Book and Snake

File:Book_and_Snake_1888_delegation_Yale_College.jpg

Sigma Delta Chi Society was established by students at the Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College on November 17, 1863, as a three-year society.{{Cite web |title=Stone Trust Corporation. - Social Networks and Archival Context |url=https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6j189fq |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=SNAC Cooperative}}{{Cite web |title=Halls, Tombs and Houses: Student Society Architecture at Dartmouth. IV. View [index.html] for frames version |url=http://www.dartmo.com/halls/hallscontent4.html |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=www.Dartmoor.com}}{{Cite book |last=Havemeyer |first=Loomis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NgRPAQAAMAAJ&q=%22Book+and+Snake%22+-wikipedia |title=Sheff Days and Ways: Undergraduate Activities in the Sheffield Scientific School Yale University, 1847-1945 |date=1958 |page=55 |language=en |via=Google Books}} The society secured rooms on the top floor of a building on College Street and Chapel Street where they held weekly meetings.{{Cite book |last=Havemeyer |first=Loomis |url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/304683561.pdf |title=Yale's Extracurricular & Social Organizations, 1780-1960 |date=January 1961 |publisher=Yale University |location=New Haven |page=1 |access-date=July 6, 2023 |via=EilScholar (Yale University)}} When it outgrew that space, the society moved to the top floor of 953 Chapel Street.

In 1876, the society incorporated in Connecticut as the Stone Trust Corporation so that it could own property and hold money.{{Cite web |title=Tombs and Taps, An inside look at Yale's Fraternities, Sororities and Societies |url=https://www.conspiracyarchive.com/NWO/Tombs_and_Taps.htm |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=www.conspiracy archive.com}}{{Cite web |title=Collection: Stone Trust Corporation, Yale University, records |url=https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/resources/2839 |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Archives at Yale}}{{Cite book |last=Richards |first=David Alan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HYYyDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Book+and+Snake%22+-wikipedia&pg=PT531 |title=Skulls and Keys: The Hidden History of Yale's Secret Societies |date=2017-09-05 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-68177-581-4 |language=en |via=Google Books}} This name honored Lewis Bridge Stone, an early member of the society. On campus, Sigma Delta Chi changed its name to Book and Snake because its members did not want to be confused with a national fraternity; the group already had the nickname Book and Snake because of its pin.{{Cite journal |date=May 1888 |title=Epsilon Deuteron: Yale University |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Od8SAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Book+and+Snake%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA92 |journal=The Shield |publisher=Theta Delta Chi Fraternity |volume=4 |issue=2 |page=92 |via=Google Books}} In addition, the society moved to 36 Elm Street and created the first social dormitory at Yale. Member John Hays Hammond named the dormitory Cloister.

File:Cloister_Hall_of_the_Society_of_Book_and_Snake,_Yale_University,_circa_1900.jpg

Because its house was called Cloister, the society received the nickname Cloister Club.{{Cite web |last=Milstein |first=Larry |date=2015-09-02 |title=Warner House Sees Shake-Up |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/09/02/warner-house-sees-shake-up/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Yale Daily News |language=en}} The Cloister Club grew to include those who lived at the Cloister, alumni of the society, and honorary members. In 1888, Book and Snake built Cloister Hall, a combined chapter house and dormitory at 1 Hillhouse Avenue, at Grove Street.{{Cite news |date=1900-08-08 |title=Yale University |pages=5 |work=Boston Evening Transcript |location=Boston, Massachusetts |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/boston-evening-transcript-yale-universit/127766459/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |via=Newspapers.com}}

Like other landed Yale societies, Book and Snake built a meeting hall or "tomb" in 1901 that is only accessible to members and alumni. The tomb cost $81,000, including $10,000 for its lot. The society enlarged its dormitory in 1917. However, when Yale started its residential college system in 1933, Book and Snake sold Cloister Hall to the university.{{Cite news |last=Strahan |first=Derek |date=2019-08-16 |title=The Cloister, New Haven, Connecticut |language=en-US |work=Lost New England |url=https://lostnewengland.com/2019/08/the-cloister-new-haven-connecticut/ |access-date=2023-07-07}} Book and Snake also converted to a senior society in 1933.

