A History of The Eclectic Society of Phi Nu Theta, 1837–1970. William B.B. Moody
in 1865 by William North Rice (1865), Stephen Henry Olin (1866), and Henry D. Harrower (1867). A copy of the Catalogue preserved initially in the safe in the fraternity house and then transferred to the archives of the university bears an inscription by William North Rice:
We found no records of the Society earlier than the year 1838–39, and we give credit in the numbers in the body of the work and in the Greek letters in the index to no one as entering the Society earlier than that year. The older members are very positive that the Society did start in 1837. I suspect that there was a period in which the Society was rather loosely organized and that, later, a more definite organization was effected.
The inscription then goes on to explain the coding of the numbers mentioned above (indicative of the course year in which the member joined the fraternity and any academic distinction he achieved) and the significance of the Greek letters (the year of the Society in which the member joined—1836–37 counting as the first year). Marked with the Greek letter “gamma” are seven members of the class of 1839 and three of the class of 1840:
Lester Mumford Clark (1839)
Jonathan Coe (1839)*
Clark Titus Hinman (1839)*
Hermann Merrills Johnson (1839)*
Ichabod Marcy (1839)
Joshua Newhall (1839)*
Humphrey Pickard (1839)
Loranus Crowell (1840)
John Harrison Goodale (1840)
Chester Dorman Hubbard (1840)*
Paul North Rice concludes that these ten men may fairly be considered the founders of Eclectic, and his logic is hard to fault. All, he notes, were leaders while in college and afterward. Seven were elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and all enjoyed long and successful careers, particularly in church and education. A list purporting to be of members joining prior to June 11, 1847, states that five of the members listed above (starred) joined the Fraternity on September 13, 1838. If the list is genuine, and Brother Rice opines that it is, this is the earliest reference to a formal induction of members—and could be construed as the formal date of the founding of the Fraternity. It accords with other statements of first members with references to an informal period of meetings as early as 1836 and a more formal organization in the fall of 1838.
The flag of the Fraternity, which used to fly on festive occasions, bore the distinctive scroll/key emblem of the Society and the date “1837.” It seems a reasonable compromise between 1835 (the first references to the meetings which led to the founding) and the date of September 13, 1838, discussed above. At one time there was acrimonious debate about the exact year and date, especially between Eclectics and members of the Mystical Seven Fraternity. Now that so very much has changed and the continued existence of fraternities in any form at Wesleyan is in question, it would seem mere quibbling to argue further. Vivat 1837!
CHAPTER 2
THE 1840S THE
FIRST DECADE
Much of the discussion of the founding of Eclectic in the previous chapter revolved around individuals who joined the Society and influenced its development. The same is true concerning the history of the following decade. Many Eclectics of these early years became legendary figures for succeeding generations. One of these was Judge George Greenwood Reynolds (1821–1913) of the class of 1841. Almost to this day, students who frequented the Eclectic House at 200 High Street knew his face. His portrait occupied the place of honor over the fireplace in the library, for it was he who was the largest single donor of funds which made possible the building of the House in 1907.1 Paul North Rice (1910), the author of the manuscript on which so much of this account of the early years of the Fraternity depends, knew him personally and recounts remarks the judge made on the occasion of the celebration of his ninetieth birthday in 1911:
I was one of the first members after the Society started, but not the first initiate. The class of 1841 were the first initiates. Three of us entered sophomore year: [George] Landon, [George W.] Allen, and myself. Landon and Allen went in [i.e., joined] the first term, but I hung along until just before the end of the year. Then C. D. Hubbard and Loranus Crowell told me [of my election]. My exultation can be imagined.
Judge Reynolds also incarnates another trend that characterized Eclectic well into the twentieth century: the recurrence of names from generation to generation. His son Frank Reynolds (1868), grandson George Greenwood Reynolds II (1905), and great-grandson Blake Greenwood Reynolds (1936) all joined the fraternity in their undergraduate years.
The judge’s comments on his initiation were cited by Paul North Rice as follows:
On the night when I was to be admitted to the distinguished privilege of such a literary and scholarly association, I was introduced into a room in North College, Middle Section, third story front—I think it was the rooms occupied by Marcy and Crowell. Being born out of time, I was the only newcomer. Receiving a cordial handshake and a welcome from the brethren, I took a modest seat and witnessed literary exercises, I presume very much like those in operation now. They were at that time in the habit of having essays, criticisms, and written—and I think sometimes oral—debates.
The room I have mentioned was our regular meeting place. We were tenants at sufferance, without furniture and without stationery. We had a President and a Secretary—and perhaps a Treasurer, but his position must have been a sinecure, and at all events, they all flourished under English names. The world never saw a finer example of “plain living and high thinking.”
Two things particularly to note in Judge Reynolds’s recollection are the venue for the meeting and its format. In these early days of the Society, meetings were held in student rooms. It was not until much later that Eclectic, like the other fraternities, acquired a clubhouse—and then only after a period of renting a room or rooms on Main Street. The literary exercises conducted at meetings were from the beginning a part of Eclectic tradition and their format, while varying in detail over the years, retained their basic outline unchanged until the 1960s.
Commencement in 1839 meant the graduation of seven of the thirteen members (G. W. Allen having already left college). During the year 1839–40, the remaining members initiated two seniors, four juniors, and two sophomores. One of the seniors was Joseph Cummings (1840), the first Wesleyan graduate to serve as president of the university. In fact, as of this writing, four of the five presidents of the university who have been Wesleyan graduates were Eclectics—Joseph Cummings (1840), Cyrus D. Foss (1854), John W. Beach (1845) and Edwin D. Etherington (1948). Doug Bennet ’59 somehow managed to be elected president without being an Eclectic (he was an Alpha Chi Rho/EQV).
The academic achievements of the early Eclectics were truly outstanding. With few exceptions, the number one (valedictorian) and number two (salutatorian) positions in the graduating classes in the 1840s were Eclectics, and Eclectics contributed many of the members elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In fact, there was discussion for a while of the Fraternity’s applying to Phi Beta Kappa for affiliation. An application was actually drafted in 1843 or 1844, but nothing came of it and the discussion was definitely dropped when the Connecticut Gamma Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was founded at Wesleyan in July 1845 as an honorary fraternity. Many Eclectics held dual membership from the very beginning of Phi Beta Kappa at Wesleyan. The only serious regular fraternity rival in the realm of scholarship for many years was the Xi Chapter of Psi Upsilon, founded originally as Kappa Delta Phi in 1840, then changing its name to Kappa Sigma Theta in 1841, and finally being accepted as the Wesleyan chapter of Psi Upsilon in 1843. Paul North Rice sums up the relationship between to first two regular fraternities at Wesleyan as follows: “During the first fifty years of its existence, Psi Upsilon was the only formidable scholastic rival of Eclectic. Considering the closeness of the competition, the two fraternities were friendly indeed.”
The focus of this effort is the history of Eclectic, but the Society was very closely identified with the university and could not avoid being involved in the milieu and history of the larger institution. For extensive treatment of Wesleyan’s early history, David B. Potts’s Wesleyan University