|
Spade and Grave
Spade and Grave (S&G), also called S.L.M., is a senior secret society at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.[1] Founded in 1864, it is one of Yale's oldest societies.[2][3]  HistorySpade and Grave grew out of a quarrel in the class of 1864.[4] That year, the Yale Literary Magazine had five editors—three who were members of Skull and Bones and two who were "neutral".[5][4] In February, an article was published that discussed the ways men manipulated their way into Skull and Bones and made unflattering comments about some of the Bonesmen [5] The three Bonesman editors voted to censor the article and seized all printed copies of the magazine.[4] One of the neutral editors disagreed with this decision and called a class meeting; the class voted to support the neutral editor and demanded that the Bonesmen return the seized magazines.[4] When the Bonesmen failed to comply, the class expelled them from office and replaced them with three neutral editors.[4] Instead of accepting this ruling, the Bonesmen printed their own version of the February issue, resulting in two competing magazines from two editorial boards.[4] In reality, the Bonesmen editors were in the right as the senior class had no authority over the matter.[4] The five neutral editors formed an opposition society with ten classmates.[4] The new group's badge debuted in the summer of 1864 and its insignia mocked the Bonesmen with a gravedigger tossing a skull with his spade.[4] The society's name came from this insignia.[4] Originally, they were called the Graves or Graves men, before settling on the Diggers.[4] Its rivals called it "Bed and Broom".[4][6] The Diggers' first delegation of fifteen members was tapped for 1865.[4][3] The society was housed in elegantly furnished rooms in the Lyon Building on Chapel Street.[4][3] In addition to billiard tables, Space and Grave had a room that was completely covered in black velvet.[4] Nevertheless, it eventually had financial problems, and a Yale historian notes that the group "was always despised and looked down upon" because of its controversial start.[4] In June 1868, all of its elected delegations turned down the invitation to join.[6] S.L.M.In the fall of 1867, the group attempted to rebrand itself as Crown and Scepter or S.L.M. (pronounced Slim); a new badge was issued to its delegation in 1868.[4][7] Although freshmen were willing to call the group Crown and Scepter or Sword and Cross, upperclassmen continued to call the society by its former name.[4] The October 10, 1868 issue of The College Courant questioned whether this truly was a new senior society or "a posthumous offspring of the defunct Spade and Grave".[8] The publication's editors noted:
The society lost its rooms to Theta Psi in February 1870 and went inactive after the 1871 delegation.[2][4] However, some sources indicated an inactive date of 1869.[3]  ReestablishmentsSpade and Grave was reestablished in 1951 by John Curtis Perry.[2] In the 1960s, its house burned and the group moved to rented quarters.[2] It went inactive in 1970 and was re-established in 1999.[5][2] The society purchased an off-campus house or tomb around 2015 but the property is not identified with signage.[5] SymbolsSpade and Grave's insignia is based on the scene from Hamlet in which the gravedigger tosses up Yorick's skull with his spade.[6] This slyly referenced its hostility with Skull and Bones.[4] Spade and Grave's original badge was of gold and was produced in two size variations.[4] It consisted of a grave that was over an inch long.[4] There was a spade, partially dug into a grave and resting on a footstone.[4] The grave's headstone featured a crown.[4] In 1868, the S.L.M. recruits wore a new badge featuring a crown with a crossed sword and scepter.[4][8][6] In addition, the name Spade and Grave was replaced with the letters S.L.M.[9][6] These letters represented the motto "Scepirum Ligonibus Mors" or "Death of the Scepter".[9] Notable members
See alsoReferences
Further reading
|
||||||||||||||||||||