Hasty Pudding Club

The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 is a social club for Harvard students.

Not to be confused with Hasty Pudding Theatricals.
For other uses, see Hasty Pudding (disambiguation).
Hasty Pudding Club building
The Hasty Pudding Club stage c. 1876
Location12 Holyoke Street
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates42°22′21″N 71°07′05″W
NRHP reference No.78000442
Added to NRHPJanuary 9. 1978

History

The society was founded on September 1, 1795, by Horace Binney, who was then 15, by calling together a meeting of 21 juniors in the room of Nymphas Hatch. The club is named for hasty pudding, a traditional American dish that the founding members ate at their first meeting. Each week two members in alphabetical order had to provide a pot of hasty pudding for the club to enjoy.

It is the oldest collegiate social club in America. Originally, the club engaged in holding mock trials, which became more elaborate over time. This culminated in a member, Lemuel Hayward, secretly planning to stage a musical on the night he was to host the club's meeting. On December 13, 1844, Hayward and other members staged Bombastes Furioso in room 11 of Hollis Hall which began the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.[1]

Throughout its history, the Hasty Pudding Club has absorbed other organizations. In 1925, the Hasty Pudding Club absorbed the Institute of 1770, which was a similar social club. In 2012, the Hasty Pudding Club, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and The Harvard Krokodiloes merged into a single entity, The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770.[2]

Former location of the Hasty Pudding Club at 12 Holyoke Street, Cambridge, now owned by Harvard University[3] and still used by the Hasty Pudding Theatricals

The Hasty Pudding Club is currently the only social club on campus that is coed and has members from all four years. Membership in the club is gained through a series of lunches, cocktail parties, and other gatherings, which are referred to as the "punch process". The club holds its social activities in a clubhouse near Harvard Square. These include weekly Members' Nights, dinner and cocktail parties, as well as its elaborate theme parties, such as "Leather and Lace."

The current clubhouse contains multiple rooms with specific purposes. Among these rooms is "The Arena," which is a room with no windows or openings to the outside world. The Arena is designated as the club's game room.

See also

References
  1. "ANCIENT HOLLIS Harvard Dormitory's 150th Anniversary Will Be Celebrated at Commencement - Occupants". Cambridge Tribune. XXXVI (5). 1913-03-29. p. 11. Retrieved 2021-02-01.
  2. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/9/13/hasty-pudding-farkas-merger/
  3. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2000/4/6/faculty-will-take-control-of-hasty/?page=single
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