{{Short description|Social club at Harvard University}} {{Distinguish|Hasty Pudding Theatricals}} {{Other uses|Hasty Pudding (disambiguation)}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox fraternity | name = Hasty Pudding Club | coat of arms = Hasty_Pudding_Institute_of_1770_coat_of_arms.png | motto = {{lang|la|Concordia Discors}}<br />"Discordant Harmony" | birthplace = Harvard University | state = Massachusetts | status = Active | country = United States | scope = Local | affiliation = The Hasty Pudding - Institute of 1770 | city = Cambridge | founded = {{start date and age|1795|09|01}} | type = Social club | postal code = 02138 | website = {{URL|https://www.hastypudding.org/}} | address = 45 Dunster Street | symbol = Pudding Pot | chapters = 1 | nickname = Pudding | free_label = Alternative name | free = The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 }}
The '''Hasty Pudding Club''', often referred to simply as the '''Pudding''', is a social club at Harvard University, and one of three sub-organizations that comprise the Hasty Pudding - Institute of 1770.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://hastypudding.org/organizations |title=Hasty Pudding Institute Organizations |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2021-08-07 |website=hastypudding.org/organizations |publisher=The Hasty Pudding - Institute of 1770, Inc. |access-date=2021-08-07 |quote="The Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 comprises the Hasty Pudding Club, The Hasty Pudding Theatricals and the Harvard Krokodiloes."}}</ref> The historic clubhouse at 12 Holyoke Street was designed by Peabody and Stearns and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 9, 1978.
The year of founding for the Hasty Pudding Club is 1795. The Pudding claims to be the oldest collegiate social club in the United States. Historically, the club has been noted for its "prestigious" reputation and viewed as "the first step towards final club membership."<ref name="prestige">{{cite journal | last1 = Michelman | first1 = Valerie | last2 = Price | first2 = Joseph | last3 = Zimmerman | first3 = Seth | date = 2021-12-03 | title = Old Boys' Clubs and Upward Mobility Among the Educational Elite | url = https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/137/2/845/6449025 | journal = The Quarterly Journal of Economics | volume = 137 | issue = 2 | pages = 845–909 | doi = 10.1093/qje/qjab047 | access-date = 2022-12-24 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="step">{{cite news|title=The Final Clubs: Little Bastions of Society in a University World that No Longer Cares |newspaper=The Harvard Crimson'|date=November 22, 1958|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1958/11/22/the-final-clubs-little-bastions-of/}}</ref> An 1870 travel book listed the Hasty Pudding Club and the Porcellian Club as "the two lions of Harvard."<ref name=":1">{{cite book | first = W. Fraser | last = Rae | title = Westward by Rail: The New Route to the East |publisher = Longmans, Green, and Co. |year=1870| pages= 354–55| url= https://archive.org/details/westwardbyrailn01raegoog/page/n374 | via= archive.org}}</ref>
thumb|264x264px|The Hasty Pudding Club stage {{Circa|1876}}
==History== The society was founded on September 1, 1795, by 21 juniors in the room of Nymphas Hatch.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hastypudding.org/hasty-pudding-club/ |title=The Hasty Pudding Club: An Abridged History |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=www.hastypudding.org |publisher=The Hasty Pudding Club |access-date=August 15, 2024}}</ref> The founding undergraduates came together "to cherish feelings of friendship and patriotism."<ref>{{cite book |last=Sheldon |first=Henry |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2JxJAAAAIAAJ |title=Student Life and Customs |date=1901 |publisher=D. Appleton}}</ref> Among the co-founders was John Collins Warren.<ref>{{cite book |last=Warren |first=John Collins |url=https://www.masshist.org/collection-guides/view/fa0183 |title=John Collins Warren papers - vols. 77-78, Journal, 1 Jan. 1840-30 Mar. 1841 - August 27, 1840 entry |publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society|location=Boston, MA}}</ref> The club is named for hasty pudding, a traditional English dish popular at that time in America that the founding members ate at their first meeting. Each week two members, chosen in alphabetical order, had to provide a pot of hasty pudding for the club to enjoy.
