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==Interests:== Botany; Associations; Middle Atlantic Region, social history of communities north of the Potomac, east of the Ohio, and west of the Hudson rivers; Cornell University; Department of Defense.

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Irving Literary Society (Cornell University)

The Irving Literary Society at Cornell University is a literary society of note during the first period of Cornell University’s history, and later incorporated into the Cornell University Residence Program of 1966 when its patron relocated from a private residence into University-owned facilities on Cornell's West Campus. The Irving’s performance was sufficiently notable in its first decade and a half of existence to prompt the Daily Democrat to lament its ‘decline’ at the hands students pursuing ‘technical’ interests in the mid-1880s. The University projected itself as a turning point in American education reform and the Irving was considered and integral and notable part of that reform. The life of the Irving, as such, tracks the transition of Cornell University away from the English collegiate model prevalent in 19th century American education and into the technical, German research university model, of which Cornell became a national exemplar over the next century.

In the history of American education, the Irving is notable in the role it played ending gender segregation and discrimination. Between the three Cornell literary societies, opinion was mixed following the admittance of women to the institution during AY 1872-1873. One side of the debate argued for full rights of membership irrespective of gender; the other argued that ‘debate’ was lessened if women participated. The Irving and the Curtis Literary Society took the former position; Philaletheian took the latter and limited membership to men.The society today executes the Cornell Board of Trustees’ ‘living and learning’ priorities as those goals apply to small residences with a census under one hundred students. Upon Commencement, the 1200 Irving members pursue a variety of professions and pursuits across the globe, tied to one another through the internet; meetings are held twice a year in the Ithaca valley and periodically at other venues, from time to time. The Irving's younger members are socialized through their own Facebook site. The life of the Irving has gained it notoriety outside the narrow sphere of Cornell life.

Founding

Society tradition claims the Irving’s creation was advanced in a conversation between Cornell’s first President, Andrew Dickson White, and the President’s student advisee, future newspaper editor, timberman and real estate developer, John Andrew Rea. in July 1868. This was recorded in correspondence between Rea and Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr. in 1932, "I had been a founder of Irving Literary Society, reported the name suggested by White, blackballing a classic name. When Rea and White first met, the University would not open its doors for another two and a half months. Rea arrived in the Ithaca valley early, and in his conversations with White, New York's native literary celebrity, Washington Irving, was offered as a role model to the first class of students. As Cornell historian Morris Bishop has written, the Irving was Cornell's first literary society. It is now the oldest continuously operating student-organized institution on the Hill."Many another club was formed. The "literary club," with its rooms, library, contests, and debates, had long been a feature of American college life. At Cornell the Irving Literary Association was founded only thirteen days after the University's opening, and the Philaletheian Society shortly thereafter. The goal of the historic Irving was to focus Cornell Students on the native arts, letters and culture of their new academic home in the Empire State.

Cornell Extracurricular Life in the 1860s

Given the limited liquidity of Cornell University during its opening years, the provision of room and board to Cornell Students was limited. The providing of extracurricular activities were also thought to within the responsibilities of the students, themselves. Professor Lincoln Burr would later recall, Cornell life was shaped and informed by the activities of first the Irving Literary Society (1868), then joined by the Philaletheian Literary Society (1868), then the Adelphi Literary Society (1870) and the Curtis Literary Society (1872). The Curtis was the first to admit women. While these student organization provided intellectual extracurricular sustenance, a series of eating clubs provided board: "The Struggle for Existence," "Survival of the Fittest," "Destroying Angel," and near the current site of Sibley Hall donated by Hiram Sibley, "The Gentlemen's Eating Club", and afterward renamed the "Hotel du Gorge."

The Irving’s seat was not far from the “The Gentleman’s Eating Club” in Andrew Dickson White Hall or “North University”, a companion to Morrill Hall or “South University” on what is now the Quadrangle, College of Arts & Sciences but which at the time housed the entire University. Though White’s vision of the modern American university was radically different than American higher education’s normative model, the initial Cornell campus order often copied older antebellum forms. Andrew Dickson White was a product of the Romantic period, and his coaching of undergraduates reflected as much. He offered as a role model, a “great Man” of letters, Washington Irving. President White desired older forms of student organization, such as literary societies. Phi Kappa Psi organized the Irving Literary Association for him.

The Irving’s early history reflected an American elite transition from oration to print, as the society’s debates and readings encountered competition from student publications such as the Cornell Era and the Cornell Review. Two decades later and while he studied at Cornell, Irving member Thorsten Veblen would categorize collegiate athletics and fraternities as vestigial structures, structures which lingered as the world changed. In the Theory of the Leisure Class (1898), Veblen described in a general sense two staples of the Cornell campus, its fraternity houses and its varsity sports teams. Veblen also identified the demise of the literary society as a symptom of the English collegiate model’s decline in America, a decline Andrew Dickson White sought to further with the founding of the Cornell University as a research university in the German tradition. To Veblen, conditions such as those at Cornell in the 1890s were emblematic of a new academic order, and order dominated by individualism, scientific and technical expertise, and support for the process of manufacturing, trading and distributing goods and services.

John Andrew Rea was the second President of the Irving Literary Society; his Recording Secretary between September and December, 1868, had been Hendrick Van Lieuw Jones and his new Recording Secretary was Royal Taft. The competition observed on American college campuses by Thorsten Veblen a generation later found early expressions in literary societies, of which the Irving was actually a national latecomer. The format and style was not natural to Cornell:

Irving Literary Association, Jan. 29, 1869

Owing to the somewhat notable scarcity of orators, essayists and debaters, the literary exercises were deferred for one week. The interest then seemed to center on the consideration of a motto for the Association. After some discussion it was decided that Truth, although the rarest thing in the world, and in especial dispute in high places, should be our watchword. It then remained to choose in what language to express it. Champions of the English and the Greek alone appeared. On the one hand, it was urged that as ours is a modern Institution, going counter to many of the time-established customs, so we should show our independence by ignoring precedents, and express our motto in English, a language understood, in a measure, by all our members.

