Abstract

The history of literary societies in academia has been little studied. The few discussions of the societies have centered primarily around eastern universities and have marked the societies' decline as coming in the mid-to-late 1800s. However, the literary societies survived at many Midwestern colleges, both public and private, for several decades into the twentieth century. The societies embody rhetoric-in-practice and are interesting in terms of their social structure, their intellectual activities, and what they tell us about the position of rhetoric in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Their eventual decline is brought about by a number of forces, some predictable and some not. Academic literary societies, which existed in strength in the Midwest from about 1830 to 1920, centered around the writing and performance of essays, debates, orations, and sometimes poetry. Over time, some of the groups expanded their activities into performances of music and dramas, with these elements sometimes overtaking the rhetorical aspects. As has been noted elsewhere, the societies declined with the coming of fraternities and sororities, the blossoming of disciplinary clubs, the general lack of interest in rhetoric, and the influx of students seeking a public education. Other less-examined factors include the extent of institutional support, the strength of rhetoric in the