The Corps is a member of the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent (WSC), the second oldest federation of classical Fraternities in Europe with roots dating back to the 15th century.

[4] Membership in the fraternity is open to honorable men[7] studying at one of Dresden's universities and is based exclusively on personality, good moral standing, and strength of character.

[1] The fraternity encourages freshly admitted (pledging "fox") members with diverse ethnic, national, religious and political backgrounds to prove themselves as valuable Corps brothers, purely on the basis of personal character and merit, before becoming eligible to be fully incorporated (Rezeption).

The tradition is kept alive by both impromptu or "stand-up and talk" speeches (Stegreifrede in German) as well as elaborate platform presentations typical of industry and academia.

With the goal to achieve members who are prepared to become active leaders in society, every Corps brother is expected to hold a leadership position at least once for a term ("Semester") while a student.

[8] Similarly, every member must finish his higher educational degree with good academic standing in order to advance to the status of Alter Herr (alumnus).

[4][8] The object and purpose of the Corps was and still is solely the education of students to become a strong, free and cosmopolitan personality who is not held back by religious, racist, national, scientific or philosophical limitations of the mind.

Three primary institutions within the fraternity aid with achieving this aim; including the Corpsconvent [regular council meetings of the Corps Brothers], the Kneipe [celebratory get-together of Corps Brothers with speeches, beer and songs], and today's Bestimmungsmensur [the event of academic fencing with sharp blades for the first or one of the first times], where the ones to fence are chosen on the basis of placing two equal opponents in front of each other.

[4] The strong connection to the fraternity's founding location is often revived with a rhetoric get-together at Brühl's Terrace and spontaneous afternoon pub gatherings near the river Elbe as well as lavish balls throughout the year.

Several of Altsachsen's fraternity members were in high-ranking institute and government positions and had an influential role by lobbying Saxony's state government to recognize the technical institute as a higher education provider with polytechnical merits, which resulted in yet another name change to Königlich-Sächsischen Technischen Hochschule Dresden (Royal-Saxon Technical College of Dresden) in 1890.

Differences in opinion about tolerance and general politics led to the end of honorable greeting and fencing with certain types of fraternities, such as the Cheruscia Dresden in 1899.

[16][17] To guarantee her members reliable means to fence with other fraternities of like principles, Polyhymnia joint the Weinheimer Senioren-Convent (WSC) in 1927 and was renamed Corps Altsachsen.

From that point on, most of the social activity, such as eloquent balls as well as fencing engagements became limited to like-minded fraternities, the German Student Corps.

Still, as political pressures in Nazi Germany had increased to dangerous levels for fraternities during the next years, Corps Altsachsen officially suspended activities in 1936.

[14][20] During the Soviet dictatorship in East Germany, fraternities abiding by free will and common consensus were again not allowed to exist as they could not be controlled by the Socialist Party.

In 1997, the Corps Altsachsen transitioned its headquarters to its newly remodeled fraternity house on Weissbachstreet 1, right in the middle of the Campus of the Dresden University of Technology, thereby reconnecting with its traditional roots.

The Klinggräff-Medal is awarded for the combination of extraordinary accomplishments in academia, involvement for the fraternity and proven leadership on local and, preferentially, national level.