Manuscript Society is a senior society at

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

in New Haven, Connecticut. Toward the end of each academic year 16 rising seniors are inducted into the society, which meets twice weekly for dinner and discussion. Manuscript is reputedly the "

Arts and letters Arts and Letters (April 1, 1966 – October 16, 1998) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Background Arts and Letters was a chestnut horse owned and bred by American sportsman and philanthropist Paul Mellon, and train ...

" society at Yale.

History and traditions

Founded in 1952, Manuscript was Yale's seventh "landed" senior society; that is, its alumni trust owns the society's meeting place or "tomb". Manuscript was one of the first of the senior societies to offer membership to rising female

Yale College Yale College is the undergraduate college of Yale University. Founded in 1701, it is the original school of the university. Although other Yale schools were founded as early as 1810, all of Yale was officially known as Yale College until 1887, ...

seniors. Each delegation is selected by consensus among Manuscript alumni, trustees, current delegates and significant others, unlike other Yale societies where undergraduate members more freely select, recruit, and initiate their society's next delegation. The Wrexham Foundation is the society's alumni arm. Since 1956, the foundation has underwritten a scholarship in the humanities for a "senior who shall be judged to have written the best senior essay in the field of the humanities." Administered by Yale, it is given in memory of

Wallace Notestein Wallace Notestein (December 16, 1878 – February 2, 1969) was an American historian and Sterling Professor of English History at Yale University from 1928 to 1947. He was married to women's educational pioneer Ada Comstock. He was a member of th ...

, M.A. 1903, Ph.D. 1908, Litt.D. 1951. Manuscript briefly played host to the 1991-92 classes of

Skull and Bones Skull and Bones, also known as The Order, Order 322 or The Brotherhood of Death, is an undergraduate senior secret student society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The oldest senior class society at the university, Skull and Bone ...

, who were temporarily locked out of their own tomb by alumni who objected to its undergraduates' decision to offer membership to women. It holds the number 344 to be sacred. The Society supposedly holds Enlightenment ideals, and the sun and sunflowers are both important symbols to members. From its beginning the society also retained close connections with campus literary society Chi Delta Theta, which itself had been formed in 1821. The society holds an annual gathering in its tomb on Halloween. A Manuscript event is described in the novel ''Joe College'' by Tom Perrotta. Manuscript is part of a four-society "Consortium" with the

Aurelian Honor Society Established in 1910, the Aurelian Honor Society ("Aurelian") is the fifth oldest landed secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is a member of the Ancient Eight, which also includes Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and W ...

Book and Snake The Society of Book and Snake (incorporated as the Stone Trust Corporation) is the fourth oldest secret society at Yale University and was the first society to induct women into its delegation. Book and Snake was founded at the Sheffield Scientif ...

and Berzelius.

Architecture

King-lui Wu King-lui Wu (1918 – August 15, 2002) was a Chinese-American architect and professor at Yale University from 1945 to 1988. Life and work King-lui Wu was born in Guangzhou (Canton), China in 1918. Wu's father was a businessman, but despising ...

, Manuscript's tomb is mid-century modern, unusual amid other societies' elaborate mid-to-late-19th century buildings. It appears from the outside to have only one level, yet conceals several subterranean floors. The tomb holds a vast collection of notable modern and contemporary art. The

Yale University Art Gallery The Yale University Art Gallery (YUAG) is the oldest university art museum in the Western Hemisphere. It houses a major encyclopedic collection of art in several interconnected buildings on the campus of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

is said to have temporarily stored pieces there. Wu said that he designed the building "for privacy, not for secrecy."''Architectural Record'', November 1965. "Ingenious Use of a Narrow Site". Dan Kiley was responsible for landscaping and

Josef Albers Josef Albers (; ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born artist and educator. The first living artist to be given a solo show at MoMA and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, he taught at the Bauhaus and Black Mountain College ...

for the brickwork intaglio mural.

Notable members

References

Sources

*Robbins, Alexandra. ''Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power''. (Back Bay Books : 2003). *''Architectural Record'', November 1965. "Ingenious Use of a Narrow Site". {{Authority control 1952 establishments in Connecticut Secret societies at Yale Student organizations established in 1952

History and traditions

Architecture

Notable members

See also

References

Sources