Peithessophian Society (Rutgers College)

The Peithessophian Society was a literary society at Rutgers College which was founded at Rutgers in 1825, by James Spencer Cannon shortly after the College was reconstituted. The name Peithesopphian means "persuasiveness of wisdom." It, along with its rival society, the Philoclean Society, was founded for the intellectual broadening of their members. Both societies maintained their own libraries, which compensated for the weakness of the Rutgers College Library. The strength of the Peithesopphian library was literature. In 1848 both Societies and their libraries moved into Van Nest Hall. Aside from maintaining a library for their members, the Society sponsored speakers and performed literary exercises at weekly meetings. The Society acquired speakers for larger audiences, and selected orators for the Junior Exhibition. The most famous speech given before the Peithesopphian and Philoclean Societies was the 1830 speech of William Wirt, statesman and former Attorney General of the United States. The address was popular for much of the 19th century because it foreshadowed the coming Civil War, and it was published in France and Germany. The major source of funds for the Peithesopphian Society was collection of dues, and payments for the library. Fines were levied against members for infractions of rules, and honorary members gave monetary or literary donations.

In the mid 19th century, membership stood at probably over 100 members, but membership tapered off after the Civil War. By the 1880s, meetings were attended by only a dozen or so members. The last record of the original Society is dated 1891. The Peithesopphian Society revived briefly in the 1920s. Carl Weiland formed a society called Les Simples Savants in 1922, which adopted the name and mission of the old Peithesopphian Society by 1923. The Society last appears in the 1931 Scarlet Letter. In 1932 it merged with its old rival the Philoclean Society to become the Philosophian Society.