Talk:Cyrus Northrop

Northrop's Fraternities
I’m fixing an error, one that I thought I’d caught when editing this page some years back. It’s about the fraternity memberships of “Prexy” Cyrus Northrop, second president of the University of Minnesota.

For some years, the Alpha Delta Phi chapter at Minnesota had been claiming him as a member. As a past University president, and a man much-loved by the students, he was of some renown. My guess is that it was an innocent error. I’d ‘’thought’’ the error was simple: Northrop was really an Alpha Sig, and his son was a Alpha Delt. But somehow I bobbled the reference back then, and now learn that the younger Northrop was a Deke, instead. And his famous father was both a Deke AND and an Alpha Sig. Here’s how it all worked out, with references:

Alpha Sigma Phi’s Minnesota chapter history on their national website claims that Northrop was an Alpha Sig, and curiously, a national officer of Alpha Sig around the year 1919, which would have been late in his life, ten years after he retired from the University. -He died in 1922 at the age of 88, making him 85 years old if he served that fraternity in 1919… So at first I doubted this linkage. But it’s true: Late in his life he served as National President for Alpha Sigma Phi. I’ve tracked this down with their national historian, who writes: "Cyrus Northrop was indeed an Alpha Sig in his sophomore year at Yale, initiated in 1854. He was Grand Senior President of Alpha Sigma Phi from 1915 to 1919.  It is likely that he was a Delta Kappa Epsilon or less likely an Alpha Delta Phi the following year, as those were two of the three Junior fraternities at Yale at the time…"  [From personal correspondence in May 2020, given here because it includes a searchable reference.]

Digging further, the Dekes (Delta Kappa Epsilon) here at Minnesota, confirm in several sources that Northrop is theirs. --Both Northrops were. The son, Cyrus Northrop Jr. indeed had been a member of Deke at Minnesota, in 1893, and the father was a Deke at Yale decades prior. Tying it together, here is the historical evidence I have:

The first is a 1890 University of Minnesota yearbook, where “Prexy” - Northrop Sr’s record is as follows [my comments on this quote in brackets]:
 * "Cyrus Northrop, LL. D., President
 * BA., 1857, LL. B. 1859, LL. D. 1886, all from Yale
 * [His fraternities were listed by Greek letters only, and I inferred the ‘class’ by a secondary reference (Yale Sheffield history), below:]
 * * ΚΣΕ- Kappa Sigma Epsilon, a freshman society 
 * * ΑΔΦ- Alpha Delta Phi, at points a juniors or (briefly) a three-year society during his years there [Note, I'll show that THIS is the error: ΑΔΦ is a yearbook typo, should be ΑΣΦ ]
 * * ΔΚΕ- Delta Kappa Epsilon, a juniors society at the time
 * * Skull and Bones, a seniors club
 * * ΦΒΚ- Phi Beta Kappa, honors society.
 * He was a professor at Yale from 1863 to 1884."

That provided the first pass at all this.

So Prexy was a member of TWO national fraternities? Ah… At the time, this was legal (pre-NIC) and Yale societies operated under different rules: you’d join a new fraternity each year in those days. I found a further record, the Yale Sheffield Monthly, vol XX, for October 1913 to June 1914, which confirms the existence of those class societies at those times, noting which class they served at publication time (1913), and also noting that Alpha Delt AND Deke were listed as junior societies in 1913. It clarified that Alpha Delt was normally a junior society (thus unavailable to Northrop as a Sophomore), noting it was briefly dormant (1873-1888) and when it was a three-year society (1888 – 1895) - not while Northrop was an undergrad. (Only later, the national fraternities all shifted to today’s model of multi-year membership, with the senior “finishing clubs” like Skull and Bones, or Wolf’s Head remaining for upperclassmen only.) Alpha Sigma Phi was definitely listed, while Northrop was an undergrad, but as a sophomore society. So, from this reference it seems possible and indeed more probable that Northrup Sr. was an Alpha Sig, not an Alpha Delt. But that would mean there was a typo in at least one Minnesota yearbook from the 1890s. I started reading them.

The 1891 yearbook lists the son, Cyrus Northrop Jr. for the first time, among the freshman class. It did not list “Prexy’s” fraternities that year.

The 1892 yearbook had a briefer mention. Northrup Sr’s listing in the 1892 yearbook omitted several of the groups, and ONLY lists Deke and Phi Beta Kappa. Perhaps for brevity. The books also show Cyrus Northrup Jr. on the Deke page listing.

The 1893 yearbook is Alpha Delta Phi’s first listing as a new chapter at Minnesota, and they list several faculty and an earlier president (Folwell) who was a member, but NOT Northrup. Could the 1890 yearbook be wrong? Was he an Alpha Sig instead?

The 1894 yearbook again notes Northrop Sr. to be a Deke, AND again mentions he was a Skull and Bonesman, AND member of Phi Beta Kappa. So if dropping Alpha Delt was an error, it was a persistent one. That 1894 yearbook also shows a picture of young Cyrus Jr., a member of the Junior class and a DEKE, listing this in several places.


 * As an aside, during this period the national fraternities were somewhat marginalized at Yale and Harvard, compared to other schools. Elsewhere in the nation, a student would join for 2, 3 or 4 years, and the fraternity chosen as a sophomore would remain their fraternity as a senior, and as an alum.  In the latter 1800s, at Yale and Harvard, it was the Third Year societies that earned that lifelong allegiance, even while a man's tenure in that chapter may have been brief. Yale and Harvard still had their "finishing clubs", i.e: Skull and Bones, Wolf's Head and others, which were for seniors. Northrop was unique in that he maintained a strong allegiance to both Delta Sigma Phi and to Delta Kappa Epsilon, his Second and Third year societies, whereas for other men, the connection to their freshman and sophomore chapters faded.

