By Kaylie Yaceczko
During the two decades of the University, the literary societies were the height of campus life, and some societies would have up to one total hundred members and would average around twenty to thirty active members each year.
One of the earliest societies was the Cary Literary Society, which was founded by Susie Chamberlain, the first graduate of Buchtel College and the society’s first president, in September 1872. Men from another early society were discussing their activities, and Chamberlain and other women overheard them and decided to make a society of their own without men. These women named the society after Ohio poets Alice and Phoebe Cary, and the group hosted a great number of events on campus. The society began as strictly for female college students, but as it grew, it eventually split into the Alice division, which joined the Bryant Society to become the Buchtel Union Society, and the Phoebe division, which remained the Cary Society but allowed female preparatory students. More on the Cary Society will appear in a future blog posting.
If it seems like these writers are a contentious bunch, you’d be right. Society members were always knocking heads about who should be permitted to join, and whether they shoudl be open to both men or women, or college students and preparatory students. This, along with the speaking competitions and the Inter-Society Contest, led to “friendly” rivalries between the societies, as depicted in the cartoon.
My project will be reenacting these rivalries on Instagram, in the comments section of Zippy’s Reading Room. There, you’ll see members of the Cary Society mocking writers from the Bryant Society, who in turn lambaste the Everett Society’s members. That, even though the Everett Society seems to have been a fan favorite, at least where the Buchtelite was concerned.
The Bryant Literary Society was established a year after the Cary Society formed and was strictly for male college students, though eventually preparatory students were allowed. The society was named after the journalist and poet William Cullen Bryant, and he donated funds and books to the members in the society. The society invited Bryant to give an address at their last reunion in 1878, but Bryant declined due to his old age and passed shortly after.
As the Cary Society and Bryant Society began to slow down, the Everett Society—founded in 1881—flourished. This society was founded for specifically male preparatory students, thought eventually male college students were permitted to attend meetings. The society published The Everett Star Paper, and the society was praised by The Buchtelite for its lively debates and prosperity.