On the other hand, the claims of the Greek were presented, in a manner that must have caused much joy among the shades of the departed. On counting the votes the supporters of Greek were found to be a majority, and Alethia was declared to be our motto.

The committee having under consideration the propriety of hold public exercises some time during the presence College year reported favorably.

//s// A.B.C. Dickinson, Cor. Sec’y.

From this early Irving debate between these members came a watchword which informed the operation of Cornell’s first “student union.” The Irving and its peer societies were becoming the means by which Cornell’s first students organized themselves in the years before fraternities took their place through the creation of Sphinx Head and Quill & Dagger. These young Cornellians chose “Truth” as the Irving’s watchword, realizing that it was a rare quality in human intercourse and in specific dispute in high places, among the American elite of the aging Transcendental and Progressive generations. At a different time and in a different place, another watchword other than “Alethia” may have emerged from the discourse of this band of literary friends.

Early Irving Exercises

When officers were elected for the Spring term 1870, future Ohio jurist Morris Lyons Buchwalter and Hendrick Van Lieuw Jones assumed leadership of the Irving, taking the positions of President and Chairman of the Executive Committee.

The use of Washington Irving’s memory met a couple of needs on the Hill. Andrew Dickson White was perhaps anxious to prove to the Albany Legislature that the new Cornell University would extol the native arts and culture of New York State, giving State Legislators cover from a difficult conflict of interest debate resulting from the fact that both White and Ezra Cornell were sitting legislators when the New York Assembly approved the Charter for the University. Having an Irving Literary Society, named for the Empire State’s first citizen of arts and letters, was a small selling point for the proposition that the public interest was present on the Hill. Given that Cornell Students were coming from far and wide to the new institution, having a common shared culture reference to the locale was another advantage.

The first major event staged by the Irving attracted notability beyond the Cornell community, garnering the attention of media outlets beyond the Hill. And even though Buchwalter was now presiding officer, he deferred to Rea when the Irving sponsored its first notable public event on the occasion of Washington Irving’s birthday:

Irving Literary Association, April 3, 1869

According to announcement, the public exercises of the Society in commemoration of the birthday of Washington Irving, were held in Library Hall, on the evening of April 3d, at 7½ p.m. The crowd began to gather at an early hour, and by the time appointed for opening the exercises, the large hall and gallery were entirely filled. A glance at the audience was sufficient to how that the most cultivated and literary portion of the community were present, and that the citizens of Ithaca are interested in literary attempts of the students.

The exercises were opened by an impressive prayer by the Rev. Dr. T.C. Strong. Then followed music by Whitlock’s band, which had been engaged for the occasion, and which during the intervals between speaking enlivened the audience with the most delightful airs.

The President, John A. Rea, then announced an oration by G.F. Behringer, N.Y. City. Subject: “Aristocracy of Sex.” Mr. Behringer began by stating that our social system is founded on the assumption, by one class of natural rights entitling them to rule over the other class, that there is no foundation for such an assumption except in the prejudice of man, and adherences to old usages, and that nothing has been shown to prove that woman is not equal to man in intellectual capacity. He made some beautiful and striking allusions to the Peasant Girl of Domremy, Catharine of Russia,and Queen Elizabeth. He closed by remarking that a new era was at hand when woman should stand equal, by the side of man. The delivery was easy and then manner of the speaker showed you that he was in earnest with his subject. After the music came an essay by D.J. Brigham, of Watkins, N.Y. Subj: “Our Capital and the War.” Mr. Brigham’s essay recalled some of the interesting reminiscences of the war, and the scenes enacted at our Capital, most prominent among which was the assassination of President Lincoln. These events were alluded to in singularly beautiful language, which aided by the voice of the speaker, produced a pleasing effect. Music.

The next exercise was an oration by H.V.L. Jones, of Lodi Center, N.Y. Subj: “Our National Tendency.” Mr. Jones said it was the tendency of nations as the grow stronger to widen the interval between rich and poor; that already there are evidences that the beginning of class system has arisen among us, and that the same consequences may follow which have destroyed other nations. The delivery was forcible, the speaker receiving the applause of the audience.

After the music, the audience was disappointed by the announcement of Mr. Halliday, the debater of on the affirmative of the question: “Resolved, That the Protective Tariff of the United States should be abolished,” that it was generally known that his opponent, Mr. J.B. Foraker of Hillsboro, O., had been sick for sometime, and as it would endanger his health to speak, he (Mr. Halliday,) had at once withdrawn from the debate.

Then followed a reading from Irving, by Mr. A.B.C. Dickinson, of Ithaca. This was probably the most entertaining feature of the programme. The selection was from Diedrich Knickerbocker’s history of New York, and exhibited that inimitable humor of which Washington Irving is so celebrated. The historian was of the opinion that were made to be eaten by spiders, and spiders were made to catch flies; that the heroes who have performed great deeds have existed only for historians, and that the historians have existed only to record those deeds, there being in this a peculiar fitness of things. The extract was read and appreciated by all.

The President then thanked the audience for their attention, the band for music, announced the closing oration by M. Buchwalter, Chillicothe, O. Subject: “The Poles.” The oration referred not to the Polanders, as was expected by some, but to the extremes in moral and religious sentiment and action. The diversity of opinion which has appeared in human thought, was compared to particles of matter vibrating between the poles of a magnet. Some looking on the gloomy side of human nature tell us that man is totally depraved. Another, dwelling in the sunshine, can see nothing buy loveliness and purity. The easy grace of the speaker, the melody of his voice, and the sparkling thought of the oration, captivated the audience.

//s// G.W. Farnham

//s// J. O’Neill, Secretaries

As a partnership between the New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity and the first President of the Cornell University, the Irving Literary Society was now a success.. The orations given on Irving’s birthday give an indication of the notable views of the membership, notable in that they represented a progressive perspective common to elements of the Radical Republican movement which would shortly fade during the Gilded Age, only to reemerge in the early 20th century. The Irving was ahead of where the Republic was directed. Future Judge Buchwalter was perhaps the most advanced in his thinking, exhibiting a grasp of human philosophy which would appear again, and again, after he was elected to the Ohio judiciary in later years. The fact that Buchwalter sought metaphors in Physics as early as the late 1860s proves that Andrew Dickson White had shattered the old English collegiate model, bringing the fresh insights of new research into a new concept, the American research University.

