Manuscript Society
{{Short description|Yale University senior society}}
{{Infobox fraternity
| name = Manuscript Society
| crest = File:Manuscript Society Logo.png
| image_sze =
| founded = {{start date and years ago|1951}}
| birthplace = Yale University
| affiliation = Independent
| status = Active
| type = Senior society
| emphasis = Senior - Arts and letters
| scope = Local
| symbol = Sun
| flower = Sunflower
| nickname = Manuscript
| chapters = 1
| address = 344 Elm Street
| city = New Haven
| state = Connecticut
| country = United States
| website =
}}
Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is reputedly the arts and letters society at Yale.{{cite book |editor-last=Parks |editor-first=Steven |editor2=Cooper, Henry S. F. Jr. |editor2-link=Henry S. F. Cooper Jr. |editor3=Wallace, Thomas C. |title=Manuscript Society (1953-2002) |publisher=Phoenix Press |year=2002 |location=New Haven, CT}}
History
Founded in 1951, Manuscript was Yale's seventh "landed" senior society.{{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=2023-07-04 |website=Curbed |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2023-05-06 |title=Yale Has More Secret Societies Than You Realize. Here's The History |url=https://www.grunge.com/1273426/yale-more-secret-societies-than-realize-history/ |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Grunge |language=en-US}} That is, its alumni trust owns the society's meeting place or "tomb".{{Cite web |last=Branch |first=Mark Alden |date=July 2014 |title=Open secrets |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/3909-open-secrets |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Yale Alumni Magazine |language=en}} The Manuscript Society was one of the first senior societies to offer membership to rising females at Yale College.{{Cite web |last=Austin |first=Charlotte |date=2012-01-03 |title=Inside Yale's Secret Societies |url=https://harvardvoicemag.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/inside-yales-secret-societies/ |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=The Harvard Voice |language=en}}
Each delegation is selected by consensus among Manuscript alumni, trustees, delegates, and significant others, unlike other Yale societies where undergraduate members more freely select, recruit, and initiate their society's next delegation.[http://www.yale.edu/lt/archives/survivalguide/ "Tombs & Taps" section of online Magazine] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060719001358/http://www.yale.edu/lt/archives/survivalguide/ |date=2006-07-19 }}, retrieved 2010
The Wrexham Foundation is the society's alumni arm.{{Cite web |title=Wrexham Prize (1992) {{!}} Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life |url=https://secretary.yale.edu/department/wrexham-prize-1992 |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=secretary.yale.edu}} Since 1956, the foundation has underwritten the Wrexam Prize, a scholarship in the humanities for the senior who writes the best essay in the field of the humanities.
Manuscript briefly played host to the 1991-92 classes of Skull and Bones, who were temporarily locked out of their tomb by alumni who objected to its undergraduates' decision to offer membership to women. From its beginning the society also retained close connections with the campus literary society Chi Delta Theta, which formed in 1821[http://www.library.yale.edu/mssa/YHO/ExtracurricularandSocialOrganizations.pdf Yale Extracurricular and Social Organizations publication], retrieved 26 March 2012Havemeyer, Loomis (January 1961). [https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=yale_history_pubs Yale's Extracurricular & Social Organizations, 1780-1960]. Yale University. via EilScholar, accessed 21 Aug 2021.
Manuscript Society is part of a four-society "Consortium" with the Aurelian Honor Society, Book and Snake, and Berzelius.
Traditions
The society holds the number 344 to be sacred. It supposedly holds Enlightenment ideals, and the sun and sunflowers are both important symbols to members.Havemeyer, Loomis. (1960). "Go to your room"; a story of undergraduate societies and fraternities at Yale. New Haven: Yale.
The society holds an annual gathering in its tomb on Halloween.{{Cite web |last= |first= |last2= |last3= |date=2008-12-05 |title=Yale's secret social fabric |url=https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2008/12/05/yales-secret-social-fabric/ |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Yale Daily News |language=en}} Its members also invite guests to events featuring notable alumni.
Chapter house
Designed by King-lui Wu, Manuscript's white granite tomb was built in 1952.{{Cite web |date=September 2011 |title=Homage to the circle |url=https://yalealumnimagazine.org/articles/3276-homage-to-the-circle |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Yale Alumni Magazine |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2019-09-08 |title=Manuscript Tomb Mural (1962) by Josef Albers and King-lui Wu |url=https://secretimages.org/2019/09/07/josef-albers-manuscript-tomb-1962/ |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Secret Images |language=en-US}} The tomb is mid-century modern, unusual amid other societies' elaborate mid-to-late-19th century buildings. It featured a circular intaglio mural in white-glazed brick that was designed by Josef Albers. The circle, which is only visible in direct sunlight, symbolizes the bond connecting the members.
It appears from the outside to have only one level, yet conceals several subterranean floors and a courtyard. The tomb holds a collection of notable modern and contemporary art. The Yale University Art Gallery is said to have temporarily stored pieces there. Wu said that he designed the building "for privacy, not for secrecy.""Ingenious Use of a Narrow Site". Architectural Record, November 1965. Dan Kiley designed the landscaping which includes a Japanese water garden.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-11-11 |title=Manuscript Society House |url=https://hiddenarchitecture.net/manuscript-society-house/ |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Hidden Architecture |language=en-US}}
Popular culture
Manuscript is described in the novel Joe College by Tom Perrotta as "basically the cool people's version of a secret society".{{Cite book |last=Perrotta |first=Tom |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ppnSYeftxsQC&q=manuscript |title=Joe College |date=2006-09-19 |publisher=St. Martin's Publishing Group |isbn=978-1-4299-0780-4 |language=en |via=Google Books}}
Notable members
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
Sources
- Robbins, Alexandra. Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. (Back Bay Books: 2003). {{ISBN|0-316-73561-2}}
External links
- [https://web.library.yale.edu/billboard/drawing-manuscript-society-house Drawing of the Manuscript Society House, Yale University Library]
{{Yale}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1952 establishments in Connecticut
Category:Secret societies at Yale
Category:Student organizations established in 1952
Category:Secret societies in the United States