By Kaylie Yaceczko
Zippy’s Reading Room is an Instagram account documenting creative written expression throughout the history of the University. The main goal for this strand of Humans of UA project is tracing the rise and fall of literary societies on campus and looking at how students continue to use creative writing as an outlet both with and without a structured group.
In the beginning, the focus will be on the main three literary societies that were on campus—the Cary Society, the Bryant Literary Society, and the Everett Literary Society—and how they functioned on campus as well as why they slowly faded into becoming more of a social obligation rather than an appreciation for literature. In addition to this, poems and other shorter forms of prose from over the years will be posted on an Instagram account (@zippys_reading_room) with “commentary” from the late presidents of the literary societies.
These posts will be meant to show the progression of how poetry and prose began more as a hobby to becoming a form of artistic self-expression that we see today. Resources that will be utilized are The University of Akron Archival Services, past editions of the Buchtelite, and any University of Akron literary journals published.
Literary societies were a prominent presence at the University beginning around the 1870s, but they quickly fizzled out once fraternities and sororitiesbecame more popular. Many students insisted they did not want to be a part of a group that forced them to read or write; however, over the course of the University’s history, poetry and the appreciation for literature made its way back into the forefront of students’ minds. Poems were regularly published in newspapers like the Buchtelite, and eventually, student-run literary journals were being published on campus. The type of writing students did also grow and develop over the years, evolving from fun poems about going to class to becoming outlets for emotions and marginalized voices.
Follow Zippy’s Reading Room on Instagram @zippys_reading_room https://www.instagram.com/zippys_reading_room/