[1] Founded in 1768 as a literary and debating society that encompassed nearly half the student body at its 19th-century peak, the group disbanded in the late 1870s after donating its collection of books to help form Yale's central library.

[8] The notion of including freshmen was challenged by two or three existing literary groups that waged "an incessant war" against the new society, as described in Brothers in Unity's 1841 catalog of members.

[9] Baldwin wrote that the group, in conjunction with Linonia and the Calliopean Society, discussed scientific questions and gravitated towards literary pursuits.

This is substantiated by the Brothers' public documentation, which says the society sought "lofty places in science, literature, and oratory" fields, as well as general "intellectual improvement.

[11] "While the official curriculum remained extraordinarily rigid, the student body built a rich extra-curriculum through the literary societies that allowed them to explore subjects that would normally have no place in the college," wrote Elizabeth James in 2015.

The societies provided a place where student voices and opinions could be heard, and their questions or thoughts about the world around them interrogated by their classmates.

[8] While the original Brothers had a relatively open admissions policy and a large membership, its new incarnation follows the model of Yale's restrictive and smaller senior secret societies.

[8] Brothers in Unity holds debates and invites speakers to discuss contemporary entrepreneurship, foreign policy, literature, and politics.

[8] In 2021, it hosted a lecture named for Morrison Waite, the seventh chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who helped strike down the Civil Rights Act of 1875.