Other topics at that first Irving event would dominate public discourse through to the Great Depression (1929-1942). On the subject of the federal tariff levied on imports, both East and Middle West were of the same accord: tariffs, yes. These were strong manufacturing regions wanting to tilt the American consumers’ purchases toward American firms. A counter argument to this would come in later years through Irving member Woodrow Wilson, a southron who saw tariffs as injurious to consumers.

Henry Jones’ oration is especially important to note. Jones was of old Knickerbocker stock, rooted in the colonial past celebrated by Washington Irving and remembered through this Irving event. He would go on to become a jurist in New York State. At the Irving birthday celebration, Hendrik spoke of the growing gap between rich and poor in America. This was an incredibly prescient and notable topic for a Cornell undergraduate to speak upon in 1869. It would become a tenet of the Democratic Party over the next half century and would remain a public priority of both political parties into the 21st century.

And, of course, one can not overlook the address delivered on the equality of women. It was given by Behringer, who was not a Cornell fraternity man. Indeed, even the Irving was segregated at this point. The Association would permit women to join in the 1870s, once society in general recognized that literary events were chaperoned activities. The concern over debauchery was high in the 1860s. The future Reverend Behringer was advocating a level of equality that Cornell would only come to recognize a century later. Again, among these intrepid notable literati of that first year the University was in operation, there were intellectual diamonds in the dust.

John Andrew Rea would become in later years a great publicist, promoter of trade and development in the Pacific Northwest. With Washington Irving’s birthday celebration completed, Rea solicited Abolitionist and civil rights activist Theodore Tilton. Rea was able to book Tilton, the abolitionist orator and free love advocate, the Wednesday prior to the Class of 1869’s commencement.

So during the Commencement Week for the Class of 1869, the Irving Literary Association and its peers invited Theodore Tilton, editor of the New York Independent to speak, Wednesday evening before the Thursday graduation exercises. Society members gathered with guests for this notable Ithaca event with guests Cornell Public Library in downtown Ithaca. Ezra Cornell was present. Library Hall was at standing room only as Tilton, a genuine orator of the old school, attracted large audiences. This was the crowning achievement of Rea’s short work in Ithaca. Tilton’s enthusiastic, magnetic power was carried by a good voice, well used, a fine presence, a command of words and thoughts. His frequent flashes of wit and brilliant telling, and his more serious discourse was inspiring and impressive. Theodore Tilton spoke on the subject of “the human mind, and how to use it.”

The following day, Tilton stayed for the Commencement ceremonies. Irving members provided commentary again notable for its progressive bent. Morris Buchwalter spoke on The Civil Sabbath Law; Joseph B. Foraker spoke of Three Hundred Lawyers; and Jack Rea made A Plea for the Artist. Buchwalter’s comments were so inflammatory that President A.D. White took to the platform before Foraker came to the dais and distanced the Trustees from Buck’s oration. With respect to prizes, future Wisconsin legislator Thomas W. Spence took 3rd Prize, Botany and Rea took 2nd Prize, Modern History.

The Second Year

When the University’s doors opened for its second full year of operation during AY1869-1870, three of the Irving founders had departed. Replacing Rea, Buchwalter and Foraker was Thomas Wilson Spence. Spence was at Cornell a year behind the older three Irving founders. Royal Taft spent less time on Irving affairs during the second year and more time advancing his fraternity’s interests. Also replacing Rea in the Irving leadership were fellow fraternity brothers and Irving members Festus Walters, Hendrik Van Lieuw Jones, William Penn “Chum” Ryman, Abram Rappleye Townsend and Edgar Jayne. William “Chum” Ryman – as an editor of the Cornell Era –promoted the new literary clubs as a center of Cornell life. This is notable in that while it was representing itself as the paragon of American educational reform, Cornell University was also adopting at least one of the staples of the English collegiate model in American, literary societies:

The University Literary Societies

At the opening of the college year it is proper that something should be said to our new students regarding the advantages afforded them for literary edification. In addition to the regular University exercises the students have organized two large literary societies, the Philalathian and Irving, which have been in active operation during the greater part of the last year, doing much good in affording facilities for the presentation of the efforts of the students. These societies have been organized to meet the wants of the great mass of students, and afford them encouragement by harmonious and combined actions. The manner by which we learn from the great speakers of the day may here be applied and in turn, by each, while the mutual criticisms of students will aid in rubbing off the rough corners and polishing into beauty that which was before uncouth. It is hoped that our young friends will avail themselves of these advantages by attending the regular meetings of the societies and becoming members. The Philalathians meet every Saturday evening at Deming Hall; the Irving meets at the same place on Friday evening.

//s// William “Chum” Ryman

The Irving was not merely social. Evidence of actual indigenous literary endeavor appeared during the second academic year of operations. Secretary William Penn “Chum” Ryman was an editor of Cornell’s then-daily newspaper, The Cornell Era. And Phi Kappa Psi’s first post-graduate tap—Chemistry Instructor Frank Wigglesworth Clarke—took time from his heavy workload teaching students in AY 1868-1869 to write a guide to the geological features of the Ithaca valley, Views Around Ithaca. Ryman wrote the review in the Cornell Era.

Within the Irving itself, the regular meeting of the Irving Literary Society (the name changes to ‘Society” in its second year) in mid-October 1869 was deemed “A Feast of Reason”. Festus Walters gave a stunning oration, followed by a scholarly essay by J.R. Tallmadge. The debate was on the question:—”Resolved that Byron was not a great poet.” It was a one-sided question as far as the sympathy of the audience was concerned. But it was earnestly and vehemently argued in the affirmative by Wilmot, Thomas Wilson Spence and O’Neill, and with less fervor from the supposed strength of their position by Almy, Salmon, Kirk Ingham, Leffinwell, and Rogers on the negative. The question being settled in the negative, Byron was placed in rank with Milton, Shakespeare, Dante, and Goethe, which according to the Cornell Era, “no doubt will cause Byron, if his love of adulation has been interred with his bones, to rest easily in his coffin. The number of visitors was unusually large, and manifested great interest in the discussion. The topic for discussion for next Friday evening, is:— ‘Resolved that class feeling and distinctions should not be encouraged in the University.’ From the list of debaters, and the lively interest manifested in the subject on one or more occasions by the membersof ’72 and ’73, a warm time is anticipated. You are invited to be present.’

