The Porcellian Club is an all-male

final club Harvard College has several types of social clubs. These are split between coeducational clubs recognized by the college, and unrecognized single-sex clubs which were subject to College sanctions in the past. The Hasty Pudding Club holds claim ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, colloquially known as the Porc or the P.C. Its founding is traditionally dated to either 1791, when a group began meeting under the name "the Argonauts,", p. 171: source for 1791 origins as the "Argonauts" later named "The Pig Club", "The Gentlemen's Club" and finally "The Porcellian". "Small as the membership has been, the roll of graduates shows many of the most famous of the Sons of Harvard, including Wendell Phillips, Channing, osephStory, dwardEverett, Prescott, Adams, Palfrey, Charles Sumner, Oliver Wendell Holmes, James Russell Lowell and John Lothrop Motley". Online at th
Internet Archive
/ref> or 1794, the year of a roast pig dinner that formally established the club under its initial name, the "Pig Club." The club's

Epicurean Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious s ...

motto, '' Dum vivimus vivamus'' ("While we live, let us live"), and its emblem—a pig—reflect its origins. Members often wear golden pig motifs on watch chains or neckties adorned with pig-head symbols. YSE president Richard Whitney "had attended Groton and Harvard.…his clubs were the Links, the Turf, the Field, the Racquet and the Knickerbocker; from his watch chain there dangled the gold pig of Harvard's Porcellian". Regarded as Harvard’s "oldest and most prestigious" social club, the Porcellian has been described as the iconic "hotsy-totsy final club" and is frequently cited by the university as "the most final of them all."

History

The Porcellian Club traces its origins to 1791, though its formal establishment is often linked to a roast pig dinner in 1794. According to a February 23, 1887, article in ''The Harvard Crimson'', the club emerged from a student prank involving a pig: An 1891 article in the ''Cambridge Chronicle'' highlights key founding figures:

Symbols

The Porcellian Club's motto, ''Dum vivimus vivamus'' ("While we live, let us live"), reflects its

ethos. Its primary symbol is a golden pig, which also serves as the club's mascot. Members, colloquially referred to as "Porkies," often incorporate pig motifs into accessories such as neckties, watch chains, or blazers.

Clubhouse

The Porcellian Club's clubhouse is located at 1324 Massachusetts Avenue in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, above the former store of clothier J. August. Designed by architect and club member William York Peters, the building's entrance faces Harvard freshman dormitories and the Porcellian Gate (also known as McKean Gate), donated by the club in 1901. The gate, marking the entrance to

Harvard Yard Harvard Yard is the oldest and among the most prominent parts of the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The yard has a historic center and modern crossroads and contains List of Harvard College freshman dormitories, most ...

, features a limestone carving of a boar's head. Notably,

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

brought his first wife,

Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt Alice Hathaway Roosevelt (; July 29, 1861 – February 14, 1884) was an American socialite and the first wife of President Theodore Roosevelt. Two days after giving birth to their only child, she died from undiagnosed Bright's disease. Early lif ...

, to dine at the club during their undergraduate years.

Architecture and layout

An 1891 article in the ''Cambridge Chronicle'' described the newly constructed clubhouse:

The enlargement of the club's library, and the fact of its growing postgraduate or honorary membership roll, compelled it from time to time to enlarge its accommodations. Finally, in 1881, it determined to tear down the old house where it had so long met, on Harvard street and build a new structure its site. The new structure is of brick, handsomely trimmed in stone, and rises to the height of four stories, with about seventy or eighty feet of frontage on Harvard street. Two large stores claim a part of the ground floor, but they do not encroach on the broad and handsome entrance to the club's apartments. The three upper floors are used exclusively by the club. The first of them contains a large hall which opens both into the front and rear reception rooms and parlors, which, in turn, communicate. From each of these rooms a door leads to the library, which extends through from the front to the rear. On the second floor, in addition to a room over the library, there is a billiard hall in the front and a breakfast room in the rear with the kitchen over the main hall of the floor beneath. Nearly the whole of the top floor is taken up by a large banquet hall, vaulted by handsome rafters.

