Adelphian Society - 1840 - Colgate University

The Adelphian Society was founded on July 24, 1840, at the Hamilton Literary and Theological Institution (today Colgate University) in Hamilton, New York. The college literary society was founded on the same day as the Aeonia Society.

The sister societies were built on the remains of the Gamma Phi and Pi Delta Societies, the first literary societies at Colgate. According to the university archives, Gamma Phi was founded prior to 1833 and Pi Delta probably originated in 1834. Little trace of their activities remains except the names of their orators on commencement programs. Competition for membership between the societies led to the faculty dissolving them in name and creating the Adelphian and Aeonian Societies in 1840.

The purpose of the Adelphian Society was to “progress in literary attainments and cultivation among all the members of an undecaying friendship." The society was named after Adelphia, the Greek word for "brotherhood.”

Notable alumni of the Adelphian Society include the honorable Thomas W. Osbourne, a United States Senator. Osbourne represented the state of Florida and was credited with being instrumental in passing legislation to complete construction of the Washington Monument.

In 1850, five members of the Adelphian Society at Colgate transferred to the newly formed University of Rochester and founded the Delphic Society. The Delphic Society existed at Rochester until 1866. An offshoot of the society was later founded at SUNY Geneseo in 1871 and continues to exist today as the Delphic Fraternity.

In 1880, the Adelphian Society at Colgate University became a chapter of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity. The fraternity chapter honors the society's history with the name of its alumni publication, The Adelphian.

(Disclosure: The author of this blog post is the historian of the Delphic Fraternity.)