Fall 2012 Issue - Colby-Sawyer College

A sepia-toned photograph of the 1927 Colby Voice staff. From left to right: Ruth Colby, Evelyn
Rollins, Emily Dalton, Evelyn Huse, Alice Rogers, Leon Bickford, Albert Goodwin, Doris Reid,
Daniel Chen, Dick Lull and Mr. Parker.
Clubs and Organizations
The largest diversions for
academy students were
literary societies, which
offered the opportunity to
write, debate and enjoy
lively conversation. The
largest men’s societies
were the Euphemian
Society and the United
Friends, which later
merged to become the
Philalethian Society.
Smaller men’s groups
included Epsilon Pi
Delta and the Granite
Debating Society. Women
participated in the Ladies’
Literary and Missionary
Association or in the smaller
D.G.V. Gesellschaft and
the Euphorbian Society.
Literary societies were
essentially social organizations
whose activities
included debating topics
of the day, writing essays
and poems and collecting
a library. These organizations
are the precursors
for many of the clubs and
organizations that
emerged at Colby Junior
College and Colby-Sawyer
College. Examples of
literary pursuits that have
arisen in later years
include the Blue Quill and
Solidus, an online literary
magazine. Debates
continue in the Student
Government Association
and departmental
organizations like the
Biology, History and
Philosophy Clubs.
Music has also been an
important part of our
institutional history. The
academy had studentorganized
singing groups
that faded in and out of
fashion depending on the
trends of the time. Music
clubs arose with the start
of the junior college, and
music would become even
more important at Colby
Junior College with choir,
glee club, orchestra and
later, with the organization
of the Buzzin’ Dozen and
the Monotones. Today,
the musical tradition
continues at the college
with the Colby-Sawyer
College Singers, a choir
composed of college and
area community members,
and The Voices of Colby-
Sawyer, a student-led
gospel choir.
Written and photographic
expressions are also
honored Colby-Sawyer
traditions. The first
student newspaper, The
Colby Voice, served as
a local newspaper, school
newspaper and literary
magazine. The format and
name of the student
newspaper has changed
over the years but other
than a few dark years, a
student newspaper has
been published from 1889
until 2005. The current
newspaper, The Colby-
Sawyer Courier, became an
online publication in 2011,
a long way from the thick
booklets of the academy
days.
The other major publication
was The Colbyan, the
yearbook that documented
the life of students on
campus for nearly 100
years. Originated in 1918,
The Colbyan was published
until 2005. Although it is
no longer in publication,
students have since
celebrated their classes in
video yearbooks and in
other electronic formats in
keeping with the spirit of
The Colbyan.
Alumni exchanged reminiscences whenever they met. Some of them thought it would be enjoyable
if they met oftener and proposed a regular reunion in Boston as well as at Commencement in
New London. As a result the New London Association was organized by one hundred and fifty alumni
gathered in the Thorndike Hotel on the 13th of May, 1890…The Association thus inaugurated
continued to hold annual reunions in the same place for a number of years.
— From The First Century of Colby by Henry K. Rowe
Fall 2012
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