Collections : [Wesleyan University -Special Collections and Archives]

On February 24, 1845 a vote was passed by the Connecticut Alpha of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, establishing its ninth chapter at Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT.

In 1969, Peter Budryk opened the Great Hollow Wilderness School (GHWS) to provide disadvantaged children and teenagers with a wilderness experience. In 1985, the GHWS offered a Wesleyan Orientation in the Wilderness (WOW) program for incoming freshmen at Wesleyan University.

Albert Camus (1913-1960) was an influential intellectual and writer. He was born and raised in Algeria, but spent most of his life during World War II and afterwards in France. Camus received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.

Since 1976, student papers written on historical Middletown-area topics have been donated to Special Collections & Archives.

Alfred S. Roe served with Company A, Ninth New York Heavy Artillery, from January 1864 to June 1865. Roe was captured in the Battle of Monocacy, Maryland, July 9, 1864, and was imprisoned at Danville, Virginia, for nearly eight months. He then attended Wesleyan University, from which he graduated 1870.

The Phi Rho Literary Society was founded in 1891 as a non-fraternity society with the aim of constituting a brotherhood and cultivating the art of public speaking. In 1903, the group became the Gamma Zeta chapter of the national fraternity of Delta Tau Delta. This fraternity existed until 1989.

A lifelong Democrat, William M. Citron served as a member of the Connecticut State Assembly, Connecticut State Legislature, and had two terms in the United States Congress as a representative for Connecticut. He served in the Army in both World War I and World War II. Citron was an outspoken opponent of anti-semitism and, in 1935, wrote to the U.S. Olympic Committee to urge that American athletes boycott the Olympics scheduled to take place in Berlin in the summer of 1936. He also made remarks (printed in the Congressional Record), that the United States' attendance at the Olympic events would give tacit approval to the racist practices of the Nazi government. In addition, Citron introduced legislation to regulate development along the Connecticut River and to provide flood control. His career was most active during the Great Depression, and he was a participant in the New Deal.

Jean Stafford (1915-1979) was a Pulitzer Prize winning writer of novels, short stories, non-fiction, and children's literature. She spent the 1964-1965 academic year as a resident fellow in the Center for Advanced Studies at Wesleyan University.

Wesleyan University was founded in 1831 in Middletown, Connecticut.

During the 1980s, a Wesleyan faculty member was asked to deliver an address to the incoming freshman class each year. These addesses contained advice and wisdom about the students' upcoming lives at Wesleyan University. These addresses were transcribed and printed by Wesleyan.