Having been founded in 1739 by professor György Maróthi, the College Choir of Debrecen has been working studiously on performing on every important event and occasion of the College. Among many other roles, it has served as a means for keeping the memory of Csokonai, the great Hungarian poet of the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. This study aims to present the mostly subjective written memories which registered the ways of remembering past events and important persons. But also the continuously changing fellowship of the choir needed a definite point in time to define their own identity. Ferenc Balogh, professor of Church history was the first to find the history of the male choir that functioned as a student society for more centuries. The study focuses on the period between 1861 and 1924, based on the registries of the choir, local and national journals, and memories to show the ways of keeping the past alive in order to live in the present.