As the Winter Term 1869-1870, the regular election of officers of the Irving Literary Society were held. The utmost good feeling prevailed during the entire election, which resulted as follows: President, James O’Neill; Vice President, William. P. “Chum” Ryman; Corresponding Secretary, H.W. Slack; Recording Secretary, W.H. Hayes; Treasurer, Myron Kasson; Librarian, Irving Hoagland; Curator, Van Lieuw Jones; Chairman Executive Committee, E.F. Robb. A debate and a contest in other departments of literary excellence was being planned between the two literary societies, to be held in Library Hall downtown. The regular exercises for the following Friday, at Deming Hall on Ithaca’s State Street, were scheduled to the debate the question “Resolved, that increased wealth is beneficial to the morals of a people.” This was predicted to be will undoubtedly call out a lively debate. The public were invited to attend.

Other associations were forming in the wake of the Irving’s founding. The Young Men’s Catholic Literary Association held a meeting in November 1869 at Deming Hall on Ithaca’s State Street. The subject of debate was, “Resolved, That the French Revolution exerted a beneficial effect on the civilization of Europe.” Besides the Philalatheian and Irving, other smaller societies were being started, some for the reason that the larger societies did not allow speakers to perform often enough, while some found that they could collect their thoughts in a large meeting. While it was generally believed that the Irving and Philalatheian Associations furnished the best means of literary culture, all were pleased to see smaller societies start which perhaps may act as training schools for the larger.

As the Cornell Era opined, “e are glad to note the organization of two or three small literary societies among the students, one of which holds its meetings in one of the University lecture rooms. These do in a humbler way, although perhaps as effectually, the work of the large societies and interest those who are not confident enough to appear before large audiences.”

The contests between the two leading societies, the Irving and the Philalatheian, continued. William Penn Ryman became a larger campus literary leader through his leadership at the Irving and editorship at the Cornell Era. The Irving itself continued to probe the difficult questions:

Editors of Era:—The Irving Literary Association had a fine meeting last Saturday night at the Clinton House Hall. An oration, finely delivered by Mr. Barnes, showed great preparation and study and was well received by the audience. A very instructive essay by Mr. _________ followed. The debate then commenced. The question, “Resolved that capital punishment ought to be abolished.” The debate was listened to with a lively interest and many participated. After quite a sharp context, the debaters on the negative side of the question had succeeded, by their arguments, in convincing the majority present that they were in the right. The society then went into executive session, and adjourned, after transacting necessary business. Thus passed one of the best meetings of the Irving.

Association Hall

During the spring of 1870, Phi Kappa Psi’s initial labor on behalf of the Cornell University was reciprocated as Andrew Dickson White allocated a large room inside the center door of now-White Hall, to the right, for the use of the literary societies. On the Cornell campus, White Hall is the companion structure to Morrill Hall. At the time, White Hall was called “North University” and housed the engineering Department as well as the offices of Professor Goldwin Smith. Within “North University” was “Association, or Society, Hall”:

“This is a large and beautifully furnished room used for meetings of the two chief literary societies and the Students’ Christian Association. It is carpeted, and its walls are partly wainscoted in two woods, partly tinted. On them, supported by bronze brackets, are placed nine full-length bonze statuettes executed in Paris and representing the following historic characters: Washington, Franklin, Shakespeare, Newton, Moliere, Goethe, Cervantes, Dante and Michel Angelo. Interspersed between these are twenty large engravings, many of them proof impressions, depicting important scenes in the history of America and other countries. A half hour may well be devoted to their examination, since some of the imported ones are exceedingly rare in this country. Nor should the handsome desk on the president’s rostrum be neglected, noteworthy as it is for the elegance of its design and the thoroughness of its execution. All the fittings of this hall are of the most substantial kind.”

It was here, in North University, that Tom Hughes – Member of Parliament – came to visit during AY 1870-1871. As the Cornell Era reported, “he Societies’ Hall in North University is now filling up and will soon be completed in the course of the term. The work has already been progressing for some days. We congratulate the two literary societies and the Christian Association on their prospective hall which will be unsurpassed in elegance by the rooms of any like associations. The coast of preparing and furnishing the Hall will, we understand, be some thirteen or fourteen hundred dollars.” The funds were a direct gift from President White. As the Spring Term AY 1869-1870 opened (the University calendar ran from October to June in the 19th century, leaving harvest season open for work on the farm), many members of the Irving were preparing to graduate. Younger leadership was, however, in place, including Abraham Rappleye Townsend and another was keen on debate, Edgar Levi Jayne:

Ithaca, April 30, 1870

Editors of Era:—The first meeting of the Irving Literary Association for the present term was held at the Clinton House Hall last Saturday evening. After a few remarks by the retiring President, Butler, the newly elected President, Mr. Robb, then received the constitution, and thanking the members for the honor, resumed his seat. An excellent oration by Mr. Remington was then listened to, which showed considerable thought and study. The debate then commenced. The question was: “Resolved, That ladies should be admitted to our colleges.” The affirmative was sustained by Messrs. Osborne, Jayne, Butler and Hagar; and the negative by Messrs Warner, Raymond and Lockhart. The debate was spirited and one of the best we have ever had. It was decided on the vote, both as to the arguments presented and the merits of the question, in the negative. Society then adjourned for one week.

//s//A.R. Townsend, Corresponding Secretary.

