I. Correspondence,, 1825-1913 (bulk 1825-1881)
Dates
- 1825-1913 (bulk 1825-1881)
Scope and Contents
Summary: The Correspondence series contains two distinct types of material, general correspondence and communications. What is referred to as Correspondence is the larger group, and consists of letters from honorary members, alumni, the general public, and occasionally active members. The majority of the letters are responses to the society's offer of honorary membership or address invitations to speak before the societies. Those selected for honorary membership ran the gamut from future and ex Presidents of the United States, justices, religious leaders, and famous authors to local clergymen, landowners, and merchants. Society alumni were often made honorary as well as graduate members and were sought for speaking engagements and donations. The uniformly gracious tenor of the letters, regardless of a positive or negative response, are representative of 19th-Century language, etiquette, and thought. Correspondence with such well known personages as John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, William Makepeace Thackeray, James Fennimore Cooper, William Cullen Bryant, and Thomas Alva Edison demonstrate how this practice brought students into contact with intellectual and political leaders of the era. Correspondence might also touch on matters of business, such as the printing of addresses or repair work to Philo Hall. For a complete list of correspondents see the Appendices A, B, and C.
The second type of correspondence is intersociety and faculty communications. Communications were the mode of official communication to or from the faculty and between the two societies, advising the rival society of any resolutions or changes in constitution that bore directly on upon it. Sometimes these official communications are mundane, informing the other society of newly inducted members. This was done to establish the claim of the society on that person. As the same person could not be a member, either student or honorary, of both societies, competition was fierce to solicit potential new members and intersociety communications document this rivalry well. However, those communications other than the lists of new members, usually relay points of contention between the two societies or the faculty. In this way communications can be used as chronological markers to access other records on key issues.
Language of Materials
English
Arrangement
Arrangement: Contains correspondence, bound correspondence, correspondence: A-Z, communications to the Faculty, and communications to and from the Peithessophian Society.
The Correspondence Series is arranged in three groups that reflect format and previous arrangement rather than content. The first group, under the heading of Correspondence, is arranged chronologically from 1827-1881, 1913. The letters cover business, society, membership, and miscellaneous subjects and are from the general public, honorary members, alumni, and students. While it does include letters regarding honorary membership, the greatest quantity of that type of letter are found in Bound Correspondence and Correspondence: A-Z.
Bound Correspondence contains two volumes of correspondence relating to offers of honorary membership and follow up correspondence with those who have accepted membership . The first volume contains letters dating from 1825-1853 and are in rough chronological order. For a listing of names and exact order see Appendix A. The second volume covers the years 1826-1847 and is also in a rough chronological order. The letters in this volume are each numbered in pencil at the top; consult Appendix B for complete list of names and numbers. Both volumes contain mostly letters regarding honorary membership; the reasons for the inclusion of a particular letter in one volume or the other is not known.
Correspondence: A-Z is arranged alphabetically as in the previous arrangement. Almost all are letters of acceptance as honorary members. This grouping includes a large number of letters from the 1850's and 1860's, some from the 1830's, and fewer from the 1840's. There are only a few letters from the 1870's. For a list of the correspondents see Appendix C. Other letters of acceptance appear in the bound volumes and in the chronological files described above.
Communications to the Faculty contains official correspondence to the faculty on issues requiring some form of outside intervention. Includes the society's statements of position on their claim for the contended membership of Professor John Proudfit in 1841, which society should get to chose the commencement speaker in 1864, and the need for a gate on the side of Van Nest Hall in 1866-67.
Communications from the Peithessophian Society contain official correspondence between the two literary societies. Some of it is very polite and routine and includes joint ventures, notification of choice of a speaker, resolutions, and lists of new members inducted by each society. Other communications indicative of the intense rivalry of the societies and concern fights over honorary members and charges of spying.
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