Cultural perception

Despite its exclusivity, critics like Jeffrey Hart—a ''National Review'' columnist,

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

speechwriter, and

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

professor—questioned the club's mystique. Hart (who never entered the club) remarked:

Notable features

A portrait titled ''The Steward (Lewis of the Porcellian)'' by

Joseph DeCamp Joseph Rodefer DeCamp (November 5, 1858February 11, 1923) was an American painter and educator. Biography Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied with Frank Duveneck. In the second half of the 1870s he went with Duveneck and fellow students ...

hangs in the clubhouse, depicting longtime steward George Washington Lewis. A 1929 obituary in ''Time'' noted:

George Washington Lewis, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, for over 45 years the esteemed Negro steward of the Porcellian Club at Harvard College; in Cambridge, Massachusetts Ancient and most esoteric of Harvard clubs is Porcellian, founded in 1791.* An oil portrait of Steward Lewis hangs in the clubhouse. Steward Lewis had ten Porcellian pallbearers.

Historical significance

The Porcellian Club has played a notable role in Harvard's social history, particularly through its associations with prominent figures.

and other members of the

Roosevelt family The Roosevelt family is an American political family from New York whose members have included two United States presidents, a First Lady, and various merchants, bankers, politicians, inventors, clergymen, artists, and socialites. The progeny ...

were inducted, but his distant cousin

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

—then a Harvard sophomore and later a U.S. President—was not invited to join. Franklin instead joined the rival

Fly Club The Fly Club is a final club at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was established in 1836 and operated as a chapter of Alpha Delta Phi before becoming a local organization in 1906. History Fly Club was founded in 1836 at Harvard ...

alongside his roommate; three of his sons later followed. According to relative Sheffield Cowles, Franklin reportedly described the rejection as "the greatest disappointment in his life," though this claim may be hyperbolic. Similarly, Joseph P. Kennedy Sr., excluded from the club due to his Catholic background, reportedly held lingering resentment. Biographer David Nasaw noted Kennedy's fixation on the snub: "For years later, Joe Kennedy remembered the day he didn't make the Porcellian Club…realizing that none of the Catholics he knew at Harvard had been selected."

Cultural Influence

A British 1870 travel book highlighted the club's prestige:

A notice of Harvard would be as incomplete without a reference to the Porcellian Club as a notice of Oxford or Cambridge would be in which the Union Debating Society held no place. This and the
Hasty Pudding Club The Hasty Pudding Club, often referred to simply as the Pudding, is a social club at Harvard University, and one of three sub-organizations that comprise the Hasty Pudding - Institute of 1770. The current clubhouse was designed by Peabody and ...
… are the two lions of Harvard. The Porcellian Club is hardly a place of resort for those who cultivate the intellect at the expense of the body. The list of active members is small, owing in part to the largeness of the annual subscription. The great desire of every student is to become a member of it…the doings of the club are shrouded in secrecy…All that can be said by a stranger who has been privileged to step behind the scenes is that the mysteries are rites which can be practised without much labor and yield a pleasure which is fraught with no unpleasant consequences.

The club's influence extended into Boston's elite institutions. Historians note that architect H. H. Richardson's selection to design Trinity Church—a landmark of American architecture—was bolstered by his Porcellian membership. As one historian observed:

The thirty-four-year-old possessed one great advantage over the other candidates: as a popular Harvard undergraduate he had been a member of several clubs, including the prestigious Porcellian; thus he needed no introduction to the rector,
Phillips Brooks Phillips Brooks (December 13, 1835January 23, 1893) was an American Episcopal clergyman and author, long the Rector of Boston's Trinity Church and briefly Bishop of Massachusetts. He wrote the lyrics of the Christmas hymn, " O Little Town o ...
, or five of the eleven-man building committee—they were all fellow Porcellian members.

Membership

The Porcellian Club historically maintained exclusionary membership practices. A biography of

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American writer, journalist and filmmaker. In a career spanning more than six decades, Mailer had 11 best-selling books, at least ...

notes that during his time at Harvard, "It would have been unthinkable... for a Jew to be invited to join one of the so-called final clubs like Porcellian, A.D. Club, Fly, or Spee".

