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Literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College played an important role in its academics and student life, especially during the 18th and 19th century. Washington & Jefferson College is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania, which is located in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County, Pennsylvania established by three frontier clergymen in the 1780s: John McMillan, Thaddeus Dod, and Joseph Smith. These early schools eventually grew into two competing colleges, with Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania being chartered in 1802 and Washington College being chartered in 1806. These two schools merged in 1865 to form Washington & Jefferson College. The history of literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College dates back to 1797, when the Franklin Literary Society and the Philo Literary Society were founded at Canonsburg Academy. Two other literary societies were founded at Washington College, the Union Literary Society in 1809 and the Washington Literary Society in 1814. Typical early activities include the presentation of dialogues, translations of passages from Greek or Latin classics, and extemporaneous speaking. Later, the literary societies began to present declamations. Each society maintained independent libraries for the use of their members, each of which rivaled the holdings of their respective colleges. These four college literary societies had intense rivalries with each other, competing in "contests", which pitted select society members against another in "compositions, speaking select orations and debating," with the selecting the victor. Because the two colleges never met each other in athletic contests, these literary competitions were the main outlet for their rivalry. In the years after the union of the two colleges, these four literary societies merged with the Franklin Literary Society, which survives today. ==Founding and operation== The literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College, and its predecessor Jefferson College, Washington College, Canonsburg Academy, and Washington Academy, developed in order to make students more familiar with debate, literature, oratory, and writing.〔 According to W.M. McClelland, Professor of English Language and Literature at Washington & Jefferson College, the literary societies existed to "make young men in college familiar with parliamentary rules, with the perennial themes of human discussion, and to give them a readier use of their mother tongue."〔 Typical early activities include the presentation of dialogues, translations of passages from Greek or Latin classics, and extemporaneous speaking.〔 Later, the literary societies began to present declamations.〔 In their early stages, all of the societies were secret, with revelations to the outside incurring fines and banishment.〔 Other infractions could incur fines, including the use of profanity, the wearing of boots, quoting scripture during debate, and whittling.〔 At Washington, fines were levied against any student presenting "any ludicrous piece calculated merely to excite laughter."〔 Each society maintained independent libraries for the use of their members. At various times, members of the societies feared that their collection would be confiscated by the administration.〔 Critics of the Washington and Union Literary Societies complained that their members frequented taverns too frequently. While the societies held rivalries with each other, Franklin men were seen as puritans, Philos the cavaliers, Washington having the intellectualism, and Union the pious ones, steps were taken to maintain a semblance of parity.〔 Washington and Union agreed not to admit any additional members, if the number of members in one society exceeded the other by more than five.〔 Conversely, Philo denied membership to a number of men during a period when Franklin's membership was low.〔 Following the enrollment decline during the Civil War and the union of the two colleges in 1865, Franklin and Philo merged to form Franklin, and Washington and Union merged to form Union. By 1885, all literary societies had merged their libraries with the College's.〔 While Washington College and Jefferson College had a rivalry prior to their union in 1865, the two colleges never faced each other in athletic contests. Instead, the rivalry expressed itself in the literary field.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Literary societies at Washington & Jefferson College」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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