Cornell literary societies
The Young Men's Catholic Literary Association held a meeting in November 1869 at Deming Hall on Ithaca's State Street.
The Irving and Philaletheian were regarded as the foremost of Cornell undergraduate institutions; the smaller societies were the training leagues for the elevated two.
[7] Lowell used its membership fees to support a reading room in the old Cornell Public Library in downtown Ithaca for the use of patrons.
[9]The three societies, the Irving, Curtis and Philaletheian, combined efforts to produce their own publication, the Cornell Review, in December 1873.
At the time, White Hall was called North University and housed the engineering department as well as the office of Professor Goldwin Smith.
Interspersed between these are twenty large engravings, many of them proof impressions, depicting important scenes in the history of America and other countries.
His professional opinion was that the decline of Cornell's undergraduate literary societies followed from the growth of Cornell's Greek System, the decline of oratory as a valued skill in late 19th century America, and Charles Kendall Adams' reforms which brought the "seminary"or seminar system to the University.
[20] The source of the 1890s revival of intercollegiate competitions has been generally attributed to Western colleges and their challenges to the Eastern elite institutions.
In 1900, the United States Bureau of Education cited the experience of the Irving, Philalatheian, and Curtis as evidence that the East Coast's traditional literary culture did not take root at the new Cornell University in the same manner as at Harvard, Yale, Pennsylvania, and other "seaboard" schools.
But during their preeminence, the Irving and its peers produced literature at a higher rate than the campus average for the next generation, leading commentators at the turn of the 20th century to question whether academic standards had fallen since Cornell University's founding.
[24] In 1884, three years before its final demise, the Ithaca Daily Democrat lamented its decline under mechanical and engineering students pursuing technical interests in the mid-1880s.
[29] On December 18, 1868, it conducted Cornell's first public exhibition at the Aurora Street Methodist Episcopal Church, where they debated, "Resolved, that a two-thirds majority of the Supreme Court should be necessary to annul an Act of Congress.
"[26] In the autumn of 1878, the Philaletheian changed its name (derived from the Greek word meaning "lover of truth") to the Cornell Debating Club.
Adelphi was a secret literary society founded on January 16, 1870[26] and noted for bringing George Francis Train to Ithaca, New York, for a presentation.
[37] The following term, the Curtis provided new formats, such as the presentation of papers on a common topic like "The Contrast between Germany and Italy."
[19] Among its members was the jurist Wilmot Moses Smith, who co-wrote the lyrics to Far Above Cayuga's Waters, Cornell's alma mater.
[40] On December 7, 1893, the name (but not the society itself) was resurrected when a group of undergraduates formed the Curtis Debating Club with separate organizations for sophomores, juniors and seniors, and a combined membership of 75 men.