Demographic shifts

By the late 20th century, the influence of

Boston Brahmins The Boston Brahmins are members of Boston's historic upper class. From the late 19th century through the mid-20th century, they were often associated with a cultivated New England accent, Harvard University, Anglicanism, and traditional Britis ...

at Harvard had waned. A 1986 survey noted that while other final clubs diversified—electing Jewish and Black presidents—the Porcellian admitted only occasional Jewish members and, in 1983, its first African American member, who had attended St. Paul's. This decision reportedly alarmed some alumni. A 1994 ''Harvard Crimson'' article by Joseph Mathews observed evolving trends:

Prep school background, region and legacy status do not appear to be the sole determinants of membership they may once have been, but... they remain factors.

As of 2016, the club remained all-male, defending "the value of single-gender institutions for men and women as a supplement and option to coeducational institutions."

Joseph McKean Gate

In 1901, the Joseph McKean Gate—a portal to

—was erected directly opposite the Porcellian Clubhouse. A March 20, 1909, notice in ''The Harvard Crimson'' announced:

A gate is to be erected at the entrance to the Yard between Wadsworth House and Boylston Hall. It is to be erected by members of the Porcellian Club in memory of Joseph McKean 1794, S.T.D., LL.D. Boylston Professor of Rhetoric, Oratory and Elocution, and also the founder of the Porcellian Club.

The gate prominently displays the Porcellian's symbol, a boar's head, carved in limestone above the central arch. It remains a prominent Harvard landmark, marking the boundary between Harvard Yard and Massachusetts Avenue.

Notable members

The Porcellian Club’s alumni include prominent figures in politics, literature, and academia. A 1929 ''Time'' obituary noted its roster featured "

Theodore Roosevelt Jr. Theodore Roosevelt III ( ; September 13, 1887 – July 12, 1944), often known as Theodore Jr.,Morris, Edmund (1979). ''The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt''. index.While it was President Theodore Roosevelt who was legally named Theodore Roosevelt Jr ...

, Poet Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., Justice

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Cou ...

, Nicholas Longworth, Poet

James Russell Lowell James Russell Lowell (; February 22, 1819 – August 12, 1891) was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the fireside poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets to r ...

Richard Henry Dana Jr. Richard Henry Dana Jr. (August 1, 1815 – January 6, 1882) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts, a descendant of a colonial family, who gained renown as the author of the classic American memoir ''Two Years Before the Mast'' a ...

(''Two Years Before the Mast''), Novelist

Owen Wister Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer. His novel ''The Virginian (novel), The Virginian'', published in 1902, helped create the cowboy as a folk hero in the United States and built Wister's reputation as the " ...

, nd John Jay Chapman." A 1940 ''Time'' article added:

The Pork...is very much a family affair. Upon its roster, generation after generation, appear the same proud Boston names—Adams, Ames, Amory, Cabot, Cushing, etc.

Selected notable members include: *

Joseph Alsop Joseph Wright Alsop V (October 10, 1910 – August 28, 1989) was an American journalist and syndicated newspaper columnist from the 1930s through the 1970s. He was an influential journalist and top insider in Washington from 1945 to the late 19 ...

(1932) – Journalist; co-author of ''The 168 Days'' (1938) * August Belmont Jr. (1875) – Financier; namesake of

Belmont Park Belmont Park is a thoroughbred racing, thoroughbred horse racetrack in Elmont, New York, just east of New York City limits best known for hosting the Belmont Stakes, the final leg of the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United Stat ...

and the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

* Charles E. Bohlen (1927) – Diplomat; U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet Union * William Astor Chanler (1895) – U.S. Congressman from New York * John Jay Chapman (1884; L.L.D. 1887) – Essayist; translator of

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

and

Sophocles Sophocles ( 497/496 – winter 406/405 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. was an ancient Greek tragedian known as one of three from whom at least two plays have survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or contemporary with, those ...

Benjamin Robbins Curtis Benjamin Robbins Curtis (November 4, 1809 – September 15, 1874) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1851 to 1857. Curtis was the only Whig justice of the Supreme C ...

