"[1] During the period when the Cornell literary societies flourished, the Irving and its peers produced literature at a rate higher 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 the university's founding.

Past members who went on to prominent careers included Judge Morris Lyon Buchwalter, Senator Joseph Benson Foraker, and the journalists John Andrew Rea and Francis Whiting Halsey.

However, the New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi undergraduate fraternity at Cornell claims to have "served as steward of the Irving Literary Society since 1888".

A compromise was struck in which the society was named after Irving, while Bright and the American orator, Charles Sumner, were admitted as the first honorary members.

I was Phi Kappa Psi, and wanted Foraker and Buchwalter to come on and join me in founding the New York Alpha, which we did, and we had a great bunch of boys.

[5]The first question put to the house in 1869 was "Resolved, the erection of a theatre was not in the interest of promoting correct morals within the University community."

[8] In 1873, members of the Curtis, Irving and Philaletheian societies jointly founded and ran the Cornell Review, "a repository of original articles, essays, stories, Woodford orations, elaborate discussions, and poems.

[citation needed] The first oration "Aristocracy of Sex" explored the natural law-based presumption of male supremacy in American and concluded that the assumption was based solely on "the prejudice of man."

The delivery was described by the Society's secretaries in The Cornell Era as "forcible, the orator receiving vigorous applause".

[10] The high point of the first event was a reading from Washington Irving's first major book, A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty, by Diedrich Knickerbocker.

In their description of Buchwalter's speech, the Society's secretaries wrote: The orator noted that some favored the gloomy side of human nature, believing man totally depraved.

[10]During the 1869 Commencement Week, the Irving Literary Society invited Theodore Tilton of the New York Independent to speak, Wednesday evening before the Thursday graduation exercises.

Buchwalter’s comments were so inflammatory that President White took to the platform before Foraker came to the dais and distanced the Trustees from Buckwalter's oration.

He also said, having in mind Buchwalter's speech, that the young men who made the talks were speaking their own thoughts and that the University was in no way responsible for their sentiments.

May 1870 saw the first extemporaneous orations, as well as miscellaneous essays such as Edgar Jayne’s “Secret Musings.” In lieu of the regular debate, the Irving also went into committee-of-the-whole on the Irish question, argument extending beyond midnight.

[20] In this environment, the Irving members invited the Cornell community to listen to debates over questions such as "Which has done most toward the promotion of civilization, Art or Science?

[23]The following Spring 1881 term, the Irving and the Cornell Club (a debating society) resumed their "union meetings" to bring the best of both organizations together for one evening's entertainment.

[26] Another example of Society activity during this period was the debate on the question, "Resolved, that indiscriminate personal eulogies and public demonstration are unsuitable methods of rewarding great achievements".

During this period, Society leadership overlapped with the university's literary pursuits, including with The Cornell Daily Sun.

Around the time of the Curtis' demise in 1881, an address by President White attributed the general decline in student interest for these societies to the growth of fraternities and sororities, decreasing importance placed on the power of oratory, and the development of the seminar system in the university.

[30]To appeal to broader audiences, the Irving sponsored events that would be more properly defined as 'popular entertainment' rather than of the traditional literary society genre.

During the Fall Term, 1886, the society hosted Professor Spenser Baird Newberry and his stereopticon entertainments, most notably show featuring vistas of Athens, Constantinople and Egypt.

[33] and the New York Alpha chapter of Phi Kappa Psi describes itself as having "served as steward of the Irving Literary Society since 1888".

"[34] In 2014, a group of Cornell University students, not affiliated with the NY Alpha chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, applied to revive The Irving.

[35] After graduating from Cornell, a number of Irving member had careers reflecting the literary and oratorical activities of the Society.

Francis Whiting Halsey (1873), was a prolific journalist and author who wrote for The New York Times from 1880 to 1896 and served as its literary editor from 1892.

On his return to the United States, he became agent and assistant general manager for the Associated Press in Chicago and New York City between 1873 and 1885.

[40] Frank Harding (1881) attended Albany Law School after graduation from Cornell and was admitted to the bar at Binghamton, New York.

He later served as deputy tax collector for Middletown, New York, owned a cigar factory, and became president of the Orange County Trust Company.

He also served as editor of The Cornell Daily Sun from 1884 to 1885, and during his senior year was President of the Irving Literary Society.