Berzelius (secret society)

Berzelius is a secret society at Yale University named for the Swedish scientist Jöns Jakob Berzelius, considered one of the founding fathers of modern chemistry. Founded in 1848, 'BZ', as the society is called often, is the third oldest society at Yale and the oldest of those of the now-defunct Sheffield Scientific School, the institution which from 1854 to 1956 was the sciences and engineering college of Yale University. Berzelius became a senior society in the tradition of Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, and Wolf's Head in 1933 when the Sheffield Scientific School was integrated into Yale University. Book and Snake and St. Elmo, also societies from Sheffield, followed suit. Skull and Bones, founded in 1832, Scroll and Key, founded in 1841, and Wolf's Head, founded in 1883, catered to students in the Academic Department, or liberal arts college.[1][2]

For other uses, see Berzelius (disambiguation).
Architect Donn Barber's Berzelius Society, 1908 or 1910.
Berzelius, perspective from Temple Street
Classically symmetrical front approach.
Detail of entryway ornamentation. Berzelius Society symbol depicted within shield.

The alumni trust organization, the 1848 Association,[3] owns the society's building. Outsiders refer to the building as a 'tomb', the customary appellation for a secret society structure at Yale; however, many BZ members refer to their building as "The Hall." This is likely a transferred linguistic remnant of the tradition of the 'Sheff' secret societies, which had 'halls' for residential use and 'tombs' as separate meeting places, in contrast to the Yale College senior secret societies, which maintained only "tombs."

Architects of Berzelius buildings
  • Donn Barber designed the current society building, completed in 1908 or 1910, and likened to a "blank cube" with classical ornamentation.[4]
  • Henry Bacon and James Brite designed a brick-clad Neo-Renaissance-style dormitory, completed in 1898. (Bacon was an American Beaux-Arts architect best known for having designed the Greek Doric Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, and built between 1915 and 1922, his final project.) Yale purchased the dormitory in 1933 for student housing, later using it for faculty offices before demolishing it in 1969 to facilitate construction of the Yale Health Services Center, 17 Hillhouse Avenue.

Architectural historian Patrick L. Pinnell notes in Yale University that Berzelius sold to the Scroll and Key Society the site on which the latter erected its own tomb.[5]

Architectural historian Scott Meacham cites both Berzelius buildings in his study of Yale and Dartmouth society and fraternity architecture.[6]

The original building was built to resemble a Greek temple.[7] The surviving ca. 1908-10 building's location, set off from the more active center of Yale's campus, lends privacy to Berzelius' members, and its unadorned largely blank exterior conveys to outsiders the deceptive sense that nothing much happens inside. In addition to the meeting room, dining area, and numerous study rooms, there are below-ground activity rooms with a pool table and ping pong table for recreation. BZ recently underwent a major restoration.[4]

Mission

The society takes its intellectual mission seriously, invoking Socrates' exhortation "The unexamined life is not worth living” as well as stating to its prospective members that: "Berzelius provides opportunities for achieving insights through an open, honest exchange of experiences, passions, and opinions. This process prepares its members — whose diversity is highly valued — for an active, intellectually vigorous, and moral life, giving them a place and time for contemplation and reflection so that they might rise boldly to the challenges of their lives, devoted to good character, tolerant of others, and willing to serve their communities, while forging links of mind to mind in a chain unbroken."

Notable Members

Berzelius's members have included U.S. senators and governors, influential journalists and activists, accomplished athletes and artists, and successful businesspeople. These include:

  • Bill DeWitt III, president of the St. Louis Cardinals.[8]
  • Will Schwalbe, American writer and businessman.
  • Arnold Hague, a United States geologist who did many geological surveys in the U.S., of which the best known was that for Yellowstone National Park.
  • William Proxmire, United States Senator (D) from Wisconsin from 1957 to 1989. An early critic of the Vietnam War, and an outspoken campaigner against wasteful government spending.[2]
  • David Dellinger, renowned pacifist and activist for nonviolent social change. One of the most influential American radicals in the 20th century, famous for being one of the Chicago Seven, a group of antiwar protesters whose disruption of the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago led to charges of conspiracy.[2]
  • William W. Scranton, Republican Governor of Pennsylvania from 1963 to 1967; United States Ambassador to the United Nations 1976 to 1977.[2]
  • William Phipps Blake, American geologist, mining consultant, and educator.
  • Levi Jackson, first African American to captain an Ivy League football team, first African American member of a Yale secret society.  Later, a high-ranking executive at Ford Motor Company.[9]

See also

References
  1. Schiff, Judith Ann (2004). "How the Secret Societies Got That Way". Yale Alumni Magazine (September/October).
  2. Richards, David Alan (2017). Skulls and keys : the hidden history of Yale's secret societies (First Pegasus Booksition ed.). Pegasus. ISBN 9781681775173.
  3. Francis-Wright, Tim (6 May 2001). "These are Charities? The Seamy Side of Yale's Most Exclusive Clubs". Bear Left. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  4. "Leland Torrence Enterprises, Inc. | RECENT AND CURRENT PROJECTS". www.lelandtorrenceenterprises.com. Archived from the original on 2002-10-10.
  5. Pinnell, Patrick L. (1999) Yale University, Princeton Architectural Press ISBN 1-56898-167-8
  6. "Halls, Tombs and Houses: Student Society Architecture at Dartmouth. IV. View [index.HTML] for frames version".
  7. "Tomb raiders: The clubhouses of Yale's secret societies". 21 June 2018.
  8. "7 of Yale's super-elite secret societies ranked by wealth". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-10-04.
  9. Goldstein, Richard (2000-12-29). "Levi Jackson, a Pioneer at Yale, Is Dead at 74". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-12.

41.3130°N 72.9221°W / 41.3130; -72.9221

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