Edgar Jayne’s essay was featured at the next meeting of the Irving:

Irving Literary Association, May 28, 1870

This was the evening for the installation of officers, and accordingly, Mr. Robb retired from, and Mr. Parker assumed the duties of president. Both gentlemen made pointed remarks in regard to the need of the association. Mr. Knibloe delivered an extemporaneous oration. Mr. Jayne favored us with an essay on “Secret Musings,” whose merit was increased not a little by the excellent manner in which it was read. In lieu of the regular debate, the association went into committee of the whole on the “Fenian invasion.” After the sorely oppressed emerald isle had been laid, bleeding before us by some, to excite our sympathy; and the foolhardy invasion of the Fenians had been sufficiently ridiculed by others, the business session commenced. Having lingered under this head until one gentleman remarked that we were encroaching on Sunday, the association adjourned for one week.

//s//F.H. Remington, Corresponding Secretary.

In a small institution, the overlap of fraternity, club and fraternity membership is common. And while Thorsten Veblen posited that fraternities and sports teams were the primary means by which primal competition inserted itself into American institutions of higher learning, the same competitive instinct would found in forms Veblen disassociated from competition, such as literary societies. By the close of AY 1869-1870, Phi Kappa Psi’s competitive hold on the Irving Literary Society was slipping. The Irving would continue its debates on the Protective Tariff, but the end of Phi Kappa Psi’s brilliant dawn on the Cornell campus was nigh. Just a year before, John Andrew Rea and Morris Lyons Buchwalter presided as past-Irving Presidents over the society’s 1869 Commencement convocation, with Phi Psi’s Theodore Tilton as the lead speaker. For the 1870 Commencement convocation, it was Professor Goldwin Smith of the future Psi Upsilon speaking. In the audience were two brothers of Phi Kappa Psi, Townsend and Jayne, who would abandon Phi Kappa Psi for Psi Upsilon when the founding of the latter occurred. The history of the Irving not only confirms the writings of Thorsten Veblen, it shows that the competitive instinct was wider than the theorist was perhaps willing to concede.

During the quiet of the Summer Recess, 1870, Cornell University found itself in the odd position of being a tourist attraction. Visitors to Ithaca now climbed the Hill to see Mr. Ezra’s experiment. Among the site the visited was Society Hall of the Irving Literary Association, the crowning work of Rea’s short year on the Hill:

The visitors, who during vacation, have wandered through the halls of the University, though in many and even the majority of cases persons of cultivation and refinement, have had among their number some few that evidently never enjoyed to the utmost the fine educational advantages of our beloved country. One gentleman, for instance, on being shown the large photograph of the Coliseum in the North Chapel, professed to understand exactly what was meant by the word Coliseum, but shortly inquired, with refreshing ignorance, where on the campus it would stand when completed. Another, on viewing the specimen of an American wild turkey, in the Ornithological collection, and unfortunately happening to see near it a label of a European Pheasant, was at first thunderstruck, but soon recovered sufficiently to explain to the lady at his side the supposed difference between the domestic bird of our own country and the apparent European specimen. Among other things, the copy of the Magna Charta has been described as a photo of the Declaration of Independence; the bronzes in the society rooms as the statuettes of Professors; the masons on the McGraw Building as student members of the labor corps; the laboratory buildings as the barracks; and the Clerk of the Cascadilla Hotel has been anxiously inquired for.

The Irving Becomes a General Campus Institution

The competitive theories of Thorsten Veblen are confirmed in the general course of the Irving’s trajectory the following term, as no member of Phi Kappa Psi was listed as involved in debate or among the Irving’s leadership. The founding class of DEKE is evident everywhere, having succeeded in their desire to use the Phi Kappa Psi model for the expansion of its mission on the Hill. The Irving debate turned more conservative, as well, the Irving resolving that religious dissent exerted a bad moral influence and should be suppressed. This may be due to the fact that departure of Phi Kappa Psi diminished the Radical Republican presence among the Cornell Students, six years before the federal Government reversed Reconstruction policy and surrendered the civil liberties of freed slaves. At the very next Irving meeting, it was resolved, oddly, that the tendency toward world societies was toward the new Democracy. The Curtis Literary Society, a transcendental effort admitting women, became last member of the early Cornell literati triumvirate in 1872. The three societies combined efforts to produce their own publication, the Cornell Review, in December 1873. The Review was the repository of original articles, essays, stories, Woodford orations, elaborate discussions, and poems. It was published first by representatives of the literary societies—the Irving, Curtis and Philalatheian —for which latter there was substituted in 1880 an "editor from the Debating club” after the collapse of the Philalatheian. The Curtis died out a few years later. The Curtis’ possessions were routed over the American History Section Room, provided to Professor Tyler. After 1883, the Cornell Review drew its editors from the Irving, the Debating club, and three appointed by the retiring Review board from each of the upperclasses: Sophomore, Junior and Senior. It was issued first as a quarterly in 1873, but with AY 1874-1875, the Review was a monthly.

Regarding the departure of Phi Kappa Psi from the Irving, Veblen’s theory of competition within institutions of higher learning are again confirmed. Perhaps sensitive to the news leaking out about dissent within the new, more conservative Irving Literary Society in 1870, the now-DEKE centered leadership issued a call to membership through the Cornell Era:

Now, before concluding, let me say a few words to those members of the University who do not belong to a literary society. A large majority of you are pursuing a scientific course. You come here with little, if any, literary experience; and you find the literary training of the University, though as much as could be well introduced into a course of this nature, still far less than is desirable, if not absolutely necessary, to one who fills the position you expect to, after you graduate. I doubt if there is a man among you who will not be called upon, very often, to speak in public, as college graduates are generally supposed to be always ready to respond to such calls; and, unless you have had considerable experience in extemporaneous speaking, you will not only be painfully embarrassed, but will lose and excellent opportunity of adding to your reputation. If you miss this needed experience it will be your own fault; there never was a better opportunity than you enjoy, for acquiring it. There are good literary societies connected with the University. Speaking for “the Irving,” I can say that determined, earnest young men are always gladly received as members. By a late revision of the constitution, arrangement have been made for doing the business of the Association in the shortest possible time; thus giving all who wish a chance to speak on the debate. All students, whether members or not, cordially invited to call in and hear the literary exercises. //s//S.

