In
the spring of 1996, I was writing weekly articles on Swarthmore's
history for The Phoenix. Looking through the old photograph
files in Friends Historical Library, I came across a folder of
"destroyed buildings." Most of them were unsurprising: old gymnasia
and an old swimming pool. I knew about these things. But what to make
of a series of photographs of a windowless Egyptian-style Temple? It
reminded me of nothing so much as the Temple of Dendur in New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art. But this photo was clearly taken in
Pennsylvania, not in Egypt. Those were elm trees behind the temple.
The back of the photographs said only "Book and Key."
The catalog of the Swarthmoreana collection in Friends Library listed several boxes of material on the Book and Key Society, and so I asked to see them. I found minute books, photographs, a very large Bible, song sheets, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and some written reminiscences. I called some of the alumni whose names appear in the society's records and asked them what they remembered.
The story I heard sounded completely unlike the Swarthmore I knew: For decades, at 7 minutes to 7 each Thursday night, 7 male leaders of the senior class would silently arise from their dining-hall places and would walk side by side to a small Egyptian-style temple at the end of Whittier Place. No one besides these selected members of Book and Key ever saw inside the temple. No one else was ever intended to know what went on at these meetings.
Book and Key members first saw the inside of the temple in May of their junior year, when graduating members of the society would "tap" them on the shoulder at dinner. Bill Carroll '38 remembered: "There was quite a bit of gossip when spring came, and people were guessing who was going to be tapped and who wasn't.... I was surprised that I was tapped. At least, I don't remember looking forward to it at all."
Initiation into Book and Key was designed to be dramatic. The juniors stood blindfolded outside the door of the temple. Every few minutes, a hand would appear at the door, pulling an initiate inside the building. Some years, a gong would be rung on the roof every hour, all night, and the initiates would not reemerge until morning. Inside the temple, the initiates received their lapel pins, learned the secret handshake, and heard about the workings of the society from the graduating members and visiting Book and Key alumni. The society's records include several texts of an elaborate initiation ritual, including many oaths and symbolic obstacle courses, but the amount of this ritual actually enacted varied over the years. Ed Mahler '50 said that in his initiation year, the initiates were brought into the temple blindfolded and spent the entire night in the temple, ringing a gong on the roof every hour. Bill Carroll '38 said that in the spring of 1937, the new initiates didn't stay all night. Larry Shane '56 said he couldn't remember any initiation ritual at all.
Book and Key alumni attended each spring's initiation at least through the early 1940s. As Howard Cooper Johnson recalled in a history of the society written as a tribute to Morris Clothier of the Class of 1890, "Shortly after 1900, Morris Clothier and I conferred about the establishment at Swarthmore of a Senior Honor Society based on the plan of the Yale Societies. We visited, from the outside, Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key, Book and Snake, and others and gathered bits and pieces of information from various sources and together planned the building and its furnishing.
Alumni continued to play an active role in the selection of students for initiation and in the general supervision of Book and Key during the early decades of the society. The power that the Temple Trust Association had over undergraduate members of Book and Key was evident in 1922, when it became apparent that the senior members of Book and Key had consumed substantial quantities of alcohol in the temple one Thursday evening. "After earnest and thoughtful consideration, it was pointed out that the seniors had violated the provisions of the By-Laws of the Society, and had also been guilty of misconduct tending to tarnish the fair name of their Alma-Mater, and it was on motion, duly made, seconded, and unanimously carried, Resolved that the Board of Directors recommend to the general membership of the Temple Trust Association that the 1922 seniors ... be suspended indefinitely, that they not be admitted to the Temple, and that they should surrender their pins." The Book and Key Class of 1922 members were reinstated after they graduated.
Members of Book and Key were selected because of their activity in College organizations and their commitment to the College. Most were captains of sports teams, student council members, fraternity officers, or leaders in other student organizations. "The idea was basically to have individuals who came from different parts of campus," said Warren Higgins '48. "They looked for individuals who followed their own ideas to try and get a cross section of leaders on campus." Book and Key members discussed whether Swarthmore should adopt an honor system (they didn't think so), whether the College should grant "distinction in course" to non-Honors students (they thought it should), and whether a picture directory of the freshmen class should be published (they thought so). They discussed fraternity pledging, turnout for football games, chaperones at parties, low grades of the first-year students, plans to get a piano for the temple, and problems in the lunch line. Members would not mention the society's name to nonmembers--any actions they agreed to carry out were done through the campus organizations they led.
In the 1930s, several of the rituals of the society, including the weekly Thursday evening procession to the temple, were dropped. Later, most of the secrecy surrounding the organization was also ended. By the time Morris Clothier died in 1949, the initiation ritual remained, but other activities were carried out openly. In that year, Book and Key members sponsored a play contest; organized a shoe drive for European refugees, a faculty-student quiz program, College open houses for high school boys, and freshmen orientation; and ushered at lectures. "We were trying to justify the existence of the thing," said Edward Perkins '49. "I was extremely honored to be selected. It meant a great deal to us at the time, although we realized that its day had gone."
Within a decade, Book and Key had initiated its last member. "I had a feeling that we were near the end," said Ed Mahler '50. "I remember talking with some of the other guys about it on the night we were brought in: What was this all about? What was the purpose of it? You began to question it. You were still quite flattered by being selected--although it wasn't as if your fellow students bowed and scraped before you because you were a 'Bookie.'"
Swarthmore had changed dramatically since Book and Key began in 1906. Students played a much more active role in making decisions. A self-perpetuating elite group of 7 male members of each class didn't seem like quite such a good idea. The Class of 1951 was the last class with only 7 members--membership expanded to groups of 11, 16, and 21. New members were sent letters of invitation, and several declined the offer to join. In the end, the Class of 1957 decided against tapping members of the next class. Older members of the Temple Trust Association were very upset by the society's demise, but they could do little. In 1965, the Temple Trust Association gave up all hope of reestablishing Book and Key. They sold the Temple to the College for $1 and donated their financial assets to the College.
Many members of the Temple Trust Association continued to meet informally. The Book and Key members of the Class of 1934 continued to go on vacations together for decades afterward, said S. Dean Caldwell '34. The building they sold the college was a curiosity: a small two-story Egyptian-style temple with a meeting room, a library on the second floor, and a kitchen in the basement. Four stained glass windows (with a book, a key, the scales of justice, and the number 232) were illuminated with artificial lights--no windows let in the sun. The Phoenix reported: "Equipping the building to meet legal requirements would have cost an estimated $30,000 to $35,000. No permanent specific uses for Book and Key were judged worthy of such an expenditure. As a permanent location for music practice rooms or an art gallery, the building seemed inadequate."
In 1967, the building was razed. The Book and Key Scholarship Fund, established with the society's financial assets, is still in existence.
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