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Elihu Club

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Elihu Club or Elihu is the fourth oldest senior society at Yale University, New Haven, CT.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":23">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It was founded in 1903 and takes its name from Elihu Yale.<ref name=":12">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":13">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":23" />

HistoryEdit

The Elihu Club was founded by eleven students in 1903 as an "open senior society", rather than a secret society.<ref>Schiff, Judith Ann. (September/October 2004) "How The Secret Societies Got That Way", Yale Alumni Magazine, Yale Alumni Magazine Template:Webarchive</ref><ref>Yale Sheffield Monthly, Vol. 20, Sheffield Scientific School, Yale University, Oct. 1913–June 1914, New Haven, CT</ref><ref name=":13" /><ref name=":21">Template:Cite news</ref> At the time, this was considered in "variance with accepted traditions" at Yale and "an interesting democratic innovation".<ref name=":21" /> its name from Elihu Yale who was the primary benefactor of Yale College.<ref name=":23" /> Its purpose is: "To foster among its members, by earnest work and good fellowship a stronger affection for Yale; a broader view of undergraduate life and its aims; a deeper and more helpful friendship for one another; and to give its members, after graduation, an additional tie to bind them to Yale and each other."<ref name=":17">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":23" />

The Elihu Club of New Haven incorporated with the State of Connecticut in June 1903.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The first delegation of tapped members was from the class of 1904 and included:<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

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In October 1903, Elihu Club added six additional members from the class of 1904, including seniors Coleman Curtis, Everett Dominick, Harry L. Foote, Joseph H. Holmes, Lawrence Mason, and Robert L. Smitley.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> For the 1904 to 1905 academic year, the club rented the home of Mrs. Francis G. Beach on Wall Street.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1911, the club purchased a colonial-era house which looks out on the New Haven Green.<ref name=":18">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":19">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> It is considered a landed society because it owns a building on campus.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Like the other societies, the organization's building is typically closed to non-members.

While similar to Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head societies in charter and function, Elihu favors privacy over secrecy and is considered a "left-wing" society.<ref name=":13" /><ref name=":14">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Because it allows all members of the junior class to interview for membership, the Yale Daily News notes that, "Elihu is considered to be less prestigious."<ref name=":14" /> However, in May 1912, three men turned down invitations to secret societies in favor of Elihu Club, including baseball player Harold Carhart, football player Elmer McDevitt, and Edward Stevens.<ref name=":22">Template:Cite news</ref> In the spring of 1913, the sophomore class at Yale held a protest against secret societies; Elihu denied suspicions that it started the student protest.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Elihu's normal meetings are held each Thursday and Sunday of the academic year.<ref name=":25">Template:Cite book</ref> Its activities are similar to that of the other landed senior secret societies: personal histories or biographies and perspectives are shared among the current delegates.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Its programs also include topical essays on pertinent issues, personal bonding time, and group reflection activities.

By 1982, Elihu gained a reputation for admitting racial minorities.<ref name=":26">Template:Cite news</ref> In May 1982, the fifteen members of Elihu refused to tap any new members because of a dispute with the alumni who wanted to start charging new members $350.<ref name=":26" /> Elihu Club began admitting women in 1971.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Starting in 2002, the club hosts the annual Elihu Yale Lecture which features notable speakers.<ref name=":23" /> Architect, planner, and Elihu members Alexander Garvin presented the first lecture in 2002.<ref>Baker, Donna (November 5, 2002) "Alexander Garvin, Chief Planner for Rebuilding Lower Manhattan, Will Speak at Yale", Yale University for Public Affairs Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name=":15">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web

}}</ref> The 2005 lecture was delivered by actor Sam Waterston, also an Elihu member.<ref name=":16">Bicks, Alexandra (January 28, 2005) "Law and Order' Star Returns to Yale for Tlk". The Yale Daily News Accessed July 12, 2023.</ref><ref name=":23" />

File:Elihu Senior Society Yale University.jpg
Elihu's house in the early 20th century

SymbolsEdit

Members of Elihu Club received a pin.<ref name=":25" />

Club houseEdit

File:Yale Elihu Club facade.JPG
Elihu's house

Elihu Club is housed in a three-story white clapboard house built between 1762 and 1776 at 175 Elm Street.<ref name=":18" /><ref name=":19" /> This house is the oldest of all of Yale's secret society buildings, and purportedly one of the oldest original structures in the United States still in regular use. Its brick basement is older still, constructed in the early 17th century, and later frequented by colonists sympathetic to the English cause when it became known as the Tory Tavern, a central locale of the Revolutionary War.<ref name=":20" /> In 1781, the town of New Haven confiscated the building from its Loyalist owner, Nicholas Callahan, for his activities.<ref name=":20">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":19" />

