The New York City Society has been described as "a queer assemblage...a club of bachelors who celebrated their indolent disengagement from the Anglo-American power establishment... and used their marginal position to prospect truths not viewed by useful and virtuous citizens of the Republic.

The groups collected the odd fellows who had given up on cultivating character and civic virtue and domestic responsibility and patriarchy and opted instead for projecting personality, indulging genius, pursuing pleasure, and damning commerce.

"[2] Another literary society of the same name had been formed in Bermuda in 1790 by George Tucker, at that time under the tutelage of Josiah Meigs, who later became Professor of Moral Philosophy at Yale.

Membership was annually awarded each spring by the Calliopean president and director (on a non-political basis) to rising seniors of exceptional spirit, intelligence, and talent.

Calliopean became increasingly active during the 1970s during the presidency of Martin D. "Chip" Gatter, Class of 1973, holding annual parties and special events in unusual locations by a cryptic constitutional provision permitting official meetings to be held only "on street corners and in dark alleys" and adopting a program of promoting "intellectual diversity at any cost".