Abstract The Philomathia Society Minute Books record the minutes of this Northwestern Academy literary society from its inception on May 8, 1868, to its final meeting on May 4, 1917, with a break of over 11 years, from February 1893 to September 1904. Philomathia, meaning “love of learning,” was founded to “supplement the routine of school-work by providing an opportunity for original thinking and expression,” according to an essay in the 1907 Academy annual, The Bear (p.38). The Society met on an...