Joining the Club . . . 200 Years Ago

Nowadays it’s impossible to walk past the Science Center without getting ambushed by representatives from an a cappella group or dance team, but it wasn’t always so. Before the 18th century, Harvard had no clubs at all. Only by the 1720s a slew of organizations with long, unpronounceable names began to add color, and a distinct student voice, to the Puritan campus.

The earliest clubs were spaces for discussion. The Philomusarian, founded in 1728, forbade members from ‘scoffing’ at one another’s opinions during weekly debates. The Spy Club started in 1721, had nothing to do with spying and was formed by editors of The Telltale, an eclectic student ‘newspaper’ with the distinction of being the oldest college publication.

While The Telltale was initially modeled after publications of the day, it dissolved into an outlet for more personal stories, and discussions, such as one lengthy account of an editor’s dream. After the paper lost steam, the members re-formed into the Spy Club, where they happily debated issues such as whether premarital relations were really immoral.

Twenty years later, the Latin Society was formed, followed by the Martimercurian Band (yet another debate club). The Speaking Club came together in 1770 within the generation that would put the debate skills they had cultivated to use in supporting or opposing the American Revolution. After this point, clubs focused less exclusively on debate. These were the days of the Porcellian (1791), Phi Beta Kappa (1790), and a small, secret club where members held mock trials for professors and historical figures over bowls of pudding, which would one day evolve into the world-famous and well-funded drag show extraordinaire, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals (1795).

By the 19th century, a greater diversity of groups sprang up across campus, from the Glee Club (1858) and Art Club (1873) to slightly more unique organizations such as the Free Wool Club (1889) and Total Abstinence League (1888). From there it was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from such modern wonders as H-Bomb and the (Rubik’s) Cube Club.