In 1987, Book and Snake alumni created the Arthur Greer Memorial Prize for Outstanding Scholarly Publication or Research at Yale to honor Arthur Greer, Yale class of 1926.{{Cite web |title=Greer Prize Given to Shapiro |url=https://economics.yale.edu/news/171004/greer-prize-given-shapiro |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Yale Department of Economics |language=en}} Given to one or two junior faculty members annually, the Greer Award comes with funding for future research and is one of Yale's highest honors.

In 1999, the Stone Trust Corporation's assets totaled $2,474,165. In 2016, Business Insider ranked Book and Snake as the third wealthiest secret society at Yale, with $5,619,120 in assets.{{Cite web |last=Jackson |first=Abby |date=January 5, 2016 |title=7 of Yale's super-elite secret societies ranked by wealth |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/yales-wealthiest-secret-societies-2015-12 |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} According to the Yale Daily News, the society "has a party reputation, with a large number of athletes and fraternity and sorority members."{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |last3= |date=2002-06-30 |title=Secret societies: tombs and tradition |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2002/06/30/secret-societies-tombs-and-tradition/ |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Yale Daily News |language=en}}

Book and Snake uses a mix of ancient and esoteric symbols with meanings known only to its members. Its Tomb is said to be "the perpetual attempt of establishing an official perfect order on earth, a sort of platonic reflection of heavenly secret societies."

In the Sigma Delta Chi era, the group's symbol was a jawless skull that was chained to a cross.{{Cite book |title=Fleshing Out Skull & Bones: Investigations into America's Most Powerful Secret Society |publisher=Trine Day |year=2003 |isbn=978-0972020725 |editor-last=Millegan |editor-first=Kris |pages=410–411 |language=en}} The Book and Snake's original badge was an open book displaying the Greek letters ΣΔΧ surrounded by a coiled serpent.{{Cite book |last1=Baird |first1=Wm Raimond |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/007393856 |title=Baird's manual of American college fraternities; a descriptive analysis of the fraternity system in the colleges of the United States, with a detailed account of each fraternity. |last2=Brown |first2=James Taylor |date=1923 |publisher=James T. Brown, editor and publisher. |edition=10th |location=New York |page=716 |via=Hathi Trust}} It was worn on the member's tie. The modern version of this pin is an open book with an ouroboros on top, and no Greek letters.{{Cite web |title=14k 1895 Yale Book and Snake Society Sigma Delta Chi {{!}} #77059532 |url=https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/14k-1895-yale-book-snake-society-77059532 |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Worthpoint |language=en}} It is made of gold and is {{Convert|1/2 by 1/2|in|cm}} in size.

Each member of Book and Snake has a pewter or glass tankard that hangs on a hook in the Tomb's dining room, ready for whenever they return. When a member dies, their tankard is broken or pierced through its bottom.{{Cite web |last=Beach |first=Randall |date=2012-09-29 |title=Come with us for a rare glimpse into the mysterious secrets within the walls of Yale's 'tombs' (photos) |url=https://www.nhregister.com/news/article/RANDALL-BEACH-Come-with-us-for-a-rare-glimpse-11441094.php |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=New Haven Register |language=en-US}}

