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Linonian Society

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Linonia is a literary and debating society founded in 1753 at Yale University. It is the university's second-oldest secret society.[1]

Linonian Society
FoundedSeptember 12, 1753; 271 years ago (1753-09-12)
Yale University
TypeSenior Literary society
AffiliationIndependent
StatusActive
EmphasisDebate
ScopeLocal
Chapters1
HeadquartersNew Haven, Connecticut
United States
The Linonia and Brothers Room in the Sterling Memorial Library at Yale
The Linonia Court in Branford College, Yale
The Linonia Pin

History

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Linonia was founded on September 12, 1753, as Yale College's second literary and debating society, after its short-lived predecessor Crotonia, founded in 1738.[2] According to Yale: A History, participation in Linonia was the first non-athletic organized activity at Yale.

Linonia inspired many imitations, notably its rival society Brothers in Unity (1768) and Calliope (1819). By the late eighteenth century, all incoming freshmen became members either of Linonia or Brothers.[3] By the end of the Civil War, the social dominance of Linonia and Brothers began to slowly decline. Both folded in the 1870s. The debating society system eventually evolved into the Yale Union and later in 1934, the Yale Political Union.

Linonia was reconstituted multiple times throughout the 20th century,[4][5] with its current form taking the shape of Yale's other undergraduate secret societies.

Each year, twenty students are carefully selected from Yale's senior undergraduate class, Yale Law School, Yale Graduate School, and Yale School of Management, making Linonia the only Yale secret society known to tap beyond the undergraduate level. Each new member is selected by unanimous vote among Linonia alumni and delegates.

Linonia participates in Yale's tap night during the second week of April. Unlike many secret societies whose focus is the members' biographies, Linonia meetings often involve debate on intellectual and political topics.

Linonia and Sterling Memorial Library

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Linonia maintained an extensive collection of works that Yale faculty deemed unsuitable for formal instruction, as the university did not introduce English literature into its curriculum until the late nineteenth century. In 1871, Linonia and Brothers in Unity donated their literary collections to Yale, which were eventually housed in Sterling Memorial Library upon its opening in 1931. This contribution is commemorated in the Linonia & Brothers Reading Room (L&B Room), a dedicated space within the library. The reading room now holds the Linonia and Brothers (L&B) collection, a travel collection, a medieval history collection, and a selection of recently acquired books.[6] The L&B Reading Room underwent renovations during the COVID-19 pandemic and officially reopened on April 15, 2024.

The room was originally conceived as a browsable book collection, evoking the atmosphere of a refined private library or a grand living room. Over the years, generations of Yalies have regarded it as a beloved space for studying, reading, relaxing, or napping on its signature green leather couches.[7]

Architecturally, the Tudor-style reading room features book-lined alcoves, an intricately detailed plaster ceiling, and Gothic windows that offer a view of Selin Courtyard. Access to the space was for men only until 1963 when University Librarian James T. Babb announced it would open “to the ladies” to recognize “the growing status of women in the Graduate School at Yale."[7]

The Linonian Society, Brothers in Unity, and Calliopean Society are also commemorated with courtyards in Branford College, honoring their historical contributions to Yale’s intellectual and literary traditions.


