by Kaylie Yaceczko
For nearly two full decades, the literary societies were the epitome of social life at The University of Akron; however, as fraternities and sororities came into the spotlight, the attention shifted to organizations that required less “academic” work for students. Though some students gave the impression that they had no desire to write creatively, eventually the truth poured itself onto the pages of the first student-led publication, The Buchtel Record. Founded in 1882 by student Alonzo Hyre (class of 1884), The Buchtel Record was a twelve-page magazine—four of which were full of advertisements from local Akron businesses to cover printing costs—dedicated to news of campus activities and organizations, humor at the University, and even poetry written by students. According to Fifty Years of Buchtel, the faculty supported the student editors, but they chose to not help them financially, as the University’s founder, John R. Buchtel, donated half of the printing cost to the magazine.
As we have seen with the literary societies, the magazine eventually faded away due to tensions between the new editor, E. J. Felt (class of 1887) and the faculty. Fifty Years of Buchtel describes how the Record was described as a “muzzled press” and had tyrannical repression from the faculty, so the paper was eventually sold to the faculty because of difficulties with free speech. All was not lost, however, because in 1889, The Buchtelite made its debut at Buchtel College. In its first edition, the editors of The Buchtelite noted how the termination of The Buchtel Record left the University without an outlet for the students’ voices and hindered literary spirits, which contradicts the students’ claim that they had no desire to write. The Buchtelite still remains a major part of the campus today, and the newspaper is run by student editors, just as it was in its earliest days.
As you can see in this photograph of one of the earliest Buchtelite editorial boards—taken from the University of Akron Archives—the journal had both men and women on the staff, allowing different voices to be heard just as the literary societies had began doing before. With writing taking over campus once again, creativity began to flow amongst the students and more students found a passion for creative writing.