Crotonia (literary society)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "Crotonia" literary society – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

Crotonia was the first literary society to exist at Yale University. Little is known about it.[1] It existed until at least 1772.[2] A new literary society with the same name was created in 2007. [3]

## Context

[edit]

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the course of study at Yale was drastically different from what it is now. The majority of literature studied was that of the ancient Greeks, Romans, and, in the extensive study of the Old Testament, Hebrews. English literature was not introduced into the curriculum until the 1850s. The young men who studied at Yale at the time felt the need to supplement their studies with a working knowledge of contemporary literature and a forum in which to gain “skill in making known [their] own thoughts in good, plain English” .

The literary societies, which first appeared at Yale and soon afterward at many other colleges and universities, were designed to fill this void. Unlike other societies, students of any class from freshmen to seniors could be members of the literary societies; in fact, by the end of the eighteenth century, everyone at Yale belonged to one and there was often fierce competition for the recruitment of freshmen.

## Activities

[edit]

These societies were primarily debating societies, but they also held speeches and poetry readings and each had a substantial library, filled with books that one could not find in Yale College's collection.[1] Only the members of a given society had access to its library, and debates primarily took place within the society, though by the mid-1800s it was not unheard of for a speech to be attended by members of all three societies, or for inter-society debates to be organized. At the end of the Civil War, the Yale College faculty attempted to ban fraternities and sophomore societies. As a cover for their continued existence, many of these groups took the guise of small debating societies. Linonia and Brothers in Unity no longer dominated the college's social scene, and the Yale Union became the primary forum for debate. In 1872, Linonia and Brothers in Unity gave up their libraries to the college's collection and were wholly absorbed by the Union, which enjoyed intermittent existence until 1934 when it became the Yale Political Union.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "An Irrepressible Urge to Join". Yale Alumni Magazine. March 2001. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
2. ^ Straka, Kathy M. Umbricht (1980). "The Linonian Society Library of Yale College: The First Years, 1768—1790". The Yale University Library Gazette. 54 (4): 183–192\. ISSN 0044-0175. JSTOR 40858734.183-192&rft.date=1980&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40858734#id-name=JSTOR&rft.issn=0044-0175&rft.aulast=Straka&rft.aufirst=Kathy+M.+Umbricht&rft_id=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40858734&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Crotonia+(literary+society)" class="Z3988">
3. ^ Gribskov, Alena (9 November 2007). "More than just Lit: Writing opportunities abound at Yale". Retrieved 1 November 2023.

* v
* t
* e

College Literary Societies

Single campus|

* Columbia University (Philolexian Society)
* Davidson College (Eumenean Society)
* Erskine College (Euphemian Literary Society, Philomathean Literary Society)
* George Washington University (Enosinian Society)
* Georgetown University (Philodemic Society)
* Hampden–Sydney College (Union-Philanthropic Society)
* Harvard University (Signet Society)
* Illinois College (Gamma Nu, Phi Alpha Literary Society, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Pi)
* New York University (Eucleian Society)
* Princeton University (American Whig–Cliosophic Society)
* SUNY Geneseo (Delphic Fraternity)
* University of Chicago (University of Chicago Poetry Club)
* University of Georgia (Demosthenian Literary Society, Phi Kappa Literary Society)
* University of North Carolina (Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies)
* University of Pennsylvania (Philomathean Society)
* University of South Carolina (Clariosophic Society, Euphradian Society)
* University of Virginia (Jefferson Literary and Debating Society, Washington Literary Society and Debating Union)
* Washington & Jefferson College (Literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College)
* Vassar College (The Philaletheis Society)
* Yale University (Brothers in Unity, Calliopean Society, Crotonia, Elizabethan Club, Linonian Society, Yale Political Union)

Multi-campus|

* Alpha Delta Phi Society
* St. Anthony Hall

Defunct|

* Colgate University (Adelphian Society, Gamma Phi Society)
* Columbia University (Peithologian Society)
* Cornell University (Cornell literary societies)
* Hendrix College (Harlan Literary Society)
* New York University (Philomathean Society)
* Rutgers University (Peithessophian Society, Philoclean Society)
* University of Rochester (Delphic Society)

This article about a literary society or organization is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

|

* v
* t
* e

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template