In 1836, there was in Harvard College no purely literary society to which seniors and juniors belonged as active members. The clubs were convivial or dramatic clubs, and active membership in the Institute and Iota Omicron Eta, which were debating societies rather than literary societies, ceased with the sophomore year. There existed at the same time a good nucleus for such an organization in the committee of editors of Harvardiana, a College monthly, which was conducted with some spirit by the classes of ’35, ’36, ’37, and ’38. The editors of Harvardiana, in 1837 and 1838, were men of decided ability, among them James Russell Lowell, ’38. The suggestion was made to the editors of the class of ’37, that they should form a literary society to be affiliated with Alpha Delta Phi. The men from ’38 chose as their successors in the society, the five editors of Harvardiana, who were to follow them.

The club had the decided advantage of being absolutely prohibited by the authorities. The faulty was not fond of any society in those days, and would have given no permission for the formation of a new one, least of all the founding of a secret society affiliated with other colleges. The consciousness of this prohibition gave all the more zest to the meetings. The society hired a room in Holyoke Street, and provided the better magazines of the day to make it a reading-room. They laid out a good deal of literary work, and they seem to have done it. The standard was rather that of the press than that of public speaking, and the papers written and criticized were written as of for a magazine or review. This was the ideal of the society form many years.

With the class of ’65 the society was discontinued at Harvard.

In the winter of 1878-79, the desire sprang up among several of the juniors and seniors to reestablish the society, with very much the same wish, which had led to its formation at Cambridge. The most active members again were the editors of the College newspapers, and proposed the reestablishment of the society. The graduate members, who had always looked with regret on its discontinuance, were well pleased at the idea of a revival. In February 1879, the chairman of the committee of graduates, empowered by the Convention of 1877, with the assistance of several members of the Fraternity, initiated four gentlemen from the two upper classes, and gave them power to elect and initiate members in the revived Chapter of Alpha Delta Phi.

In the autumn of 1896 ground was broken for a new house, which was opened in the late spring of 1897.

The Chapter was again withdrawn in 1907 at the instance of its members, who found it difficult to fulfill their obligations to the Fraternity and at the same time conform to the customs of the Club System at Harvard. The members formed the Fly Club, which still continues active among the local organizations of the Harvard undergraduates.