The Irving’s Last Decade Before Absorption into Phi Kappa Psi

In May 1882, the Irving hosted Professor Shackford at Association Hall for a lecture which garnered the interest of a future Irving member, Professor Franklin Sanborn Sanborn is a transitional figure in American intellectual history, a linkage between the 19th century’s Transcendentalism, an intellectual awakening that influence Irving members Morris Lyons Buchwalter and Joseph B. Foraker. Sanborn lectured frequently at Cornell University, and was eventually tapped into the New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Cornell in the next decade. The Transcendentalism was still popular at Cornell University in the 1880s and 1890s:

Professor Shackford's lecture at Association Hall last Friday evening before the Irving Society was characterized by the profound knowledge of Emerson's life and character which it displayed. The lecturer sketched in life-like colors the early history of the dead philosopher, his revolt against sects and parties and his entire emancipation from all bonds of habitude until "he was a school, a religion, a philosophy in himself." Emerson was called the "prophet of common-sense," and the application of the term to him who had sometimes been considered strange and mystical, was defended. His character of a transcendentalist was considered. His academic orations were examined and their beauties pointed out. The hopeful tone of all his writings was contrasted with the cynicism of Carlyle. During the lecture, Professor Shackford read various selections from Emerson's writings bringing out their grand beauty of thought and style, and showing that all were true poems in conception and effect. We should be glad to quote at length from the lecture, did not the fact that it is in part printed in the last Review render this unnecessary. All will be amply repaid for reading this lecture by the deeper insight into the life and work of Emerson which it will give them.

And how did Phi Kappa Psi itself return to the Irving in those last years of the literary society’s open and transparent tenure on the Hill? Future brother of Phi Kappa Psi, Harry Falkenau was hugely active in the Irving Literary Society. This issue is important, in part, because Falkenau was later in both Phi Kappa Psi and the Irving, and was Jewish, at a time when Cornell was actively deciding whether it was a Christian university. The literary event topics were similar, but the format somewhat changed. Papers were read more often than not; musical performances not uncommon in “the Irving Hall”. Goethe and Whittier were popular authors, as was, of course, Irving. Membership was now open to men and women. The Irving was also one of the few places one could mix, socially, with the opposite gender.

The society had begun, however, to focus on more narrow pursuits. It sponsored, for instance “Pronounciation Matches” in which members brought lists of words they had heard mispronounced on the campus and debated the correct articulation of the word. In January of 1887, Society meetings were changed in format again. The meetings had moved from Friday to Saturday when the Philalatheian Society closed. The program was divided into two two parts. The first literary, consisting of papers, talks, etc., which were opened to discussion by the audience; the second part social, interspersed with music and suitable divertisements.

Cornell’s literary societies faced pressure on all sides. The Philalatheian busted out in 1880; The Curtis followed in 1883. Fraternity men who once competed within the Irving now had a new field of play, the Cornell Congress. The Congress mimicked the National Congress in form and substance. The Irving sought to check the Congress when it was straying into the senior society’s turf:

At the Mock Congress, Saturday evening a bill was presented making the coinage of silver free. After considerable discussion a bill relating to the admission of the southern part of Dakota as a state was passed. A challenge from the Irving Literary Society to a public debate was considered, it was accepted and the Congress decided that the Speaker appoint three debaters to make all arrangements, acting with a similar committee from the Irving. The debate will be held in Library Hall some time this term and promises to be very interesting.

The Philalatheian and Curtis were gone, or gone underground; but the debate continued with the Congress. No longer the center of Cornell life, the Irving became a little more frivolous. Extemporaneous addresses began to resemble Toastmasters, with topics such as “How to Run A Sailboat.” Readings were made from current fiction, and poetry. The Critic still gave his weekly (and scathing) reviews of recent publications; and Harry Falkenau, among others, provided music.

The end of the Irving’s weekly, public meetings came as a surprise. Interest and leadership was strong through the Spring Term, 1887, when future Cornell professor Rowlee was the last President, Irving Literary Association, being the 18th President since John Andrew Rea. On May 20, 1887, the last public debate of the Irving Literary Association was held on the vital question,

Resolved, is plagiarism morally wrong?

A week later, a business meeting was held to elect the next semester’s officers, the members went home for Summer Break, and never returned to the dais. The public collapse was so odd that the Cornell Daily Sun ran an editorial during the Fall Term, AY 1887-1888, asking what happened to the Irving Literary Society?

here are the active members of the Irving? Don't all speak at once . What is the matter with literary societies at Cornell, and more especially where is the Irving ? Up to the last Commencement the Irving had a prosperous and profitable career. Was the long heated term of the summer too much for it ? Did it dose off into some drowsy Rip Van Winkle torpor from which it will return in genuine Sleepy Hollow fashion or has it relapsed into the limbo of the busted ? Every other society has held several profitable meetings and the Freshman class has held probably more meetings than the whole business combined, while new clubs and societies are being organized every week

At the time of the Irving Literary Association’s evaporation, Phi Kappa Psi was heavily involved in literary activities. The Cornell Daily Sun and the Cornellian staffs were both manned by brothers of the New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity. There was a meeting of Phi Psi’s brothers working within the Cornell Congress and the brothers on the literary staffs; no one wanted the Irving to fold, but the Cornell Congress, frankly, was cutting deeply into student interest in the organization. Rather than continue public literary exercises in Association Hall, Phi Kappa Psi would “take back” the Irving, and serve as stewards of the University’s oldest student organization. The position of “President” was renamed “Dean”, and Elwin Brockway Bentley (1887)(1891) was asked to be the first Dean. The relationship was eventually memorialized in the Cornell University Residence Plan of 1966.

Relationship to Other Cornell Organizations

After the collapse of the old literary societies which organized Cornell life in the 1870s and 1880s, “the Irving” and its co-societies were supplanted by other Cornell institutions, the growing popularity of Cornell Athletics and the new Senior Honorary Societies, Sphinx Head and Quill & Dagger, among others. Following the Great War, activism by Independents formed the Cornell Student Council and, in a conservative counter-reaction, an Interfraternity Council (IFC) was formed distinct and separate from the Cornell Student Council. This division in Cornell life was permanent, reflecting a beginning of the student body’s diversification which would accelerate after the Second World War. Some would eventually contend diversification also led to a weakening of the Cornell Students as a discrete Hill interest. One prominent member of the Irving was a member of “the Mechanics” stewarding Cornell’s Student Council during the constitutional collapse preceding the Willard Straight Takeover of 1969.