File:Yale-book-and-snake.jpgThe Book and Snake Tomb is at the corner of Grove Street and High Street in New Haven, adjacent to the Yale Law School and the Beinecke Plaza. The Tomb was deliberately sited with its back to campus and faces across the street to the Egyptian-revival gates of the Grove Street Cemetery.{{Cite web |last1=Ball |first1=Molly |last2=Bell |first2=Emily |date=2016-05-02 |title=Behind the walls of Yale's secret societies {{!}} Summer 1998 |url=http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/frosh/1998/blue/secret.html |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=The Yale Herald |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502214202/http://www.yaleherald.com/archive/frosh/1998/blue/secret.html |archive-date=2016-05-02 |via=web.archive.org}} The Tomb was designed in Greek Ionic style by Louis R. Metcalfe and completed in 1901. It is supposed to be the finest replica of a Greek temple in the United States.{{Cite web |last=Khederian |first=Robert |date=2018-06-21 |title=Tomb raiders: The clubhouses of Yale's secret societies |url=https://archive.curbed.com/2018/6/21/17484316/yale-secret-society-tomb-history-skull-bones |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Curbed |language=en}}

The windowless Tomb is built of solid white Vermont marble and has a roof of large marble tiles. It is {{convert|60|ft|abbr=on}} long, {{convert|42|ft|abbr=on}} wide, and {{convert|40|ft|m}} feet high, including two stories and a gable.{{Cite journal |date=September 1901 |title=News and Notes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WhATAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Book+and+Snake%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA229 |journal=The Record |publisher=Sigma Alpha Epsilon |volume=21 |issue=3 |page=229 |via=Google Books}} Its four Ionic pillars, carved from marble, support a triangle-shaped pediment across its front. Its bronze (originally wooden) front door is modeled after the Erechtheion Temple on the Acropolis in Athens.

The Tomb's alcove was built using steel–the first use of steel for a residence in the United States. Another of Metcalfe's innovations was using pipes to take the smoke from the Tomb's furnace to the chimney of a nearby commons building. The iron fence that surrounds the property features wrought-iron snakes or caduceus around posts shaped like flaming torches. In 2021, the society added the sculpture Aspire by Archie Held to its grounds.{{Cite web |last=Branch |first=Mark Alden |date=August 12, 2021 |title=Secrets revealed! |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.org/blog_posts/3697-secrets-revealed |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Yale Alumni Magazine |language=en}}

Previously, Book and Snake owned a chapter house and dormitory at Sheffield Scientific School known as the Cloister or Cloister Hall. H. Edwards Ficken designed the ornate brownstone Cloister which was completed in 1888. At the time, it was considered "one of the most picturesque buildings on the Yale campus." The society added a matching rear addition in 1915. Today, the building is called Warner House and is used for the Yale University graduate school and the Yale College Deans offices.{{Cite web |title=The Graduate School Moved to Warner House |url=https://gsas.yale.edu/news/graduate-school-moved-warner-house |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Yale Graduate School of Arts & Sciences}} A plaque honoring the society is on the first floor of the building.

Each year, Book and Snakes taps a delegation of sixteen members: eight men and eight women. It was the first secret society on campus to admit women and minorities.File:Bill Nelson, official NASA photo.jpg