The club expanded the Federal style building to the rear several times and now includes Template:Convert.<ref name=":11" /> The building is among the largest of the societies, belying the modest clapboard facade. It contains two single guest rooms in addition to beds for all the current undergraduate members, as well as a large formal meeting room, a library, a formal dining room, and an informal 'tap room' in the basement. The club also has a section of the old Yale Fence in its basement, a relic from the famous structure removed in 1888.

The building has windows, though they are blinded.

MembershipEdit

Originally, Elihu had no limit on the number of members that could be tapped in a given year; its only rule was that these men not be a member of the other secret societies: Scroll and Key, Skull and Bones, and Wolf's Head.<ref name=":21" /> As a result, Elihu waited to invite its new members after Tap Day for the other societies.<ref name=":21" /> However, its founders estimated that between ten and twenty students would be tapped each year, along with worthy Yale graduates from the past twenty or thirty years.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In May 1920, the club changed its recruitment policy and participated in Tap Day with the secret societies.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Starting as an all-male organization, Elihu now also has female members.<ref name=":23" /> Annually, sixteen rising seniors are elected into the membership of Elihu during the spring tap process.<ref name=":17" /> Selection is performed behind closed doors, in keeping with the other major societies. The society invites all members of the junior class to participate in its interview process.<ref name=":14" /> However, consideration for membership in Elihu is given to those juniors in the college who are nominated by undergraduate and alumni members.<ref name=":17" />

From its earliest days, the Elihu Club has favored members who leaned toward literary pursuits, acting, teaching, and the law. Elihu Society's taps among the Yale class of 1914, for instance, included Rufus King, president of the Yale Dramatic Association, and Newbold Noyes Jr., chairman of the Yale Literary Magazine.<ref name=":0" />

For some, Elihu was appealing because it was different from Yale's secret societies. Joseph Lieberman was courted by Skull and Bones, even though he wrote editorials critical of the society in the Yale Daily News. Lieberman wrote, "Heresy of all heresies, it would be wonderful if, as a symbolic gesture, the societies someday put windows in their buildings. No other institution seems to separate the haves from the have-nots so forcefully in the eyes of students."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Lieberman rejected Bones in favor of Elihu, whose building had windows.<ref name=":24">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> Jacob Weisberg, was offered membership in Skull and Bones by Senator John Kerry. Weisberg declined, citing Bones' exclusion of women.<ref>Alex Beam, "The Bones in Kerry's Closet," The Boston Globe, June 25, 2002, pp. E1+.</ref> Weisberg was persuaded by Robert G. Kaiser to join Elihu instead.<ref name=":3">Robbins, Alexandra (2002). Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Boston: Little, Brown. Template:ISBN, p. 112</ref>

Notable membersEdit

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  • Rowland Hazard III (1903) – businessman and politician<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Loyd Kaufman (1968) – film director<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Robert G. Kaiser (1964) – journalist and author<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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  • Joseph Lieberman (1964) – United States Senator<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":10">Kearney, Brendan. (February 4, 2003) "To classmates, Lieberman's presidential bid is 'no surprise'" Yale Daily News, Template:Webarchive</ref><ref name=":24" />

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Popular cultureEdit

  • The sharing of personal stories became a plot device in a movie directed by Elihu member Alan Hruska (1955), who jettisoned a career as a trial lawyer to become a film director. Hruska's 2009 film Reunion explored a mythical reunion of fellow society members some 23 years after graduation, and was loosely inspired by a gathering of his Elihu delegation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

  • Campus tradition maintains that Elihu has the original papers of the author James Fenimore Cooper, even drafts of his epic novel The Last of the Mohicans. Cooper's great-grandson James Fenimore Cooper Jr. (1892–1918) was a member of Elihu's 1913 delegation.
  • In a March 2000 essay on Yale's societies, Jacques Leslie recalled learning he would be tapped for Skull and Bones. "I was leaning towards Elihu, the sole above-ground society that was headquartered in an actual frame house with windows." When the Bonesmen arrived to tap Leslie, he shouted "Reject!" The surprised expression on the Bonesman's face was printed on the following day's second front page of The New York Times with the caption "Skull was first but he chose Elihu."<ref name=":1" />

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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