After Absorption

In 1888, “The Irving” portfolio was returned to its founders, the men of the New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Cornell. A fraternity member with campus literary interests was assigned duties of “Dean” and the Chapter folded some society activities into its program. Seated at the Gables of Phi Kappa Psi at Cornell, “the Irving” conducts periodic talks in the Great Hall overlooking Cayuga Lake and produces a newsletter, The New York Alphan (“NYAlphan”) as an official record of the Chapter’s life and times. Through the newsletter, the men of New York Alpha use their dual membership in the Irving Literary Society to foster academic excellence and a life of arts, letters and culture in themselves and their peers. Highlights of this Irving intellectual activity would include engagement with eminent theorists Woodrow Wilson (discussant, 1886); Thorsten Veblen (discussant, 1892); Frank Heyworth Hodder (discussant, 1932); Reinhold Neibuhr (discussant, 1933); Bronislaw Malinowski (discussant, 1936); F. Alan Fetter (discussant, 1902); Paul O'Leary (discussant, 1955 and 1965); Theodore J. Lowi (discussant, 1972), as well as an award-winning program of lectures, AY1987-1988, featuring critical thinkers on ethics and religion. The Gables Speakers series has also fostered professional dialogue designed to bridge the gap between Cornell’s educational opportunities and the transition from the campus to the Board Room.

Each Pledge class of New York Alpha, Phi Kappa Psi is inducted into the Irving through a series of alumni Profiles and a cultural Brief, administered during their first year associated with the Chapter. Also, in the selection of furnishings for the Gables, the Group Sponsor preferences – to the extent it is able – the acquisition of furniture, arts and materials native to New York State. One recent acquisition was of two original art works by the emerging artist, Aaron Raitiere. The New York-made furnishing include work by Gunlocke, Harden and Kensington Wood. Other New York-based artists featured includes John A. Hartell, who was shown at the Kraushaar Galleries and for whom the John A. Hartell Art Gallery is named at the University.

Irving Literary Society Members featured on Misplaced Pages

• John Andrew Rea
• Morris Lyons Buchwalter
• Joseph B. Foraker
• Thomas Wilson Spence
• John Patterson Rea
• Festus Walters
• Frank Wigglesworth Clarke
• Theodore Tilton
• Carl Schurz
• Margarethe Schurz
• Ehrick Rossiter
• William T. Sherman
• Don Carlos Buell
• William Rosecrans
• Adolph von Steinwehr
• Harris J. Ryan
• Mario García Menocal
• Woodrow Wilson
• Florence Kelly
• Franklin Sanborn
• Thorsten Veblen
• Frank Fetter
• Henry Adams
• Henry Livingston French
• Reynolds Beal
• DeWitt H. Fessenden
• Frank Morgan
• John A. Hartell
• Reinhold Neibuhr
• Bronislaw Malinowski
• Paul O'Leary
• Franchot Tone
• Alva Kelley
• Steve Hadley
• Jon P. Anderson
• Enrique Martinez Celaya
• John F. Kennedy, Jr.

