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Debate Board Records (Swarthmore College)

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Held at: Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College [Contact Us]500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania 19081

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

The Swarthmore Oratorical Association was organized circa 1898 as a branch of the State Oratorical Association, composed of members of the College's literary societies: Somerville, Eunomian, and Dephic. The Association awarded a "John Wanamaker" prize to a student who then represented the College in Inter-Collegiate debates.

In 1903, the Oratorical Association, together with College faculty, invited representatives from preparative schools to compete in an Interscholastic Oratorical Contest held at Swarthmore College. The intention was to increase interest in oratory and public speaking among the students in preparative schools and to encourage bonds between Swarthmore College and preparative schools in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. Within a few years, public high schools were also invited to compete. The winners were awarded Phi Kappa Psi prizes in oratory, silver trophy cups provided by the alumni of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

In June 1903, Professor Pearson was elected president of the Swarthmore College Debate Board. A College debate team competed against Dickinson College on December 11, 1903.

One bound volume contains the minutes of the Debate Board, 1903-1922, and literature and scoring of the Interscholastic Oratorical Contest of Swarthmore College for the Phi Kappa Psi cups 1903-1918

The collection is contained in 1 volume.

Publisher
Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College
Finding Aid Author
FHL staff
Finding Aid Date
2013
Sponsor
Encoding made possible by a grant by the Gladys Kriebel Delmas Foundation to the Philadelphia Consortium of Special Collections Libraries
Access Restrictions

Collection is open for research.

Use Restrictions

Copyright has not been assigned to Friends Historical Library. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in to the Director. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Friends Historical Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by reader.

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