A History of The Eclectic Society of Phi Nu Theta, 1837–1970. William B.B. Moody
of attendance and fidelity to obligations that later characterized the weekly meetings.
The “depression” of 1861 was reflected in the recruitment of new members, as mentioned previously. Again, during the academic year 1862–63 the addition to the membership was very small—only four in number—one of these belonging to the class of 1863. One of the four, however, was a name that was to echo through the years in the history of the College and the Fraternity—Stephen Henry Olin (1866).
The reduction in membership also reflected the times. Many undergraduates left college to join the army. Of the Eclectics in the classes of 1863, 1864, and 1865, six left college to join the Union forces. Of these, three died in service: William Alvord Fosgate and Lucius Seneca Nichols of the class of 1864 and Merritt Hoag Sherman of the class of 1865. Three others from earlier classes also gave their lives in the Union cause: James Q. Rice (1850n), Monroe Nichols (1857), and William L. Spalding (1860).
The Civil War caused nationwide financial stress as well, resulting in many students dropping out or not applying to colleges at all. The total number of students at Wesleyan declined from 150 at the beginning of the academic year 1861–62 to 112 at the beginning of the academic year 1864–65. Figures also taken from the University Catalogue show that the dearth of students lasted beyond the end of the war in 1865. The senior class of 1866 counted only sixteen members at the beginning of the academic year, and the following year the senior class numbered seventeen.
The Delegation of 1863 was exceptionally large and talented. The looming departure of those ten brothers was of considerable concern, for it would leave only ten members remaining (five rising seniors, two rising juniors, and three rising sophomores). That estimate may be too high in view of the record of attendance at the initiation meetings the following fall.
To help meet the brewing crisis, a committee of three was appointed in April 1863 “to correspond with the alumni with reference to those who are intending to enter college next year.” The committee consisted of Henry C. M. Ingraham (1864), William N. Rice (1865), and Stephen Henry Olin (1866), three great names in Eclectic history.
“Cultivation” up to this time seems to have been carried on somewhat sporadically, special members being appointed from time to time to cultivate specific individuals. A step toward a better method, however, was now made by a vote whereby an individual, H. C. M. Ingraham, was appointed “chief of cultivation for the ensuing season,” with the understanding “that the Society consider itself a committee of the whole subject to him.” The results were gratifying. On September 4, 1863, at the first meeting after the summer vacation, “the Society tendered a vote of thanks to [Brother] Ingraham for his labors during the cultivation season.” A week later, eight new members were initiated; however, the records indicate that only five active members were present to participate in the initiation of the eight. Another two members were initiated at the next meeting, and another single member at the following one, for a total of eleven new members. At each of these two later initiations, only six members of long standing were present, showing to what degree, prior to the admission of new members, the active membership had been reduced.
The crisis—at least as concerned membership—was past. Besides the Delegation of 1867 (initiated in 1863), a strong delegation was secured later in the class of 1868. Also, added strength came in a quite unusual way. As mentioned previously, the Wesleyan chapter of Chi Psi closed its doors for a while. Four strong men, who had been members of Chi Psi, joined Eclectic following the suspension of Chi Psi’s chapter: Daniel G. Harriman (1864), Allen Clark (1865), Joseph H. Mansfield (1865), and William H. H. Phillips (1865). Also, in another unusual way at the time, two valued names were added to the Fraternity’s list: Thomas B. Wood (1864) and Wilbur O. Atwater (1865). Both came from other colleges and became members of Phi Nu Theta.
Thus, by the commencement of 1865, when Billy Rice alone graduated at the full term of four years, his delegation numbered five (or six, depending on one’s sources). The full membership of the Society then counted twenty-four. It is not difficult to imagine, however, that but for the talent, loyalty, and strenuous endeavor of a small group who faced the crisis of 1863, Eclectic, like the Chi Psi and Delta Upsilon chapters, might have disappeared temporarily, or perhaps in the case of Eclectic, forever.
Besides making great strides in new members in 1863, the Fraternity that year inaugurated a key provision that was to mark the Society for a hundred years, the systematic preservation of the papers presented at its weekly literary meetings. Toward the end of the school year 1862–63, William P. Hubbard (1863) and William North Rice (1865) were instrumental in the passing of rules requiring all articles read before the Fraternity to be written on specially designated paper and to be taken in charge by the librarian, who had the responsibility to ensure that they were bound year by year in volumes. These procedures show the emphasis the Fraternity placed on its weekly literary program. In spite of failures of individuals from time to time as to punctuality and care in meeting literary appointments, until the late 1960s a commanding tradition was handed down from college generation to college generation of maintaining as the most essential feature of the weekly meeting—a serious literary program with opportunity for, and the vigorous practice of, critical discussion of the exercises presented.
A very valuable contribution to the history of the Fraternity was made by the men of the mid-1860s in the publication of a complete and very carefully prepared catalogue of members. In June 1864, it was voted to publish such a catalogue, and a committee of four, one member from each class—Ingraham (1864), Rice (1865), Olin (1866), and Harrower (1867)—was appointed to make all arrangements for its publication. The catalogue was published in 1865 and distributed to all living alumni. Another catalogue of members was published in association with the seventieth anniversary of Phi Nu Theta in 1907 under the direction of Frederic Stewart (1908) and Eric M. North (1909), and an alphabetical list of members 1837–1931 prepared, but never published, in conjunction with the Centennial of the University in 1931. Since 1931, there has been no comprehensive listing of Eclectics developed or published, and the most recent Alumni Directory (2000) does not even mention fraternity affiliations, although the University’s database does include that information, if provided by individual graduates. Volume 2 of this history, available to interested readers, includes a listing by delegation and alphabetical order of all initiated Eclectics 1834–1971.
An important act of the Fraternity in the academic year 1864–65 was a revision of the Constitution. On October 28, 1864, a committee consisting of Brothers W. N. Rice (1865), W. H. H. Phillips (1865), W. O. Atwater (1865), S. H. Olin (1866), and H. D. Harrower (1867) was appointed to draft a revised Constitution. At the Annual Meeting of July 18, 1865, the record indicates “Olin presented a report of the Committee on Constitution…[which] was adopted by the Meeting as representative of the Alpha Chapter.” The new Constitution of 1865 gives the titles and duties of officers according to the usage that prevailed for the next hundred years: Proedros (weekly rotating presiding officer), Epistoleus (corresponding secretary and de facto president of the House), Grammateus (recording secretary), Thesaurophylax (treasurer), and Choragus (song leader) as officers of the Society and Agogus, Dicastes, Thyronus, Kerux, and Myontes as officiants at initiations. With the new Constitution began the custom of having each initiate subscribe to the Constitution by signing it. It was still the custom in the 1950s.
At the same July 1865 Annual Meeting which adopted the new Constitution, a resolution was introduced as follows: “Moved, in order to be in harmony with the new Constitution, it be the sense of this meeting that the establishment of [other] chapters be desirable. Carried.” It may seem odd that the Constitution of 1865 made provision for other chapters, when the attitude toward expanding into a national organization definitely became negative within a few years. At this time, however, there were two serious efforts by students at Genesee College in Lima, New York, to form a chapter of Phi Nu Theta. A petition from Genesee dated January 14, 1864, listing the names of ten students in all four classes and signed by sophomore William R. Benham, was dispatched to the Alpha Chapter. It contained wording which indicated that the faculty and administration of Genesee College was dead set against secret societies and requested that all correspondence be handled very cautiously. The name “Rev. D. A. Wheelen of Auburn” was invoked as one who could initiate the new members of what would have become the Delta Chapter, if a member or members of the