The present work owes its existence to a conviction on the part of its editors that much material published by past Williams undergraduates in past and present literary periodicals of the college, deserves a resurrection from the threatening oblivion of musty library shelves. That this conviction has been justified by the quality of the verse and prose herein published, the editors believe; and they therefore submit this volume to the public without undue fear as to its reception, adding only the caution that its readers remember always the tender age of the writers of these pages.

The purpose of the editors was to collect material which might be adjudged to possess real literary merit; but in some cases in which the historical interest attaching to the production, either by reason of its subject or by reason of the fame attained in later years by its author, is obvious, this rule has been waived. Among such exceptions may be cited that of the Resolutions addressed to President Adams by the students, and copied herein from the pages of the Vidette. The matter has been arranged in the order of class seniority, with two exceptions. It has seemed fitting to the editors to begin the work with that immortal song, "The Mountains"; the second exception is that of the series of biographical sketches entitled "Nine Williams Alumni," which for obvious reasons were published as a whole.

The editors burrowed through all files of the college publications which the college library contains, files which are reasonably complete. In such a mass of material, some ninety volumes, it will be astounding indeed if some creditable work has not been passed inadvertently over. If such a mistake has occurred it is at least pardonable. The editors fear only the presence of some unworthy matter in this volume, a sin of commission and hence vastly more heinous.

In going over the works of their academic ancestors the editors have been struck by several very interesting facts. The literary quality of the poetry, as all will recognize, has made a steady advance, until the last six years of the Lit. have seen the magazine second to none, for verse at least, in the intercollegiate press. Dutton, Westermann, Gibson, Holley, all of the same collegiate generation—they are names which are widely known and which have brought the college renown of a nature which, ordinarily, she is apt to obtain rather by athletic than by intellectual means. It is striking, too, to notice how the college poetry has changed during the seventy years of its existence, as the present compilers have known it. There are specimens of the "poetry" of the early days included herein, which find a place, as is intimated elsewhere, not so much for their intrinsic merit as for the interest attaching to them in other directions; and as for the prose of the Quarterly and the Vidette, it was, indeed, like the essays of the college press to-day, carefully written and with a degree of that indescribable something called "style"; but so philosophical, heavy, and devoid of any human interest that we cannot imagine the average student going through the magazine at a sitting as (despite all reports to the contrary) is done with the college papers to-day.

An interesting light on the alteration in undergraduate problems that has gradually come about is furnished by a reading of Mr. Mabie's essay included herein. At the time of its production Mr. Mabie saw the need of a greater degree of organization among the students, in order that the college might thereby become more of a community. How directly opposed the present-day cry is! Student organization has to-day so spread and so wound itself about the very life of the college, that it threatens to hide the intellectual aims for which the college exists. The editors venture to express the opinion that, had Mr. Mabie written when they are writing, his essay would perhaps have had a different tone.

The college has indeed much to be proud of in its literature and journalism—for it has been enriched with names like Bryant, Prime, Franklin Carter, Mabie, Stoddard, Scudder, Alden, Gladden, G.L. Raymond, L.W. Spring, G. Stanley Hall, H.L. Nelson, G.E. MacLean, Cuthbert Hall, Isaac Henderson, Bliss Perry, F.J. Mather, Rollo Ogden: many of them are represented here; and we are glad for the college that their fame had its beginnings, even if often modest, in our student publications.

For the purpose of embodying the literary history of the college as completely as possible in one volume, the compilers have added an appendix containing the names of the editors of the Literary Monthly for the twenty-six years of its existence. For the same purpose, they quote below a chronological sketch of the various publications, which appeared in the Gulielmensian of the class of 1908. The present editors cannot vouch for all the facts there set forth.

"So far as is known, the earliest periodical published by Williams undergraduates was The Adelphi, a bi-weekly, of which the first issue appeared August 18, 1831, and the last June 21, 1832. After twelve years The Williams Monthly Miscellany was started in July, 1844, and continued until September, 1845. After another lapse of several years, The Williams Quarterly Magazine was founded in July, 1853, and continued publication until June, 1872. Meantime, April 13, 1867, The Williams Vidette had been started, and in 1872, the older Quarterly was merged into it. The Vidette was published fortnightly until June, 1874, when it, together with The Williams Review, a tri-weekly, started in June, 1870, was united to form the fortnightly Williams Athenoeum, the first issue of which appeared October 10, 1874. In May, 1881, another fortnightly, The Argo, was started, which, with The Athenoeum, appeared in alternate weeks until April, 1885, when the two gave place simultaneously to The Williams Literary Monthly and The Fortnight. Two years later, April, 1887, The Fortnight was reorganized into The Williams Weekly. In 1904 The Williams Weekly became The Williams Record.

"Volume I of the Gulielmensian appeared in the early spring of 1857."

To these must be added two more, whose existences have begun since the above was published. A humorous monthly, The Purple Cow, first saw the light in the fall of 1907 and has since prospered. Two volumes have appeared of Coffee Club Papers, containing productions read before the meetings of that body. The first volume bears the date of 1909 and the second of 1910. Every class on its graduation publishes its Class Book and these sometimes attain a degree of literary merit; hence any review of the literary interests of the college would be incomplete without at least mention of them.

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And now the editors have done their task. It has been pleasant work; may the results prove as pleasant to those before whose literary palates they are spread. It remains only to thank the alumni for their loyal financial support through the subscription blanks sent out in June, and the library staff of the college for the generosity with which more than the ordinary facilities of the library have been tendered.

THE EDITORS.

Williamstown, Massachusetts, November 1, 1910.