Delphic Society

The Delphic Society was founded at the University of Rochester on November 2, 1850. Five transfer students who were members of the Adelphian Society at Colgate University (formerly the Hamilton Literary & Theological Institution) formed the society. 

The five founders of the Delphic Society at the University of Rochester were Stephen Haskins Carpenter, Nathaniel Judson Clark, Andrew Longyear Freeman, John Buttrick Jones, and Franklin Smith Lyon.

The Delphic Society was one of the first public literary societies at the University of Rochester and led the way to Greek-letter societies and fraternities at the private university. 

The society's mission was the "promotion of the literary improvement of its members," and it was formed to serve "Wisdom and Reason." The organization existed on the Rochester campus through the end of 1866. 

William James Milne was a member of the Delphic Society at Rochester. He later became a professor and honorary member of the Gamma Sigma Society at the Brockport Normal School. 

Milne was instrumental in the 1871 founding of the Delphic Society at the Geneseo Normal School. He was Geneseo's first principal, and he wanted to provide students with the college literary society experience he had at Rochester and Brockport. 

The Delphic Society at the University of Rochester is the predecessor organization to the Delphic Society at Geneseo, which later became the Delphic Fraternity. 

For more information on the Delphic Society at the University of Rochester, visit its Wikipedia page.