The records of the Scientific Club include club attendance records and correspondence, histories of the club prepared by members on several occasions, papers presented by members at club meetings on academic topics, memorials of club members, and photographs of club events. The records are not complete, but span the history of the club, from 1883 to 2006, with no particular concentration. The collection is made up of four series: Club Histories, Papers Presented, Club Records, and Photographs.
The Scientific Club is a scholarly and social dining club of University of Michigan faculty members from all fields. The club was founded in 1883 to promote collegiality and awareness of scholarly interests and research among the faculty.
The Scientific Club succeeded an earlier organization, the Ann Arbor Scientific Association, founded by several university faculty members and local residents in 1875. The association hosted gatherings at which papers were read on various topics, including "the elevation of the arctic regions, Indian mounds in Genesee County, the aromatic group in the chemistry of plants, the history of the theory of spontaneous generation, the colored snowfall in northern Michigan, and antiquities of Peru."[1]
The club apparently fell into difficulties due to a financial scandal involving two prominent members, Silas H. Douglas and Preston B. Rose, both chemistry professors. Subsequently, several members of the Scientific Association decided to form a new, less formal group, to be named the Scientific Club. Twenty men associated with the university were the original members, later to be joined by the university president as a member ex officio. The founders of the club hoped to keep their meetings simple and convivial, with academic exchange and refreshments consisting of apples, doughnuts, and sweet cider. There was to be minimal organizational structure and no rules, with one club officer, the "Principal Servant," handling organizational and scheduling responsibilities.
Over subsequent decades, the club continued its meetings more or less regularly on a monthly basis. Based on the amount of attention paid to it in numerous club histories, the most memorable feature of the events was the changing nature of the collation offered to members, ranging from roast beef sandwiches served without plates or silverware on laboratory tables to increasingly sophisticated dinners served, beginning in the 1960s, in the homes of members.
Guests may be invited to club meetings, but have been rare, although notable exceptions include W.H. Auden and the Danish explorer, World War II resistance fighter and quiz-show champion Peter Freuchen. [2] Women were not initially welcomed at the meetings, with the "hostess" of a meeting expected to provide a meal "in absentia," but members' wives gradually began to show themselves during the meal and even "to mingle briefly with the entire group." [3] Members' wives were invited to join in the dinner and meeting beginning in 1970. The first female members were named in 1977.
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Source Notes:
1) "History of the Scientific Club (1977)," unpaged.
2) "History of the Scientific Club, 1932-1972 (Updated and annotated 1977)," unpaged.
3) Ibid.
