North Central College Literary Society Records, 1866-1930

Alphabetical then chronological

Beginning as early as 1864, North Central (then called North-western) College had literary societies. By 1900, the societies had changed with the times to be more debate clubs than literary societies. The longest term societies, the Philologian and the Cliosophic were disbanded in 1917. Although they were replaced by six smaller organizations, literary societies ceased to exist on North Central's campus around 1925.

The files of the literary societies of North-Western College include the minutes, programs, and papers of many different campus societies. Societies represented in this series include Cliosophic, Laconian, Neocosmian, North-Western Debating Club, Philologian, Philorhetorian, Pi Kappa Delta, and Star. The bulk of this series is minutes created by each society, usually handwritten into bound journals. These minutes include constitution changes, attendance, and weekly meetings. Meetings often consisted of a selected reading, narration, song, and discussion question followed by a debate, followed by a critic's report of the debate. The subjects of the debates include political, social, and economic issues. In some instances, the files include copies of the actual papers prepared for the debate as well as programs.