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

Sources