• Les Aspin (1960) – former Secretary of Defense{{Cite book |last=Cox |first=Simon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXOQaxo3GUMC&q=Les+Aspin+book+and+snake%22&pg=PA48 |title=Decoding The Lost Symbol: The Unauthorized Expert Guide to the Facts Behind the Fiction |date=2009-11-03 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4391-7261-2 |language=en}}
• Ferdinand Lammot “Peter” Belin Jr. (1936) – survivor of the Hindenburg, nephew of Mrs. Pierre S. duPont{{Cite web |title=Ferdinand Lammot "Peter" Belin, Jr. |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/fire-ice-hindenburg-and-titanic-exhibition-survivors/ferdinand-lammot-%E2%80%9Cpeter%E2%80%9D-belin-jr |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Postal Museum, Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Reviello |first=Gia L. |date=2016-09-19 |title=Community Member Feature: F. Lammot "Peter" Belin Jr. |url=https://wcharchives.com/2016/09/19/community-member-feature-f-lammot-peter-belin-jr/ |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Waverly Community House Archives |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=1935-05-11 |title=Mr. F. Lammot Belin Jr. of Washington, D.C. |pages=6 |work=The Morning News |location=Wilmington, Delaware |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-news-mr-f-lammot-belin-jr/127756723/ |access-date=2023-07-06 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• Thomas G. Bennett – president of Winchester Repeating Arms Company{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nHpKAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22Book+and+Snake%22+-wikipedia&pg=PA53 |title=Biographical Record, Classes from Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-eight to Eighteen Hundred and Seventy-two of the Sheffield Scientific School |date=1910 |publisher=Yale University Sheffield Scientific School |location=New Haven |pages=101 |language=en |via=Google Books}}{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Special to The New York |date=1926-05-15 |title=Bennett Quits Board of Winchester Arms; Former President Retires After 51 Years' Service -- Company Cuts Operation Loss. |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1926/05/15/archives/bennett-quits-board-of-winchester-arms-former-president-retires.html |access-date=2023-07-07 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite journal |last=Trevelyan |first=Laura |date=2016 |title=The Winchester - Legend of the West |url=https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/the-winchester-legend-of-the-west/introduction |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=Bloomsbury Collections |pages=xiii–xxii |language=en |doi=10.5040/9781350989382.0006|url-access=subscription }}
• John Vernou Bouvier III (1914) – father of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis{{Cite book |last=Bradford |first=Sarah |url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bradford-queen.html?scp=14&sq=family%2520fortunes&st=cse |title=America's Queen, Chapter 1 |date=2000 |website= |isbn=0-670-89191-6 |access-date=2023-07-06 |via=The New York Times}}
• Nicholas F. Brady (1952)– former Secretary of the Treasury
• Bradford Brinton (1904) – machinery manufacturer and art collector[http://mssa.library.yale.edu/obituary_record/1925_1952/1935-36.pdf Bulletin of Yale University: Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University Deceased during the Year 1935-1936] (PDF), 33, New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University, 1936, pp. 165–6
• William T. Bull (1888)– college football player and physician
• Kathleen Cleaver (1984) – law professor and a founder of the Black Panthers.
• Ethelbert Cooper – a Liberian energy magnate, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art{{Cite web |last=Xie |first=Alan R. |date=April 21, 2015 |title=At Crossroads: The Ethelbert Cooper Gallery |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/4/21/arts-cover-cooper-gallery/ |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=The Harvard Crimson}}{{Cite web |title=Ethelbert Cooper |url=https://coopergallery.fas.harvard.edu/ethelbert-cooper |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=coopergallery.fas.harvard.edu |language=en}}
• William Henry Crocker – banker{{Cite book |last=Ryder |first=David Warren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OD9EAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Book+and+Snake%22+-wikipedia |title="Great Citizen": A Biography of William H. Crocker |date=1962 |publisher=Historical Publications |page=42 |language=en |via=Google Books}}
• David Dellinger – pacifist and anti-war activist