References

1. Walter Lee Sheppard, A History of Phi Kappa Psi (1932); Catalogue of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity (Aldrice G. Warren, ed. 1910) at 1001 (The Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity and the Irving were notable in their literary pretensions).
2. Cornell University Residence Plan of 1966 (Schedule I)(Apr. 16, 1966) at Appendix A, May 3, 1966.
3. Daily Democrat 2 (Sept. 27, 1884)(“The Irving literary society met last evening, but was poorly attended. This institution should be one of the most prosperous student societies in the college, but strange to say, it has deteriorated in point of numbers, and its management has fallen into the hands of technical instead of literary students.”)
4. R.W., A Bit of Debate History, The Era (March 1901) at 33:267 (Noting the Irving’s place among the Curtis and Philaletheian, “ The three long divided among them the activity and interest of the students in debating and oratorical work . . . these three alone attained prominence and permanence in this first period of the history of the University.”); see also The Daily Journal (Nov. 8, 1870)(noting transaction of the Irving Literary Society’s business); Waterman Thomas Hewett, Cornell: A History (1905) at 4 (“The new university was not merely to be a university in name, but it was to embody all the features that were distinctive of other institutions of learning, and as the young American is, by birth, a public orator, societies for literary culture and oratory were at once organized.”).
5. Fayette E. Moyer, Literary Societies, Cornell Magazine (January 1895) at 7:187 (“Following the example of the Curtis, the Irving also admitted women to membership, but the Philaletheian, believing that there ought to be one society which devoted itself purely to debate, remained an organization for men only.”). See also Carol Kammen, Cornell: glorious to view (2003) at 39.
6. Dan Meyer, General Secretary, The Irving Literary Society at Cornell
7. Thomas Spencer Harding, College literary societies: their contribution to higher education in the United States, 1815-1876 (171) at 265.
8. Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., The History of New York Alpha of Phi Kappa Psi (1932)
9. Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., The History of New York Alpha of Phi Kappa Psi (1932) at 3.
10. ’The Hill’ at Cornell refers to the University, as distinct from the city of Ithaca ‘on the Flats’, 838 feet below at the southern terminus of the glacially-carved Finger lake, Cayuga.
11. Morris Bishop, A History of Cornell (1862) at 138.
12. Walter Lee Sheppard, Jr., The History of New York Alpha of Phi Kappa Psi (1932) at 3.
13. Jacob Gould Schurman Debate Club, Cornell Alumni News 265 (May 29, 1901) at http://www.dspace.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/3165/34/003_34.pdf
14. The Cornell Era (Sept. 29, 1869) at 19 citing The Brunonian.
15. See generally, Theory of the Leisure Class (1898).
16. The society alternated between “Society” and “Association” during this period.
17. Cornell Era (Feb. 6, 1869) at 3.
18. The Cornell Era (Apr. 3, 1869) at 5-6.
19. The University’s ties to Irving himself were rather thin in 1869. Andrew Dickson White attended one lecture by Washington Irving at a summer gathering on Lake Saratoga. To Irving, White attributed his initial flirtation with “hero worship.” He was also encouraging the English Department to focus on New York’s literati, including James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving. There were members of the Cornell Faculty with ties to the renown author. The Cornell Era (Sept. 29, 1869) at 18.
20. The Cornell Era (Apr. 3, 1869) at 5-6. The Ithacan (Apr. 7, 1869)(reporting the Irving Literary Society’s celebration of Washington Irving’s birthday).
21. Founder, New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Cornell University.
22. George Frederick Behringer took orders, serving as a clergyman in Nyack, New York.
23. Future Cornell Trustee, District Attorney for Tompkins County; Corporation Counsel for the City of Ithaca, and New York State Assemblyman.
24. Founder, New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Cornell University.
25. Founder, New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Cornell University.
26. Future boot and shoe manufacturer at Buffalo, New York.
27. Future attorney at Neillsville, Wisconsin.
28. Rea was also a founder of the New York Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity at Cornell; the Irving’s first members included both fraternity and non-fraternity members
29. The effort to line up Theodore Tilton was a second run; Rea tried to get Charles Sumner through Joe Foraker’s connections with future Irving member Carl Schurz. Senator Sumner was unable to show due to both declining health and pressing concerns in Washington, D.C. But both Sumner and Schurz would tap into Phi Kappa Psi at Cornell the next year (1870).
30. The Cornell Era (Sept. 15, 1869) at 3.
31. The Cornell Era (Sept. 22, 1869) at 12.
32. Professor Clark’s New Book, The Cornell Era (Sept. 22, 1869) at 12.
33. The Cornell Era (Oct. 20, 1869) at 43.
34. The Cornell Era (Nov. 3, 1869) at 59.
35. The Cornell Era (Nov. 17, 1869) at 76.
36. The Cornell Era (Feb. 2, 1870) at 133.
37. The Cornell Era (Feb. 9, 1870) at 140.
38. The Cornell Era (March 23, 1870) at 189.
39. The Cornell Era (June 29, 1870) at 275.
40. The Cornell Era (Apr. 27, 1870) at 212. The room was recently renovated and is now the Dean’s Seminar Room, first floor to the right as you walk in the center door of White Hall.
41. The Cornell Era (May 11, 1870) at 229.
42. Internal dissention was fragmenting the Chapter, itself, a breakdown that would lead to the founding of another Cornell institution, the Chi Colony of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity In the debacle that would be the founding of Psi U, Phi Kappa Psi would lose temporarily not only itself, but its hold on Cornell’s oldest student organization. Interestingly, the two active brothers in the Phi, the Kappa and the Psi last mentioned in the annals of the Irving Literary Association would later be listed as among the founding cohort of the Chi Colony, Psi Upsilon.
43. The Cornell Era (June 29, 1870) at 277.
44. The Cornell Era (June 29, 1870) at 261, 277.
45. The same as “Association Hall”
46. The Cornell Era (Sept. 16, 1870) at 5.
47. The Cornell Era (Nov. 25, 1870) at 82.
48. The Cornell Era (Nov. 11, 1870) at 68.
49. Professor Shackford at Association Hall, Cornell Daily Sun(2:140)(May 22, 1882) at 1.
50. The Daily Democrat (Ithaca, N.Y.)(Oct. 31, 1884)(noting Irving Literary Society performance by Henry “Harry” Falkenau).
51. Cornell Congress, Cornell Daily Sun (6:110)(Apr. 20, 1886) at 1.
52. The Cornell Debating Association, or “CDA” is the closet modern equivalent to all these 19th organizations. The CDA is a student organization that runs Cornell's Parliamentary Debate team. They spend our time practicing public speaking, organizing on-campus debates, and preparing for weekly national debate tournaments across the country. They meet not in Society Hall, but Rockefeller 122. Anyone is welcome to join regardless of prior experience. Outside of Cornell, the CDA is a member of the American Parliamentary Debate Association (APDA), which takes the club to other member schools most every weekend for competitions. Cornell hosts a tournament annually. Parliamentary debate differs from Lincoln-Douglas or Policy debate, though many skills can be cross-applied. It is an off-topic, extemporaneous form of competitive debate which stresses rigorous argumentation, logical analysis, quick thinking, breadth of knowledge, and rhetorical ability over preparation of evidence and research. In short, they don't spend hours on research and are free to debate most any topic.
53. Comments, Cornell Daily Sun (8:32)(Nov. 10, 1887) at 1.
54. See Bishop, A History of Cornell (1962) at 343.
55. New Fraternity Council Obtains Unanimous Vote, Cornell Daily Sun (Nov. 24, 1922); Student Council Orders Meeting of Fraternities, Cornell Daily Sun (Nov. 23, 1922). An Interfraternity Council, Cornell Daily Sun (March 7, 1922).
56. Ayala Falk, Univ. Assembly to Assess Role on Campus, Cornell Daily Sun (Sept. 3, 2009) at 1; Opinion, Steven Zhang, Patching Up the Student Assembly, Cornell Daily Sun (Apr. 20, 2010) at 1; Opinion, Peter Finocchiaro, Brok-Blocked: A Primer in S.A. Shenanigans, Past and Present , Cornell Daily Sun (March 3, 2010); Opinion, Michael Zuckerman, One Person, One Vote? Why the Student Assembly Falls Short, Cornell Daily Sun (Sept. 15, 2008); Opinion, David Wittenberg, Senior Editor, The End of the Student Assembly, Cornell Daily Sun (Oct. 25, 2007).
57. Michael Rosenbaum, Experimentation Current Phase in Student Gov’t, Cornell Daily Sun (Oct. 4, 1968).
58. In addition, the Chapter used the Society on more than one occasion to recognize, as peers, those who would not qualify for membership in their National fraternity (such as honorary candidates, not enrolled as an undergraduate at Cornell). Women are permitted to join the Irving.
59. Cornell University, John A. Hartell Art Gallery

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