Scroll and Key was established by John Addison Porter, with aid from several members of the Class of 1842 (including Leonard Case Jr. and Theodore Runyon) and a member of the Class of 1843 (William L. Kingsley), after disputes over elections to Skull and Bones Society. Kingsley is the namesake of the alumni organization, the Kingsley Trust Association (KTA), incorporated years after its founding.
Members of the 1866 delegation
Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg wrote that "up until as recent a date as 1860, Keys had great difficulty in making up its crowd, rarely being able to secure the full fifteen upon the night of giving out its elections." However, the society was on the upswing: "the old order of things, however, has recently come to an end, and Keys is now in possession of a hall far superior...not only to Bones hall, but to any college-society hall in America."[3]
In addition to financing its activities, Scroll and Key has made significant donations to Yale over the years. The John Addison Porter Prize, awarded annually since 1872, and in 1917 the endowment for the founding of the Yale University Press, which has funded the publication of The Yale Shakespeare and sponsored the Yale Younger Poets Series, are gifts from "Keys".
Traditions
Society pin
At the close of Thursday and Sunday sessions, members are known to sing the "Troubadour" song on the front steps of the Society's hall, a remnant of the tradition of public singing at Yale.[4][5] The song (written in the 1820s by Thomas Haynes Bayly) was recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford on his 1956 album, This Lusty Land, as "Gaily the Troubador".
In keeping with the practice of adopting secret letters or symbols such as Skull and Bones' "322," Manuscript's "344," and the Pundits' "T.B.I.Y.T.B," Scroll and Key is known to use the letters "C.S.P. and C.C.J."[6]
Members of the society sign letters to each other "YiT", as opposed to Skull and Bones' "yours in 322".[6]
Outside of its tap-related activities, the society has been known to hold two major annual events called "Z Session".[6]
Architecture
Building, pre-expansion building (bottom)Building during its expansion, 1901
The society's "building" was designed in the Moorish Revival style by Richard Morris Hunt and constructed in 1870.[7] A later expansion was completed in 1901. Architectural historian Patrick Pinnell includes an in-depth discussion of Keys' building in his 1999 history of Yale's campus, relating the then-notable cost overruns associated with the Keys structure and its aesthetic significance within the campus landscape. Pinnell's history shares the fact that the land was purchased from another Yale secret society, Berzelius (at that time, a Sheffield Scientific School society). In 2002, the society underwent a major construction project rumored to involve an aquarium beneath the society.[citation needed]
Regarding its distinctive appearance, Pinnell noted that "19th-century artists' studios commonly had exotic orientalia lying about to suggest that the painter was sophisticated, well traveled, and in touch with mysterious powers; Hunt's Scroll and Key is one instance in which the trope got turned into a building."[8] Later, undergraduates described the building as a "striped zebra Billiard Hall" in a supplement to a Yale yearbook.[9] More recently, it has been described by an undergraduate publication as being "the nicest building in all of New Haven".[10]
Membership
Scroll and Key taps annually a delegation of 15, composed of men and women of the junior class, to serve the following year. Membership is offered to a diverse group of highly accomplished juniors, specifically those who have "achieved in any field, academic, extra-curricular, or personal".[11] Delegations frequently include editors of the Yale Daily News and other publications, artists and musicians, social and political activists, athletes of distinction, entrepreneurs, and high-achieving scholars.[12][13]
Mark Twain is an honorary member, under the auspices of Joseph Twichell, Yale College Class of 1859.[14]
^Four years at Yale. Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg, C.C. Chatfield & Co, 1871. p. 158.
^Collision at Home Plate: The Lives of Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti. James Reston, U of Nebraska Press, 1997. p. 41. ISBN 0-8032-8964-2
^Four years at Yale. Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg, C.C. Chatfield & Co, 1871. p. 163.
^ a b cFour years at Yale. Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg, C.C. Chatfield & Co, 1871. p. 157.
^"Scroll and Key Tomb". June 8, 2013.
^Pinnell, Patrick (1999). The Campus Guide: Yale University. Princeton Architectural Press. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-56898-167-3. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
^Andrews, John.History of the Founding of Wolf's Head, pg. 56, Lancaster Press, 1934
^"Franco's "little place in New Haven": where will it be? [POLL]". yaleherald.com. May 6, 2010. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
^Yale University Library Digital Collections: Compound Object Viewer Archived 2011-04-30 at the Wayback Machine
^http://www.ivygateblog.com/?s=scroll+and+key, see membership lists
^A cross-reference with recent members (available on IvyGateBlog.com and in print issues of the Yale Rumpus) and scholarship winners will indicate the high number of Scroll and Key members
^Mark Twain's Letters, Volume 2, 1867–1868, University of California Press, editors Harriet E. Smith, Richard Bucci and Lin Salamo, pg. 281
^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au avGiamatti, A. Bartlett (1978). History of Scroll and Key, 1942–1972. The Scroll and Key Society.
^Taliaferro, John (June 4, 2019). Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West. Liveright. ISBN 978-1-63149-014-9.
^ a b c d eHP-Time.com Monday, May. 31, 1926 (May 31, 1926). "Wedlock — TIME". Time.com. Archived from the original on December 30, 2007. Retrieved October 17, 2008.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^Robbins, Alexandra (2002). Secrets of the Tomb: Skull and Bones, the Ivy League, and the Hidden Paths of Power. Back Bay Books. ISBN 978-0-316-73561-2.
^ a b c d e"Yale's Great Oak Sees 'Tap Day' Again". The New York Times. May 21, 1915. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
^"Tap Day Exercises are held at Yale" (PDF). New York Times. May 20, 1921. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
^"Yale 'Tap Day' Brings Honors to Rowing Men". New York Tribune. New York, N.Y. May 18, 1923. p. 9.
^"Yale Alumni Magazine: John Hay Whitney". Yale Alumni Publications inc. May 2002. Archived from the original on December 30, 2010. Retrieved February 13, 2011.
^ a b"Mary A. Harrison, Lawyers Fiance. Vassar Graduate Will Be Bride of John V. Lindsay, Former Lieutenant in the Navy". New York Times. October 11, 1948. p. 29. Retrieved December 12, 2011.
^"J. Peter Grace — Business Executive, leading Catholic layman, Advisor to three U.S. Presidents — dies at age 81. | Government > Government Bodies & Offices from AllBusiness.com". Allbusiness.com. Archived from the original on January 8, 2009. Retrieved October 17, 2008.
^Remembering Denny – Google Books
^ a b"Archived copy". www.ctrl.org. Archived from the original on October 9, 2007. Retrieved January 15, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^"Jeannie Rhee". Diversity Journal. Retrieved 2018-01-19, January 30, 2019
^"Skull & Bones: The Secret Society That Unites John Kerry and President Bush". Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved October 12, 2007.
