On an average Saturday morning in 1872, the men of The University of Akron’s Greely literary society—named after Horace Greely, the founder and editor of the New-York Tribune—were discussing their literary endeavors and the society. What they didn’t know was Susie Chamberlain and other women were listening from around the corner. Upset to have been excluded from the conversation, these women decided then and there to form their own society, exclusive to the female students at UA. In fact, Chamberlain made it a point to have their society organized before the boys, and even the University’s president was on their side and encouraging them to “be sure and don’t let the boys get ahead of you.” Thus, the Cary Literary Society was born.
After finding a room to call their own and spending hours upon hours painting and establishing their roles, the women of the Cary Society were ready to make their mark on the University. The 1870–1920 collection Fifty Years of Buchtel notes that the society’s public debut was with the Greeley Society to host a “Union Entertainment and Reception” at the end of the University’s fall term, and it happened to be the first public event hosted by college students in Akron. The society hosted several events, such as the dedication of Cary Hall and short literary programs, receiving praise from The Daily Argus and The Buchtelite. As you can imagine, the Cary Society had a prominent role on campus, while the Greeley Society silently drifted into a distant memory.
As the society grew, a divide began to form between women in the college versus the few preparatory students. Eventually, this quiet split became two separate groups, the Alice division and the Phoebe division, after the namesakes of the society and the women depicted in illustrations representing the society as shown. The Alice division focused on women within the college and would meet at two o’clock in the afternoon for those who were unable to attend later meetings, and the Phoebe division met in the evenings. In 1883, the Alice division chose to merge with the Bryant Society to form a society exclusively for college students known as the Buchtel Union Literary Society, but the Phoebe’s chose to remain true to their roots. They dropped the name to simply the Cary and allowed preparatory students, giving it the description “a preparatory society for young ladies” in the yearbooks from The University of Akron Archives.