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Role Within Student Life Prior to the Civil War, the Philomathesian Society was by far the most important student organization on campus, with nearly every student belonging to the group. One of the society's distinguishing charecteristics was its valuable and extensive library. As one student noted in the early 1800's, "As our lessons do not at present occupy all our time, our tutor has recommended to all of us to join the Phylomathesian [sic] society as soon as we possibly can because it has the best selection of books." Not only was the library more extensive and encompassing than the college's library, it was also more accessible to students; its less stringent borrowin grestrictions allowed students to "take out 10 to 15 books with them to their schools and homes, etc.," much more than the two book restriction employed by the college's library. As the college grew in the early 1800's, so did the Philomatheisian Society- enrollment became so great that it became difficult to ensure that every member would be able to speak at the weekly meetings. Two seperate divisions were created to increase opportunities for speaking and debating for its members. The society sponsored a short-lived literary magazine, aptly named The Philomathesian (see below), which was published from 1833-1834, and continued to hold the best general collection of books on campus through the Civil War.
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