The Literary Society of Washington was formed in 1874 by a group of friends and associates who wished to meet regularly for "literary and artistic improvement and entertainment". For more than 140 years, this literary society has convened monthly for discourse and the reading of essays written by members. The Society consists of approximately 40 Members, plus Honorary Associates and Emeritus Members. Unlike many similar social organizations, the Literary Society has included women members since its founding. The Society has no formal building or address, but meets in member homes or other locations.
"Only in Washington could such a grouping have come to pass," wrote anthropologist Alice Fletcher in 1908. "Not only were its members drawn from different sections of the country, but they represented the varied life of the capital city. Within the charm of the drawing-room, officials of the Government, legislators, writers, artists, scientists and private men and women met together, dropping, for the time being, all titles of distinction and becoming simply companions under the Egis of Learning."
According to a printed history of the Society, members have included three presidents of the United States, justices of the Supreme Court, the speaker of the House of Representatives, the attorney general, the secretary of state, two secretaries of the Smithsonian Institution, four librarians of Congress, two archivists of the United States, and over a dozen college and university presidents.
The Society remains active. Current members are drawn from public service, publishing, academia, and the arts. Most are published authors.
Contents
History
In 1873, Olive Risley Seward discussed forming a group to hold regular social and literary gatherings meetings with two of her friends, Esmeralda Boyle and Sara Carr Upton. Seward was the adopted daughter of William H. Seward, Lincoln's Secretary of State, and editor of the book William H. Seward's Travels Around the World.
On January 6, 1874, the three friends and 27 other founding members met to sign the Constitution of the Literary Society of Washington. The meeting was held "at my mother's house, 723 Twenty-first Street, in our back parlor," wrote Esmeralda Boyle afterwards. Sixteen of the 30 original members were women. Founding members included Brig. Gen. Benjamin Alvord, musician Signor Antonio Barili, Col. I. Edwards Clarke, Elliott Coues, Col. Edward H. Cummins, Chief Justice of the Court of Claims Charles Daniel Drake, novelist and Madeleine Dahlgren, Theodore Gill, Abraham Lincoln's secretary and biographer John George Nicolay, and Prof. Samuel Tyler.
Many members of the Literary Society were later involved in forming prominent Washington institutions including the National Geographic Society, the Cosmos Club,
the Anthropological Society of Washington, and the Columbia Historical Society (since renamed the Historical Society of Washington and located at the City Museum of Washington, D.C.).
One member wrote that during the Ulysses S. Grant Administration, the Literary Society "promised a pleasant contrast to the rather dusty, arid and scarcely spiritual atmosphere of official life, whether at the White House or in the local atmosphere."
President James A. Garfield "took a leading role in the exclusive 'Literary Society of Washington,'" reported the Washington Post, and was serving as President of the Society when he was assassinated on July 2, 1881. At a special meeting of the Society after Garfield died, members presented memorial essays that were compiled into a book, A Tribute of Respect from the Literary Society of Washington, to its late President, James Abram Garfield. Garfield's widow, Lucretia Garfield, remained active with the Society for many years and his son, James R. Garfield, Secretary of the Interior during Theodore Roosevelt's administration, was a member.
Prominent members
Members of the Literary Society of Washington (and the years they were members) included the following individuals. Directories of past members are included in Sixty Years of the Literary Society by Helen Nicolay and The Literary Society in Peace and War by Thomas Spaulding. Selected members are listed in the Library of Congress catalogue record for the Society's archives. A member list for 1882 is also included on pages 54–55 of A tribute of respect from the Literary Society of Washington, to its late President, James Abram Garfield.
Selected books written by members
Over the last 140 years, members of the Literary Society have published hundreds of books, from Olive Risley Seward's Travels Around the World, a bestseller in 1873 coauthored with her stepfather William Seward, to Judith Martin's Miss Manners' Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior (2005) and John F. Ross's War on the Run: The Epic Story of Robert Rogers and the Conquest of America's First Frontier (2009). Among the many notable books by members are the following: