Emory History Minute: Oldest Academic Buildings

2,322 views · Published 6 October 2011 · 1:20 · Indexed 4 November 2026

Channel: Emory University · 2011 · Education

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To celebrate Emory's 175th anniversary, Emory Report brings you a look at little-known facts about the university. 

Phi Gamma and Few Halls, on the Oxford campus, are Emory's first and oldest academic buildings. Phi Gamma was the first literary society at Emory, was formed just months after the charter was approved in 1837 and even before the campus plan was laid out. It grew so large that it split into another literary society, Few, named after Emory's first president. These two groups were harbingers to Emory's rise to national eminence in debate, and the Barkley Forum debate team was their legacy. 


To see the entire collection of Emory History Minutes, log on to Emory Report's website at http://bit.ly/emoryhistoryminutes. And for more information about Emory's 175th Anniversary, log on to http://www.emory.edu/175.

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