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Scroll & Key

Scroll and Key, legally incorporated as the Kingsley Trust Association, is the second-oldest and reputedly wealthiest senior secret society at Yale University, founded in 1842 by John Addison Porter and disaffected members of Skull and Bones. Its nearly two-century history reveals a pattern of elite network formation — linking founders, alumni, and institutional benefactors across American politics, law, media, finance, and culture — while operating behind the veil of ritual secrecy and architectural symbolism in its Moorish Revival "tomb" on College Street.

Definitions

Senior Society — A secret, invitation-only organization at Yale that "taps" (selects) fifteen rising seniors each spring to participate in private activities for their final year. Senior societies are privately owned, not affiliated with or governed by Yale University.

Tomb — The colloquial term for the windowless, fortress-like buildings that house Yale's senior societies. Scroll and Key's building is more accurately described as a society hall, not a mausoleum.

Kingsley Trust Association (KTA) — The legal corporate name of Scroll and Key's alumni organization, named for co-founder William L. Kingsley (Class of 1843). Incorporated years after the society's founding to manage its endowment and property.

Big Three — The three most prestigious Yale senior societies: Skull and Bones (1832), Scroll and Key (1842), and Wolf's Head (1883).

Ancient Eight — The eight oldest "landed" (building-owning) senior societies at Yale: Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, Wolf's Head, Berzelius, Book and Snake, Elihu, Mace and Chain, and St. Elmo's.

Tapping — The ritual process by which current society members select ("tap") juniors for membership in their senior year.

Moorish Revival — An architectural style drawing on Islamic art and North African/Iberian Moorish motifs, characterized by horseshoe arches, geometric ornamentation, and polychrome surfaces.

Historical Timeline

1842 — Founding
1842–1856 — Early Years in Rented Quarters

1856 — Skull and Bones Builds First "Tomb"

1860 — Kingsley Trust Association Incorporated

The alumni body was formally incorporated as the Kingsley Trust Association, named for co-founder William L. Kingsley.

Source: Carter Wiki, "Scroll and Key" — carter.fandom.com/wiki/Scroll_and_Key

Quote: "Kingsley is the namesake of the alumni organization, the Kingsley Trust Association (KTA), founded in 1860."

1869 — Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg Documents Yale Societies

Bagg (Class of 1869) published Four Years at Yale anonymously, providing one of the earliest detailed accounts of Yale's secret society system, including Scroll and Key. He wrote that "some injustice in the conferring of Phi Beta Kappa elections" contributed to the climate of secret society formation.

Source: Judith Ann Schiff, "How the Secret Societies Got That Way," Yale Alumni Magazine, Sept/Oct 2004 — archives.yalealumnimagazine.com/issues/2004_09/old_yale.html

1870 — The Tomb is Built

Scroll and Key's society hall was designed in the Moorish Revival style by architect Richard Morris Hunt and constructed in 1870 at 484 College Street, New Haven. The land was purchased from another Yale society, Berzelius.

Source: SAH Archipedia, "Scroll and Key Society Building."

Quote: "The Scroll and Key Society Building, often inaccurately referred to as a tomb, is the home of Yale University's second oldest secret society. It is the only remaining building by Richard Morris Hunt on Yale's campus."

Quote: Architectural historian Patrick Pinnell noted: "19th-century artists' studios commonly had exotic orientalia lying about to suggest that the painter was sophisticated, well traveled, and in touch with mysterious powers; Hunt's Scroll and Key is one instance in which the trope got turned into a building." — Patrick Pinnell, The Campus Guide: Yale University (1999).

1901 — Tomb Expansion

A later expansion to the building was completed in 1901. Undergraduates described the original building as a "striped zebra Billiard Hall" in a supplement to a Yale yearbook.

Source: Wikipedia, "Scroll and Key" — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scroll_and_Key

1917 — Yale University Press Endowment

Scroll and Key provided the endowment for the founding of the Yale University Press, which funded the publication of The Yale Shakespeare and sponsored the Yale Younger Poets Series — considered gifts from "Keys."

Source: Carter Wiki, "Scroll and Key."

Quote: "In 1917, Key Society provided the endowment for the founding of the Yale University Press, which has funded the publication of The Yale Shakespeare and sponsored the Yale Younger Poets Series, considered gifts from 'Keys.'"

1989 — Co-Education

Scroll and Key admitted women for the first time. Then-Yale President and Scroll and Key alumnus A. Bartlett Giamatti refused to ever visit the society again unless women were admitted.

Source: Journey Thru My Lens, "Secret Societies of Yale University" — http://journeysthrumylens.com/secret-societies-of-yale-university

Quote: "In 1989 Scroll and Key went co-ed. This was met with resistance by many alumni but then current Yale President and Scroll and Key alumni Bartlett Giamatti refused to ever visit the society again unless women were admitted."

Present Day — Wealthiest Senior Society

As of the most recent available IRS filings, Scroll and Key (filed under Kingsley Trust Association) held assets of approximately $10.77 million, making it the wealthiest of Yale's senior societies.

Source: Business Insider, "7 of Yale's Super-Elite Secret Societies Ranked by Wealth" (2016) — http://businessinsider.com/yales-wealthiest-secret-societies-2016-11