Tour brings locals to society tombs
You can spend some time criss-crossing campus as part of a walking tour of Yale’s senior societies.
The tour takes you to the steps of the “tombs” of six societies:
1) The Manuscript Society
2) The Wolf’s Head Society
3) The Skull and Bones
4) The Elihu
5) The Scroll and Key, and
6) The Book and Snake.
You have opportunity o go inside the Elihu Society, where you will be given a tour by Harold Roth, an alumnus of the society.
The program concludes with dinner at Mory’s, where the Whiffenpoofs performed.
You have to stop at each tomb for a brief explanation of the society’s history as well as its current activities.
The tour guides also offers personal anecdotes about friends in the various societies, including “running into” Jodie Foster and Anderson Cooper during parties at The Manuscript Society.
At the Elihu Society, participants in the tour are allowed inside, where Roth guides the group through the building’s library, meeting room and “tap room.”
Throughout the tour of the society, Roth emphasizes Elihu Society’s unusually open nature.
“This is a place with virtually no mysticism or ritual,” he says.
Dispelling notions of mysticism was a motivation for at least one tour guide.
People always wonder what are those buildings, HOW SECRET are they.
A former Whiffenpoof who also serves as one of the a cappella group’s chief historians, it is important to separate myth from reality when it comes to these societies.
“People let their imaginations run wild,” he said. “They’re not an evil cabal.”
Tour-goers said they were excited to gain insight into organizations typically considered exclusive and mysterious, even among locals.
Many added that they were motivated to sign up in part because they were interested in the architecture and history of New Haven.
“I always like learning about the New Haven community,” tour-goer and Yale Center for British Art docent Berclee Cameron says.
The idea for the tour began with Bruce Graham, who serves as an advisor to the New Haven Preservation Trust.
John Herzan, a staff member at the Trust, said the tour had been “years in the making.”
The New Haven Preservation Trust was founded in 1961 and seeks “to honour and preserve New Haven’s architectural heritage — historic buildings and neighborhoods — through advocacy, education and collaboration."
The tour takes you to the steps of the “tombs” of six societies:
1) The Manuscript Society
2) The Wolf’s Head Society
3) The Skull and Bones
4) The Elihu
5) The Scroll and Key, and
6) The Book and Snake.
You have opportunity o go inside the Elihu Society, where you will be given a tour by Harold Roth, an alumnus of the society.
The program concludes with dinner at Mory’s, where the Whiffenpoofs performed.
SKULL AND BONES.
The tour guides also offers personal anecdotes about friends in the various societies, including “running into” Jodie Foster and Anderson Cooper during parties at The Manuscript Society.
At the Elihu Society, participants in the tour are allowed inside, where Roth guides the group through the building’s library, meeting room and “tap room.”
Throughout the tour of the society, Roth emphasizes Elihu Society’s unusually open nature.
“This is a place with virtually no mysticism or ritual,” he says.
Dispelling notions of mysticism was a motivation for at least one tour guide.
People always wonder what are those buildings, HOW SECRET are they.
A former Whiffenpoof who also serves as one of the a cappella group’s chief historians, it is important to separate myth from reality when it comes to these societies.
“People let their imaginations run wild,” he said. “They’re not an evil cabal.”
Tour-goers said they were excited to gain insight into organizations typically considered exclusive and mysterious, even among locals.
Many added that they were motivated to sign up in part because they were interested in the architecture and history of New Haven.
“I always like learning about the New Haven community,” tour-goer and Yale Center for British Art docent Berclee Cameron says.
The idea for the tour began with Bruce Graham, who serves as an advisor to the New Haven Preservation Trust.
John Herzan, a staff member at the Trust, said the tour had been “years in the making.”
The New Haven Preservation Trust was founded in 1961 and seeks “to honour and preserve New Haven’s architectural heritage — historic buildings and neighborhoods — through advocacy, education and collaboration."
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