Established in 1910, the Aurelian Honor Society ("Aurelian") is the fifth oldest landed secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. It is a member of the Ancient Eight, which also includes Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and Wolf's Head. In addition, Aurelian is part of a four-society "Consortium" with Manuscript Society, Book and Snake, and Berzelius.
Contemporary membership is based on an election process coordinated by the incumbent delegation. Aurelian selects sixteen prominent members of the Junior class to join the society annually.
History
At the beginning of the 20th century, Yale University had two separate undergraduate colleges, each with separate facilities, administrations, and student bodies. One of these, the Sheffield Scientific School, suffered from student divisiveness due to an active Greek system that separated fraternities from each other, and those who were not in fraternities from those who were. In the spring of 1910, Lindell T. Bates and Loomis Havemeyer, recognizing the fragmentation of the student body and lack of unified leadership, founded the Aurelian Honor Society for seniors "who would not labor under unnecessary handicaps which separated the existing clubs from the student body". Membership in this society was offered to outstanding "Sheff" students of good scholarship and extracurricular achievement. In addition, the society was to elect three honorary members annually.
The purpose of this non-secret organization was to formulate mature undergraduate opinions on those matters affecting the vital interests of the Sheffield Scientific School, both internally and in its relations with the rest of the university. The first official meeting was held on June 6, 1910. The minutes from this meeting and subsequent meetings are collected in books in The Rooms, the society's headquarters. At each meeting, a paper was read by a member on issues of undergraduate life. These papers have been collected and preserved by the society's historian and can now be found locked in a large safe that safeguards other treasures of the organization.
Besides discussing issues of the university, Aurelian has, since its inception, overseen a variety of important philanthropic activities in support of the university: a scholarship fund (in place since 1953 administered by the financial aid office), an undergraduate science contest, the Chester Harding Plimpton award ($100 in gold and the bas-relief medal, the original medal once hung on the wall in The Rooms), a public lecture series, and the prep-school cup award (predecessor to the present book awards). In 1935, the society voted to give the university $250 to make a film of Life at Yale to be sent to alumni meetings throughout the country. The society also enjoyed many social activities: supper parties in The Rooms, graduate teas after the big games in the fall, a luncheon on Class Day for graduates and their families, and occasional theater and athletic events. It holds one of the largest endowments amongst societies at Yale. For many years, the New York alumni invited the Aurelian undergraduates to the Yale Club for a reception. In 2010, the society hosted its 100th anniversary at the Yale Club of New York.
After the unification of Yale College and the Sheffield Scientific School, and through the tumultuous era of the 1960s, the Aurelian Honor Society's role in University governance declined. Nevertheless, Aurelian continued to be a supra-senior society, drawing its membership from throughout the university and other societies. Largely due to the sponsorship of Aurelian alumnus Loomis Havemeyer (author of the history of the society, and whose photo hangs in the main room), Aurelian continued to meet for Tuesday lunches with faculty and honorary members. When Yale went co-ed, Aurelian followed suit, making it one of the few societies to do so at their first opportunity.