Wesleyan University Glee Club records

The Wesleyan University Glee Club was first organized in 1846, although the group did not meet regularly until the late 1860s. The Glee Club began to travel in 1862 with a tour beginning in Middletown, Connecticut. The final concert of this tour was held on the summit of Mt. Washington in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The group began traveling by rail in 1884 on their first tour to Chicago. On the Glee Club's annual tours (often during winter or Easter break), they frequently visited Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Massachusetts. They were the first college glee club to make a phonograph recording in 1890 at the invitation of Thomas Edison. In 1901, they traveled to Washington, D.C. where they were received by President McKinley in the White House. The Glee Club again traveled to the White House in 1928 to meet President Coolidge. In both 1926 and 1927, Wesleyan won the Glee Club National Championship, which was held in Carnegie Hall.

The annual Christmas candlelight concert was first held in Wesleyan's Memorial Chapel in 1928. From the 1960s until 1972, the concert was performed by both the Glee Club and the Chapel Choir. In 1972, the concert was performed jointly by the Concert Choir and the Chapel Choir, and by 1974, the Concert Choir was the only group that performed at the candlelight concerts. The Glee Club disappeared from campus during the early 1970s.