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Skull and Bones Class
Skull and Bones Tomb
Skull and Bones Class Detail
Skull and Bones Tomb Detail

History, Education, Yale University, Skull and Bones Society, Pair of Vintage Class Photographs

$1,200

[Annual Class Photograph – Skull and Bones Society]
[The Tomb – Skull and Bones Society]
New Haven: mid 20th Century
Pair of albumen black-and-white photographs
10 x 13.25 inches overall
$1,200, the pair

A pair of vintage black-and-white photographs pertaining to the Skull and Bones Society at Yale University. One is an annual group photograph of members, taken inside the Skull and Bones Society building on the Yale Campus known as the Tomb. The other photograph is of the ivy clad exterior of the Tomb. In this secret prestigious fraternal society, still active today, rising seniors are inducted for one year prior to graduation. In the formal group photograph, the members, wearing dark suits, flank a tall case clock. In front of the clock, the two seated and one standing members are presumably the officers of the Society for that year. Between them is a physical skull and crossed bones on a table draped in fabric with a skull and bones image and the number 322. This number is thought to reference the year 322 B.C. when the Greek orator Demosthenes died, marking the transition of Athens from democracy to plutocracy. The pair of photographs presumably belonged to one of the members in the photograph. As a pair, and showing the building when it was formerly covered in ivy, they are unusual. These photographs are not dated, and are rare to the extent that we have not located any other online examples of these particular images, or any other pairs of Skull and Bones photographs from any year.

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Description

The Tomb, located at 64 High Street in New Haven, is the secretive, windowless headquarters of Skull and Bones. Built in 1856, it has long served as the Society’s private space for initiations and gatherings. In the photograph, the building is heavily covered in natural growing ivy, a detail that helps date the photograph to the mid 20th century, since the ivy was removed in the 1980s to protect the structure of the building.. This characteristic growth also helps place the companion portrait of the members within the same period. This particular image of the building as covered in ivy is a particularly good example of such.

Founded in 1832, the Skull and Bones Society has since gained notoriety for its elite membership and arcane rituals. The Society admits 15 new members in “Tap Week” in the spring, prior to their senior year, and on “Tap Night,” students can officially accept their offers. Several American Presidents were members of the Skull and Bones Society including William Howard Taft, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Many prominent Americans in fields of politics, finance, science and other disciplines are alumni of the Society, including Senator John Kerry, businessman and diplomat Averell Harriman, publisher Henry Luce and author and commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. The Society began admitting women in the 1990s, and continues to operate with the secrecy that has fueled public fascination for nearly two centuries.

Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, wear, handling.

References:

“Skull and Bones.” Wikipedia. 28 September 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skull_and_Bones (22 May 2025).

“Skull linked to secret Yale society to be sold.” NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna34709352 (22 May 2025).

Additional information

Century

20th Century

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