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Manuscript Society is a senior society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is reputedly the arts and letters society at Yale.

History

Founded in 1951, Manuscript was Yale's seventh "landed" senior society. That is, its alumni trust owns the society's meeting place or "tomb". The Manuscript Society was one of the first senior societies to offer membership to rising females at Yale College.

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.

The Wrexham Foundation is the society's alumni arm. 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

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.

The society holds an annual gathering in its tomb on Halloween. 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. 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." Dan Kiley designed the landscaping which includes a Japanese water garden.

Popular culture

Manuscript is described in the novel Joe College by Tom Perrotta as "basically the cool people's version of a secret society".

Notable members

See also

• Collegiate secret societies in North America

References

1. ^ Khederian, Robert (2018-06-21). "Tomb raiders: The clubhouses of Yale's secret societies". Curbed. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
2. ^ Austin, Charlotte (2012-01-03). "Inside Yale's Secret Societies". The Harvard Voice. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
3. ^ Parks, Steven; Cooper, Henry S. F. Jr.; Wallace, Thomas C., eds. (2002). Manuscript Society (1953-2002). New Haven, CT: Phoenix Press.
4. ^ "Yale Has More Secret Societies Than You Realize. Here's The History". Grunge. 2023-05-06. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
5. Branch, Mark Alden (July 2014). "Open secrets". Yale Alumni Magazine. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
6. "Tombs & Taps" section of online Magazine Archived 2006-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 2010
7. ^ "Wrexham Prize (1992) | Office of the Secretary and Vice President for University Life". secretary.yale.edu. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
8. Yale Extracurricular and Social Organizations publication, retrieved 26 March 2012
9. Havemeyer, Loomis (January 1961). Yale's Extracurricular & Social Organizations, 1780-1960. Yale University. via EilScholar, accessed 21 Aug 2021.
10. Havemeyer, Loomis. (1960). "Go to your room"; a story of undergraduate societies and fraternities at Yale. New Haven: Yale.
11. ^ "Yale's secret social fabric". Yale Daily News. 2008-12-05. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
12. ^ "Homage to the circle". Yale Alumni Magazine. September 2011. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
13. ^ "Manuscript Tomb Mural (1962) by Josef Albers and King-lui Wu". Secret Images. 2019-09-08. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
14. "Ingenious Use of a Narrow Site". Architectural Record, November 1965.
15. "Manuscript Society House". Hidden Architecture. 2022-11-11. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
16. Perrotta, Tom (2006-09-19). Joe College. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4299-0780-4 – via Google Books.
17. Listing in the George Washington Univ. Law School Directory Archived 2012-08-05 at archive.today, retrieved 26 March 2012
18. ^ Wenzel, R. Economic Policy Journal. "Doing a background check on CNN" (26 December 2011), retrieved on 26 March 2012
19. Biographical Sketch of Juan Negrin, retrieved 22 March 2012
20. Tucci, Joseph (December 6, 2022). "'She Said' star Zoe Kazan got her acting degree and wrote a play at Yale". CT Insider. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
21. Martin, Douglas (15 November 2006). "Anthony A. Lapham, 70, Former C.I.A. Lawyer, Dies". The New York Times.
22. "Archived copy" (PDF). www.yale.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 20 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
23. Hodara, S. The New York Times, "Interpreting a Blueprint for Birds". (Arts and Entertainment, 01/13/2008), retrieved 26 March 2012
24. Elisabeth Waterston bio Archived 2011-07-28 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 26 March 2012

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

• Drawing of the Manuscript Society House, Yale University Library

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