Notable members

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Name Class Year Profile
Timothy Dwight IV 1767 American academic and educator, Congregationalist minister, theologian, and author. He was the eighth president of Yale College (1795–1817).
Abraham Baldwin 1772 American politician, Patriot, and Founding Father from the U.S. state of Georgia. Baldwin was a Georgia representative in the Continental Congress and served in the United States House of Representatives and Senate after the adoption of the Constitution. Baldwin was the founding father of the University of Georgia, the first state-chartered public institution of higher education in the United States, and served as its first president.
Nathan Hale 1773 American patriot, spy for General George Washington, and the state hero of Connecticut.
James Hillhouse 1773 American lawyer, real estate developer, and politician from New Haven, Connecticut. He represented Connecticut in both the U.S. House and Senate.
Eli Whitney 1789 American inventor best known for inventing the cotton gin.
Jeremiah Day 1789 American academic, Congregational minister, and President of Yale College (1817–1846).
James Fenimore Cooper 1806 Prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century, author of Last of the Mohicans.
Henry Leavitt Ellsworth 1810 Yale-educated attorney who became the first Commissioner of the U.S. Patent Office, where he encouraged innovation by inventors Samuel F.B. Morse and Samuel Colt. Ellsworth also served as the second president of the Aetna Insurance Company. He was also a major donor to Yale College, a commissioner to Indian tribes on the western frontier, and the founder of what became the United States Department of Agriculture.
Roger Sherman Baldwin 1811 American lawyer involved in the Amistad case, who later became the 32nd Governor of Connecticut and a United States Senator.
Asa Thurston 1818 First American Christian missionary to the Hawaiian Islands.
Nathaniel Parker Willis 1827 American author, poet, and editor who worked with several notable American writers including Edgar Allan Poe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He became the highest-paid magazine writer of his day.
Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard 1828 Classical and English scholar, mathematician, physicist, chemist, and advocate for women's higher education. He was the tenth president of Columbia University.
Noah Porter 1831 American academic, philosopher, author, lexicographer, and President of Yale College (1871–1886).
Ebenezer Kingsbury Hunt 1833 Prominent physician in Hartford, Connecticut. The E.K. Hunt Chair of Anatomy at Yale University is named after him.
William M. Evarts 1837 American lawyer and statesman who served as U.S. Secretary of State, U.S. Attorney General, and U.S. Senator from New York.
Josiah Whitney 1839 American geologist, professor of geology at Harvard University, and chief of the California Geological Survey. Mount Whitney and Whitney Glacier were named in his honor.
Joseph Gibson Hoyt 1840 First chancellor and professor of Greek at Washington University in St. Louis (then named Washington Institute in St. Louis) from 1858 to 1862.
Timothy Dwight V 1849 American academic, educator, Congregational minister, and President of Yale College (1886–1898). Under his leadership, Yale developed into a university.
Daniel Coit Gilman 1852 Founder of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale College, early president of the University of California, first president of Johns Hopkins University, and founding president of the Carnegie Institution. He was also a co-founder of the Russell Trust Association, which administers the business affairs of Yale's Skull and Bones society.
Andrew Dickson White 1853 U.S. diplomat, historian, and educator, co-founder of Cornell University.
Chauncey Mitchell Depew 1856 Attorney for Cornelius Vanderbilt's railroad empire, president of the New York Central Railroad System, and U.S. Senator from New York (1899-1911).
Francis Miles Finch 1859 American judge, poet, and academic associated with the early years of Cornell University. Author of the famous poem "The Blue and the Gray".
Elisha Jay Edwards 1870 Investigative journalist and financial reporter known for exposing President Grover Cleveland's secret cancer surgery.
Walter Camp 1875 American football player, coach, and sports writer, known as the "Father of American Football".
William Howard Taft 1878 President of the United States (1909-1913), Chief Justice of the United States (1921-1930), Judge on the Cincinnati Superior Court, Solicitor General of the United States, Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Governor-General of the Philippines, and Secretary of War under President Theodore Roosevelt. In the late 19th century, Taft advocated for and attempted a revival of Linonia. He is also a member of Skull and Bones.
Dick Celeste 1959 64th Governor of Ohio, U.S. Ambassador to India, and 12th President of Colorado College.
Les Aspin 1960 18th U.S. Secretary of Defense and representative for Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District.[8]

References

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  1. ^ Richards, David (2017). Skulls and Keys: The Hidden History of Yale's Secret Societies. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1681775814.
  2. ^ Catalogue of Members of the Linonian Society of Yale College. New Haven, Connecticut: Linonian Society. 1841.
  3. ^ "An Irrepressible Urge to Join". Yale Alumni Magazine. March 2001. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  4. ^ "'Linonia' Revived". Yale Daily News. 1904-10-13.
  5. ^ "Linonia Revived As Debate Society". 1958-11-17.
  6. ^ "Sterling Memorial Library". Yale University Library. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Sterling Library's L&B Room will reopen to students April 15 | Yale Library". library.yale.edu. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
  8. ^ "Linonia Society Elects". Yale Daily News. 1959-04-09.

See also

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