page_title: Cornell literary societies
section_title: Irving Literary Society
hierarchical_section_title: Cornell literary societies / Irving Literary Society
caption_attribution_description: English: Seal of the Irving Literary Society
context_page_description: Cornell literary societies were a group of 19th-century student organizations at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, formed for the purpose of promoting language skills and oratory. The U.S. Bureau of Education described three of them as a "purely literary society" following the "traditions of the old literary societies of Eastern universities." At their peak, the literary societies met in a room called "Society Hall," located within North University.
context_section_description: Cornell's first literary society was the Irving Literary Association, later the Irving Literary Society. It held its first business meeting in Room No. 4, Cascadilla Place, on October 20, 1868, some thirteen days after Cornell University opened its doors. It was named after the New York-born writer and historian Washington Irving. In 1884, three years before its final demise, the Ithaca Daily Democrat lamented its decline under mechanical and engineering students pursuing technical interests in the mid-1880s.
caption: The Irving
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