Alpha Delta Phi Wesleyan Chapter records

The Middletown Chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi has served as a literary society to Wesleyan University students since its founding on July 31, 1856. At the 1856 Alpha Delta Phi convention in New Haven, Connecticut, two Wesleyan debating societies known as the Betrian Society and the Lebanian Society petitioned the International organization of Alpha Delta Phi for inclusion in the nationwide fraternity. It was decided to merge the two societies and a charter was granted to form the Middletown Chapter as the 18th chapter of the International. The two societies already had common ground with dining at the Chronometer Club and so merging the two worked with ease.

The new chapter moved quickly to renting halls in downtown Middletown for its meetings. In 1884, after the establishment and success of the Building Fund, the chapter erected its first house located on the former Neale property on the corner of High and Cross Streets. In this house, the chapter rented out rooms, held meetings and other events, and dined in its eating club The Star & Crescent Club for almost 20 years until numerous costly repairs necessitated the chapter to tear down the structure. Immediately, plans were drawn up for a larger house located on the same property. The second Middletown Chapter house was completed in 1905 and still houses ADP members and hosts meetings, reunions, weddings, and other Wesleyan or ADP related events.

In 1881 a group of Alpha Delta Phi alumni founded the Adelphic Literary Society (ALS) to support the intellectual and moral improvement of its members by developing ties among the undergraduate and post graduate members of the chapter. With the incorporation of the ALS chartered by the Legislature of the State of Connecticut, the ALS could legally own, maintain and transfer property for the Middletown Chapter, which it successfully did to allow the building of the chapter houses for undergraduate members. The ALS is also responsible for the chapter's eating club, the Star & Crescent, and it connects with its undergraduate members through alumni events on and off campus and serving as mentors.

As a way to sponsor intellectual growth of chapter members through public and educational activities at Wesleyan University, the Adelphic Educational Fund, Inc. (AEF) was established on December 14, 1944, and has since continued the support of intellectual and social life at Wesleyan. The tax-exempt AEF was founded by alumni led by George W. Davison, 1892, and Albert W. Johnston, 1893, to aid deserving undergraduates in the attainment of a college education at Wesleyan, with a preference for members of the Middletown Chapter of the Alpha Delta Phi. In addition to educational funding made available to students through the grant-in-aid program, the AEF also funds the Middletown Chapter's literary publication AdLit, literary events such as the Assembly Series, a Faculty Fellows program, and a community service program. It also funded educational programs which are now defunct, such as the Film Series and a Science Series.

Since its formation in 1856, the Middletown Chapter dealt with local and national issues. Undergraduate members lived years through wars, financial depressions, political unrest and fraternity tensions. During these times, the members came together to support one another and strived to come out on top. In the 1960s and 1970s when co-education was making waves across American universities and colleges, the Middletown Chapter began welcoming women members from Wesleyan's re-imagined co-ed student body, resulting in what is known among ADP members and alumni as the Co-Education Issue. While the International held firm against any of its chapters going co-ed, the undergraduate members of the Middletown Chapter endorsed the inclusion of women members. From 1972 until 1992, there was a constant debate to acknowledge women into the International, a struggle that ended in a split. On August 7, 1992 at the 160th Alpha Delta Phi Convention in Brainerd, Minnesota, a contract was approved by a 41-0 vote acknowledging the withdrawal of four chapters that wished to become co-educational chapters. These four co-educational chapters, Brunonian, Columbia, Middletown and Stanford, made up the newly formed Alpha Delta Phi Society. Other chapters would later leave the national fraternity and join the Society.

In 2006, the Middletown Chapter celebrated its sesquicentennial where they hosted a reunion, conducted oral history interviews, and published a history on the chapter's meeting and living areas titled Halls, Houses & Eating Clubs.