Brown Paper

TheBrown Paper was an annual newspaper and the forerunner of the yearbook Liber Brunensis. The first Brown Paper, which appeared in November 1857, was initiated by Zeta Psi as a college paper conducted by editors from the several secret societies, its object being “to furnish a list of the members of the secret societies, and to communicate information pertaining to them, and to the other public and social organizations existing in Brown University.” The paper grew in size with the addition of articles summarizing the college news of the year. In 1860 and 1861 the title of the paper was the Brunonian. A rival paper, also called Brunonian and brought about by a split in the senior class election, was issued in 1866 in addition to the regularly published Brown Paper. In December 1865 the open Greek letter society Gamma Nu and other non-society students published the Caduceus, a paper similar to the Brown Paper. A second issue of the Caduceus came out in December 1868. By 1867 the Brown Paper had doubled in size, but the next year the appearance of a new magazine, the Brunonian, provided literary articles and college news on a more frequent basis, and the Brown Paper reverted to its original size, and in December 1869 was superseded by the first yearbook, Liber Brunensis of the Class of 1870.