Author: Society of the Cochleaureati.
Title: Presentation of the Wooden Spoon. (Program).
Description: (New Haven, CT: Yale College), (1855). (1855). - Octavo, softcover. A sheet of cream paper is folded once to form 4 pages, each 8-1/2 inches high by 6 inches wide. The title page lists the Committee of Arrangements and is illustrated in black & cream with the insignia of the Cochleaureatorum. The event's program is listed on the 2nd & 3rd pages and the 4th page is blank. There is a small area of staining to he 3rd page and the program has been folded in half horizontally with several additional lighter folds. Very good. The program is headed "Order of Exercises at the Presentation of the Wooden Spoon, by the Junior Class in Yale College, At Brewster's Hall, Monday Evening, June 11th, 1855." The program lists activities including speeches, "Spoon Addresses", colloquies and music by the band. The texts of three original poems are printed together with lists of the music to which they are to be sung. The music includes "Farewell My Lilly Dear" by Stephen Foster and "Hazel Dell" by George Frederick Root". The wooden Spoon Ceremony originated at one of the colleges of Cambridge University in England .A jackknife was given to the homeliest man in the class, a cane to the handsomest and a wooden spoon to the man who ate the most. This tradition evolved over time and from 1847 the spoon was awarded to the junior class member with the lowest grades and then, as noted in an 1856 New York Times article, to the recipient for "his powers as a wit, his talent as a speaker, or his capacity to please the ladies". By the time of the present ceremony, the award had become a popularity contest. David Alan Richards in "Skulls and Keys: The Hidden History of Yale's Secret Societies" [NY: Pegasus Books, 2017] writes that from 1854 the junior class was electing a Spoon committee named "Society of the Cochleaurerati" [from the Latin cochlear, for spoon, and Laureatus , crowned with laurel]. "It was a classic secret society, with closed meetings, small gold spoons nearly an inch and a half long worn on the vest lapel, and a 'midnight doxology' sung after gatherings." Those elected to the Spoon committee were said by Lyman Bagg in "Four Years at Yale" [1871] to be the "wittiest, most popular, genial and gentlemanly of the class. The Spoon Man was chosen by the committee from among their number and was thus regarded as the best of the best. The Spoon Exhibition, as the ceremony was called, became the highlight of the college season, attracting a larger and more remarkable audience than any other event in New Haven. RARE. Good .
Keywords: AMERICANA; SECRET SOCIETIES; YALE COLLEGE; 1855 PRESENTATION OF THE WOODEN SPOON; SOCIETY OF THE COCHLEAUREATI; PROGRAM; NINETEENTH CENTURY; 19TH CENTURY.
See more books from our catalog: Americana
Title: Presentation of the Wooden Spoon. (Program).
Description: (New Haven, CT: Yale College), (1855). (1855). - Octavo, softcover. A sheet of cream paper is folded once to form 4 pages, each 8-1/2 inches high by 6 inches wide. The title page lists the Committee of Arrangements and is illustrated in black & cream with the insignia of the Cochleaureatorum. The event's program is listed on the 2nd & 3rd pages and the 4th page is blank. There is a small area of staining to he 3rd page and the program has been folded in half horizontally with several additional lighter folds. Very good. The program is headed "Order of Exercises at the Presentation of the Wooden Spoon, by the Junior Class in Yale College, At Brewster's Hall, Monday Evening, June 11th, 1855." The program lists activities including speeches, "Spoon Addresses", colloquies and music by the band. The texts of three original poems are printed together with lists of the music to which they are to be sung. The music includes "Farewell My Lilly Dear" by Stephen Foster and "Hazel Dell" by George Frederick Root". The wooden Spoon Ceremony originated at one of the colleges of Cambridge University in England .A jackknife was given to the homeliest man in the class, a cane to the handsomest and a wooden spoon to the man who ate the most. This tradition evolved over time and from 1847 the spoon was awarded to the junior class member with the lowest grades and then, as noted in an 1856 New York Times article, to the recipient for "his powers as a wit, his talent as a speaker, or his capacity to please the ladies". By the time of the present ceremony, the award had become a popularity contest. David Alan Richards in "Skulls and Keys: The Hidden History of Yale's Secret Societies" [NY: Pegasus Books, 2017] writes that from 1854 the junior class was electing a Spoon committee named "Society of the Cochleaurerati" [from the Latin cochlear, for spoon, and Laureatus , crowned with laurel]. "It was a classic secret society, with closed meetings, small gold spoons nearly an inch and a half long worn on the vest lapel, and a 'midnight doxology' sung after gatherings." Those elected to the Spoon committee were said by Lyman Bagg in "Four Years at Yale" [1871] to be the "wittiest, most popular, genial and gentlemanly of the class. The Spoon Man was chosen by the committee from among their number and was thus regarded as the best of the best. The Spoon Exhibition, as the ceremony was called, became the highlight of the college season, attracting a larger and more remarkable audience than any other event in New Haven. RARE. Good .
Keywords: AMERICANA; SECRET SOCIETIES; YALE COLLEGE; 1855 PRESENTATION OF THE WOODEN SPOON; SOCIETY OF THE COCHLEAUREATI; PROGRAM; NINETEENTH CENTURY; 19TH CENTURY.
Price: US$ 275.00 Seller: Blue Mountain Books & Manuscripts, Ltd.
- Book number: 36218
- Book number: 36218
See more books from our catalog: Americana