber, William Henry Lawrence, and Olin Levings Livesey as well as Amos Howard Hoagland who was not a member of any fraternity.

[5] Theta Nu Epsilon had immediate success at Wesleyan, and it grew rapidly and spread throughout colleges across the United States.

A movement for a formal national organization resulted in a convention held at the Hotel Astor in New York on March 29 and 30, 1907.

The convention established a national governing body which then incorporated the society under the laws of the State of New York.

Its badge is a gold version of the insignia—a skull and crossed keys, with gems for eyes, and the Greek letters ΘΝΕ.

As a result, many conflicts exist surrounding the actual founding dates and chapter designations, even at the institutions that had officially recognized groups.