• Eddie Eagan (1921) – boxer, bobsledder, gold medalist in the Winter and Summer Olympics, boxing commissioner{{Cite news |date=1967-06-14 |title=Col. Eagan of Rye Dies in NYC at 69 |pages=1 |work=The Daily Item |location=Port Chester, New York |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-item-col-eagan-of-rye-dies-in/127755321/ |access-date=2023-07-06 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• Henry Ford II (1940) – former chairman and chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company{{Cite news |last=Phyfe |date=1940-03-13 |title=Henry Ford 2d, Industrialist's Grandson, Becomes Fiance of Miss Anne McDonnell |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1940/03/13/archives/henry-ford-2d-industrialists-grandson-becomes-fiance-of-miss-anne.html |access-date=2023-05-12 |issn=0362-4331}}
• Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (1973) – literary critic, historian, Harvard professor{{cite web |title=Inside Yale's Secret Societies | the Harvard Voice |url=http://hvoicemag.com/2012/01/02/inside-yales-secret-societies/ |url-status=usurped |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221154620/http://hvoicemag.com/2012/01/02/inside-yales-secret-societies/ |archivedate=2013-12-21 |accessdate=2014-04-14}}
• Porter J. Goss (1960) – former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Congressman{{Cite web |last=Glass |first=Andrew |date=2007-01-23 |title=In Wilderness of Mirrors, Reflections Fade to Gray |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2007/01/in-wilderness-of-mirrors-reflections-fade-to-gray-002425 |access-date=2023-07-07 |website=POLITICO |language=en}}
• William A. Greene (1936) – head of the Crusade for Freedom campaign that funded Radio Free Europe[https://www.nytimes.com/1941/09/15/archives/anne-d-holt-engaged-to-philip-w-greene-graduate-of-masters-school.html "Anne D. Holt Engaged to Philip W. Greene; Graduate of Masters School to be Wed to Yale Alumnus"]. The New York Times. September 15, 1941. p. 14
• John Campbell Greenway (1895) – General, U.S. Army, mining executive, husband of Isabella Greenway{{Cite web |title=Frank Hinkey |url=https://www.frankhinkey.com/The-Vault.php |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=www.frankhinkey.com}}
• John Hays Hammond (1876) – mining engineer, Ambassador to Great Britain
• Bill Nelson (1965) – NASA administrator, former United States Senator from Florida{{Cite web |last=Leary |first=Alex |date=September 22, 2017 |title=On the run with Sen. Bill Nelson, no signs of slowing down |url=https://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/2017/09/22/on-the-run-with-sen-bill-nelson-no-signs-of-slowing-down/ |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}
• Harry Gale Nye Jr. (1933) – industrialist, entrepreneur, and world champion sailor
• Charles Rivkin (1984) – former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs{{cite book |last1=Francis |first1=Arthur Morius |title=Secret Societies Vol. 3: The Collegiate Secret Societies of America |date=February 20, 2015 |publisher=lulu.com |isbn=978-1312932852 |pages=34}}
• Ogden Reid (1949) – U.S. Ambassador to Israel and United States Representative{{Cite news |date=July 10, 1949 |title=Ogden Reid Weds Mary L. Stewart |language=en |page=53 |work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.content-tagging.us-east-1-01.prd.dvsp.nyt.net/timesmachine/1949/07/10/84273272.html?pageNumber=53 |access-date=2023-07-12}}
• Samuel Reid Sutphin – vice president of the Scott Paper Company{{Cite news |date=1933-11-01 |title=Sutphin Gets Honor |pages=11 |work=The Indianapolis Star |location=Indianapolis, Indiana |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-indianapolis-star-sutphin-gets-honor/127754393/ |access-date=2023-07-06 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=1988-05-27 |title=Samuel Sutphin, Scott Paper Executive, 76 |language=en-US |page=D19 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/27/obituaries/samuel-sutphin-scott-paper-executive-76.html |access-date=2023-07-06 |issn=0362-4331}}

• Bob Woodward (1965) – journalist, The Washington Post{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/fashion/jeff-himmelmans-new-biography-of-ben-bradlee.html?pagewanted=all|title = All the Protégé's Men|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 11 May 2012|last1 = Robbins|first1 = Alexandra}}

• Collegiate secret societies in North America
• Skull and Bones Society
• Scroll and Key Society
• Wolf's Head Society
• Manuscript Society
• Berzelius Society
• Aurelian Honor Society
• Brothers in Unity
• Myth and Sword

{{Reflist}}

• [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/12/archival_objects/834140 Book and Snake founders (photo), Yale Archives]
• [https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6309193 Book and Snake Society presentation bowl (photo), Christie's]

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Category:1863 establishments in Connecticut

Category:Secret societies at Yale

Category:Student organizations established in 1863

Category:Local fraternities and sororities

Category:Student societies in the United States

Category:Secret societies in the United States