Skipping ahead, the 1923 yearbook, published over two decades later, has a "Cyrus Northrop" listed on the Alpha Sigma Phi page as a faculty member of that fraternity. This was published in 1922, the year Prexy Northrup died. The reference did not list whether this man was Junior or Senior. That same book lists Cyrus Northrop as a faculty member and a Deke, again, not notating whether it was Northrop Junior or Senior. A third fraternity, Delta Theta Phi professional Law fraternity, also lists a Cyrus Northrop as a faculty member. All three of these listings of the Northrop name vanish in the 1924 yearbook, telling me they intended to recognize Northrop SENIOR. In case you wonder, Alpha DELT does not mention him as a member that year, either.

Finally, Deke’s alumni catalog lists BOTH father and son as members, in the 1900 edition of that book:
 * Cyrus Northrop, College President, class of 1857, Phi chapter at Yale
 * Cyrus Northrop, Jr, no occupation listed, class of 1893 and a recent grad, of the Phi Epsilon chapter at Minnesota.

To wrap up, these memberships for Northrop Sr. are really on solid ground, from an historic perspective:
 * ΚΣΕ - Kappa Sigma Epsilon, a freshman society – initiated in 1853 – Absolutely solid info
 * ΑΣΦ - Alpha Sigma Phi, a sophomore society – initiated in 1854 – Absolutely solid info: Multiple sources say he was an Alpha Sig, as a sophomore at Yale, later serving that fraternity as national president 1915 to 1919. The errant reference to ADPhi is clearly a typo.
 * ΔΚΕ - Delta Kappa Epsilon, a juniors society at the time (founded there) – initiated in 1855 – Absolutely solid info
 * Skull and Bones, a seniors club – initiated in 1856 – Absolutely solid info
 * ΦΒΚ - Phi Beta Kappa, liberal arts honors society. – tapped in Spring 1856 or ‘57 – Absolutely solid info
 * ΠΒΝ - Pi Beta Nu, general honors society, (local) – tapped as an honorary member in about 1883 while at Minnesota. First listed in 1921 yearbook. Solid info
 * ΔΘΦ – Delta Theta Phi, or one of its predecessor groups, Delta Phi Delta or Alpha Kappa Phi, law honoraries. First noted in the 1921 yearbook. Solid info
 * Cosmopolitan Club, became an honorary member after 1914 and before 1919. A U of MN social club to aid foreign students. Solid info

Obviously, Northrop loved fraternal organizations, his students and the University.

Regarding his son, Northrop JUNIOR, clearly, he was a Deke. I don’t believe there was a linkage for him with Alpha Delta Phi, either at Minnesota or elsewhere. He joined his father’s Third-year fraternity, as a legacy.

Since this issue generates occasional edits and questions, I thought I would go long on my answer, and show you the research. Comments welcome. Jax MN (talk) 17:03, 3 July 2020 (UTC)


 * It's worth noting here that Yale was on the cusp of the early diversification movement that would roll through America's colleges and universities over the next 120 years. It's difficult for us to see this, as our frame of reference is only a mere four of five years of campus participation, and for barely a few of us, a longer period of 20 or 30 years if we are academics, or collegiate mentors.  But nevertheless, the movement to diversify evolved out of an unshackling of the student body from the rigors of English-style or ecclesiastical academia that began as early as the Revolutionary War.  Phi Beta Kappa and the Flat Hat Society had an important, early role allowing students to talk freely, outside of the watchful eyes and ears of faculty.  Early literary societies and secret societies at Yale, Harvard and elsewhere expanded on this trend and served as a counterbalance to what students felt was excessive faculty control.  However, by the Civil War, earlier literary societies had fallen off:  Linonia, Brothers in Unity, and Calliopean lost their stature with Calliopean folding in 1853, and the others ceasing operations after the American Civil War.


 * By 1850, Yale and other schools were moving away from being of regional importance, to a national role. Students were being drawn from a broader population, outside of New England, and fewer were from Congregationalist or Presbyterian religious affiliations. A reassessment of the role of the finals clubs (Skull and Bones and Keys), their control and secrecy, grew to a high pitch by 1883, and the role of a blizzard of societies dedicated to specific collegiate years occurred mid-Century, with several literary societies falling off and more egalitarian finals societies being created by the 1880s, including Wolf's Head,  While the national fraternities flourished (essentially "Junior's Societies" at Yale and Harvard), among the debris of this era were the old order of freshmen and sophomore societies, which were banned at Yale: Sophomore societies were abolished in 1875, freshman societies in 1880. Finals clubs and the national fraternities were the survivors.  Diversification continued, with continued gains at specific junctures, most especially after the return of WWII servicemen and women, which opened the doors of academic and fraternal life finally to Catholics (who had only partially been accepted, especially in the South and East), Jews, and students who were ethnically Hispanic or Black. By the 1950s, rather than only their own "safe spaces" of Jewish fraternities, or Black fraternities, these non-represented groups would be welcomed by the surviving societies.  --Yes; at first, tepidly.  Later, more robustly.  The degree and speed of integration varied by state, school and individual society. But the movement of diversification moved on, even if in fits and starts. Jax MN (talk) 16:30, 20 December 2021 (UTC)