Wesleyan University Philorhetorian and Peithologian Society records
Scope and Contents
This collection contains print and manuscript materials for both societies: catalogues of members and of library holdings, librarians' reports, minutes, account books, constitutions and by-laws and correspondence. It also contains printed copies of addresses made before either society or jointly to both societies.
Dates
- Creation: 1831-1869
Creator
- Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.). Philorhetorian Society (Organization)
- Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.). Peithologian Society (Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Collection is open for research.
Conditions Governing Use
In public domain - No Copyright - United States
Biographical / Historical
These societies, both founded in 1831 for debating and literary purposes, were for several decades the chief student societies at Wesleyan. By the late 1860s their functions were being taken over by Greek letter fraternities and they went out of existence. A brief historical statement about them may be found in Carl Price’s Wesleyan’s First Century, pp. 40-42; a more extended discussion is in George M. Dutcher’s unpublished “Wesleyan University: The First Years,” pp. 857-870. Both societies had extensive libraries which supplemented the university library and in 1962 merged with it (cf. Library Handbook, 1942m p. 78). [See also David B. Potts’ Wesleyan University, 1831-1910, pp. 41-42.]
Extent
4 Linear Feet (4 hollinger boxes and 10 volumes)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Both the Philorhetorian Society (originally named Philorhetorian Lyceum), and the Peithologian Society (originally named Adelphian), were founded in 1831. Both met weekly in the evening and both cultivated extensive libraries. Almost all Wesleyan students belonged to one society or the other, but by the late 1860s these were being supplanted by Greek societies on campus. This collection consists of printed and manuscript records of members and library holdings, accounts, reports, minutes of meetings, correspondence, and papers read before the groups.
Arrangement
Records for each society are in a separate series. Printed addresses are in a third series.
Subject
- Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.). Philorhetorian Society (Organization)
- Wesleyan University (Middletown, Conn.). Peithologian Society (Organization)
- Title
- Wesleyan University Philorhetorian and Peithologian Society records, 1831-1869
- Status
- Unprocessed
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the University Archives Repository