Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History/Academy of Language and Literature

Academy of Language and Literature.—Wilder's Annals of Kansas says this society was organized on June 16, 1885, with the following officers: J. A. Lippincott, president; O. C. Hill, vice-president; W. H. Carruth, secretary; J. E. Williamson, treasurer; W. I. Graham, Lily M. Storrs and the secretary, executive committee. The objects of the academy, as stated in the by-laws, were “to promote the love and study of literature and to encourage investigation and original production therein.”

On Dec. 31, 1885, another meeting was held, at which time Prof. W. I. Graham of Baker University was elected president; Prof. William McDonald of the University of Kansas, vice-president; Miss Viola Price, secretary; Prof. J. E. Williamson of the Topeka high school, treasurer; and the executive committee was composed of Prof. Graham, Miss Price and Prof. T. W. Phelps. The dues of the society were fixed at $1.00 per year for each member, and in 1892 the academy numbered 75 members. After the magazine called the Agora began publication in 1891 it was made the official organ of the society. The last number of this magazine, published in March, 1896, contains the announcement that the annual meeting of the Academy of Language and Literature would be held at Lawrence in April of that year. No later record of the organization can be found. Its place in the literature of Kansas is now (1911) practically filled by the Kansas Authors' Club.