(1829) – Associate Justice of the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

– Author of ''Two Years Before the Mast'' *

Edward Everett Edward Everett (April 11, 1794 – January 15, 1865) was an American politician, Unitarian pastor, educator, diplomat, and orator from Massachusetts. Everett, as a Whig, served as U.S. representative, U.S. senator, the 15th governor of Mas ...

– U.S. Secretary of State; President of Harvard; Governor of Massachusetts * Hamilton Fish III (1910) – College football All-American; U.S. Congressman from New York * Miles Fisher – Film and television actor * Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. – Author, poet; Harvard Medical School professor *

– Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; Harvard Law School professor *

William Henry Fitzhugh Lee William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (May 31, 1837 – October 15, 1891), known as Rooney Lee (often spelled "Roony" among friends and family) or W. H. F. Lee, was the second son of General Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis. He was a planter, a Confe ...

(1858) – Confederate Major General *

Henry Cabot Lodge Henry Cabot Lodge (May 12, 1850November 9, 1924) was an American politician, historian, lawyer, and statesman from Massachusetts. A member of the History of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served in the United States ...

– U.S. Senator from Massachusetts * Dan Sullivan – U.S. Senator from Alaska *

– Poet; Harvard professor * Theodore Lyman (1858) – Union Army officer; U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts *

George Gordon Meade George Gordon Meade (December 31, 1815 – November 6, 1872) was an American military officer who served in the United States Army and the Union army as Major General in command of the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War from ...

(Honorary 1866) – Union Major General; victor of the

Battle of Gettysburg The Battle of Gettysburg () was a three-day battle in the American Civil War, which was fought between the Union and Confederate armies between July 1 and July 3, 1863, in and around Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle, won by the Union, ...

Paul Nitze Paul Henry Nitze (January 16, 1907 – October 19, 2004) was an American businessman and government official who served as United States Deputy Secretary of Defense, U.S. Secretary of the Navy, and Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. Sta ...

– Diplomat; U.S. Secretary of the Navy; co-founder of

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Wendell Phillips Wendell Phillips (November 29, 1811 – February 2, 1884) was an American abolitionist, labor reformer, temperance activist, advocate for Native Americans, orator, and attorney. According to George Lewis Ruffin, a black attorney, Phillip ...

– Abolitionist leader * William Phillips – U.S. Ambassador to Italy * H. H. Richardson – Architect; designer of

Trinity Church, Boston Trinity Church in the City of Boston, located in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts. The congregation, currently standing at approximately 4,000 households, was founded in ...

– 26th U.S. President *

– Brigadier General;

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

recipient *

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– Governor and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts * Louis Agassiz Shaw II – Socialite; subject of

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's poem '' Waking in the Blue'' *

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(attended 1856–1859) – Colonel of the

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(1795) – Associate Justice of the Supreme Court *

Charles Sumner Charles Sumner (January 6, 1811March 11, 1874) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Massachusetts in the United States Senate from 1851 until his death in 1874. Before and during the American Civil War, he was a leading American ...

(1830; L.L.D. 1834) – U.S. Senator from Massachusetts * Benjamin Ogle Tayloe (1814) – Diplomat; political activist * Edward Thornton Tayloe – Diplomat; nominated U.S. Secretary of the Treasury (1841) * Henry Constantine Wayne (1834) – Georgia Militia Major General * Richard Whitney (1911) – President of the

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(1930–1935) *

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(2004) – Olympic rower; co-founder of ConnectU *

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(2004) – Olympic rower; co-founder of ConnectU * Grenville Lindall Winthrop – Art collector; benefactor of the

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(1882) – Author of ''The Virginian'' * John Bozman Kerr (1830) was a U.S. Congressman, representing the sixth district of the state of

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from 1849 until 1851. He also served as

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References

External links

* {{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Collegiate secret societies Student societies in the United States Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Clubs and societies in the United States 1791 establishments in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts Harvard Square National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Student organizations established in the 18th century Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts Secret societies in the United States Harvard College social clubs