The Dickey Club

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The Dickey Club, often referred to as simply “The Dickey” (sometimes spelled “Dickie”), is a private social club at Harvard University, originally founded in 1851 as a chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. The club has included members such as former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt,[1] newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, and financier J.P. Morgan Jr.

Founding[]

The history of The Dickey Club stretches back to 1844 when Delta Kappa Epsilon (DKE) fraternity was founded at Yale University.[2] At the time, social societies at Yale were class-based, with certain societies reserved for seniors, and others reserved for juniors, sophomores, and freshmen. Upon its founding at Yale, DKE followed the convention of the other societies at the time, making itself a junior-class society from which the senior-class secret societies such as Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and Wolf’s Head would select their members.

When DKE expanded to Harvard in 1851, it quickly morphed into its own semi-independent sophomore society known as The Dickey Club, while still maintaining its status as an affiliated DKE chapter on paper.[3]

The 19th century Harvard social ecosystem was multi-tiered, in which students at the beginning of their sophomore year who were deemed to be the "social elite" were invited to join the Institute of 1770. The Institute of 1770 was the first rung on the Harvard social ladder, comprising the top 100 students at Harvard in terms of their social standing as determined by their peers. At the beginning of each new year, the former Institute of 1770 (who were now juniors) would vote for who they believed were the top 10 most socially elite in the new sophomore class. Those top 10 would then vote among themselves for who they believed to be the next 10 below them. Those 10 would then vote for who they believed to be the next 10. This pattern would repeat until the top 100 students in the sophomore class had been selected and ranked. These 100 newly selected members of the sophomore class then became the new Institute of 1770.[4]

From the Institute of 1770, those who ranked high enough were granted acceptance into The Dickey Club, from which the Waiting Clubs (junior societies) and Final Clubs (senior societies) would then "punch" their members.[5][6][7]

In 1890, unimpressed with the Harvard chapter’s general lack of interest in maintaining their alliance with fellow DKE chapters, The Dickey Club was threatened with disaffiliation from the national Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. The Dickey Club sent a delegation to the annual DKE convention to discuss their continued affiliation, at which time several requirements were set by the national organization for the club to retain their status as an affiliated DKE chapter; specifically, The Dickey Club would be required to officially recognize DKE members from other chapters.[8] Due however to The Dickey Club’s unique selection process and role in the Harvard social ecosystem, The Dickey Club refused to acknowledge non-Harvard DKE’s as being equal to Dickey members; thus ceasing any association with Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, and continuing on as an independent Harvard social club.[9][10]

Notable Members[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Theodore Roosevelt at Harvard | News | The Harvard Crimson". www.thecrimson.com. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  2. ^ "Founding of DKE | DKE". Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  3. ^ "BLUE BLOOD WILL TELL.; IT'S A WAY THEY HAVE AT OLD HARVARD IN THE DICKEY CLUB. (Published 1886)". The New York Times. 1886-12-12. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  4. ^ Brown, William Garrott (1899). The Official Guide to Harvard. pp. 130–131.
  5. ^ Glimpses of the Harvard Past. p. 121.
  6. ^ Karabel, Jerome (Oct 30, 2005). "The Chosen". The New York Times. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  7. ^ "Harvard Clubs - Location of Club-houses and Reasons for Existence - A Complex System of Organizations". The Cambridge Tribune. Feb 12, 1910. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  8. ^ The Scroll of Phi Delta Theta (PDF). 1911–1912. pp. Vol 36, page 146.
  9. ^ "Harvard Association of the D.K.E." The Crimson. January 8, 1894.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ Hill, George Birkbeck (1894). Harvard College: By an Oxonian. New York: The MacMillan Company. p. 178.
  11. ^ Philip, Boffey (December 13, 1957). "Franklin Delano Roosevelt at Harvard". The Harvard Crimson.
  12. ^ a b "175th Anniversary - Special Edition". The Deke Quarterly: 23.
  13. ^ Bold, Christine (2013). The Frontier Club: Popular Westerns and Cultural Power, 1880-1924. https://books.google.com/books?id=Ve6UVrTg5hEC&pg: Oxford University Press. p. 27. {{cite book}}: External link in |location= (help)CS1 maint: location (link)
  14. ^ "Joseph P. Kennedy: The Patriarch & Maker of the Dream". American Studies at the University of Virginia.
  15. ^ Matthews, Jack (August 15, 2010). "Nathanial Hawthorne's Untold Tale". The Chronical of Higher Education.
  16. ^ Marshall Newell: A Memorial for His Classmates and Friends. Privately Published. 1898. p. 4.
  17. ^ Sinclair, Upton (1928). Boston: A Documentary Novel. Albert & Charles Boni.
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