Originally, the club engaged in holding mock trials, which became more elaborate over time. This culminated in a member, Lemuel Hayward, secretly planning to stage a musical on the night he was to host the club's meeting. On December 13, 1844, Hayward and other members staged ''Bombastes Furioso'' in room 11 of Hollis Hall, which began the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.--> |title=ANCIENT HOLLIS Harvard Dormitory's 150th Anniversary Will Be Celebrated at Commencement - Occupants |url=https://cambridge.dlconsulting.com/?a=d&d=Tribune19130329-01.2.96&e=-------en-20--1--txt-txIN------- |work=Cambridge Tribune |date=1913-03-29 |volume=XXXVI |issue=5 |page=11 |access-date=2021-02-01}}</ref>
Throughout its history, the Hasty Pudding Club has absorbed other organizations. In 1924, the Club absorbed the Institute of 1770, D.K.E, which was established in 1770.<ref name="amalgamation">{{cite news |date=November 27, 1923 |title=CUTTING' OUT DEAD WOOD |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/1923/11/27/cutting-out-dead-wood-panyone-wholeheartedly/ |newspaper=The Harvard Crimson'}}</ref> In 2012, the Hasty Pudding Club, Hasty Pudding Theatricals, and The Harvard Krokodiloes merged into a single entity: The Hasty Pudding - Institute of 1770.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/9/13/hasty-pudding-farkas-merger/|title = Hasty Pudding Clubs to Merge into Single Entity |work=The Harvard Crimson}}</ref>
The Pudding claims to be the oldest collegiate social club in the United States.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2022-12-24 |title=Hasty Pudding Institute of 1770 |url=https://hastypudding.org/ |access-date=2022-12-22 |website=hastypudding.org |publisher=The Hasty Pudding - Institute of 1770, Inc. |quote="As the oldest social club in the U.S., the Pudding has continued as a cornerstone of the Harvard experience for over two centuries. There is no other collegiate organization quite like it."}}</ref>{{Infobox NRHP | name = Hasty Pudding Club | nrhp_type = | image = Hasty Pudding Club.jpg | caption = Former location of the Hasty Pudding Club at 12 Holyoke Street | coordinates = {{coord|42|22|19|N|71|07|10|W|display=inline,title}} | location = 45 Dunster Street<br/>Cambridge, Massachusetts | nearest_city = | area = | built = 1888 | architect = Peabody and Stearns<ref>{{Cite news |last=Snyder |first=Nick |date=July 20, 2001 |title=Hubbub at Harvard's Hasty Pudding Club—The Hasty Pudding Club—undergraduate hangout of four US presidents—has given up its historic digs at 12 Holyoke Street. Is a 206-year-old tradition over for good? |volume=30 |pages=1, 24–26 |work=The Boston Phoenix |issue=29 |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_boston-phoenix_july-20-26-2001_30_29/page/n23/ |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> | architecture = | designated = | added = January 9. 1978 | established = | visitation_num = | visitation_year = | refnum = 78000442 | mpsub = | governing_body = }}
== Symbols == The club's motto, ''Concordia Discors'' (discordant harmony), derives from the epistles of the Latin poet Horace.<ref>{{cite book |last=Orcutt |first=William |title=The Harvard Club Book, 1892-93 |date=1892}}</ref> Its symbol is the pudding pot.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Facts You Should Know About the Hasty Pudding Theatricals |url=https://www.cambridgeusa.org/insider/post/facts-you-should-know-about-the-hasty-pudding-theatricals |access-date=2024-08-11 |website=Cambridge Office for Tourism |language=en}}</ref> It was named for the hasty pudding, a porridge made from molasses and cornmeal, that its founding members ate at each meeting.<ref name=":2" />
== Clubhouse == The current clubhouse is located at 45 Dunster Street in Cambridge.<ref name=":0" /> It was designed in 1888 by Peabody and Stearns.<ref name=":0" /> It contains rooms with specific purposes—such as ''The Arena,'' the club's game room, which has no windows or openings to the outside.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Faculty Will Take Control of Hasty Pudding Building |url=http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2000/4/6/faculty-will-take-control-of-hasty/?page=single|work=The Harvard Crimson}}</ref> It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 9, 1978.
== Membership == The Hasty Pudding Club is co-ed and has members from all four years. Students gain membership in the club by attending a series of lunches, cocktail parties, and other gatherings—which are referred to as the ''punch process.''
== Activities == The club holds its social activities in a clubhouse near Harvard Square. These include lunches weekly Members' Nights, dinner and cocktail parties, as well as parties.
==See also== *National Register of Historic Places listings in Cambridge, Massachusetts *Hasty Pudding Theatricals *Collegiate secret societies in North America * Harvard College social clubs
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}} * {{Official website|https://www.hastypudding.org}}
{{Peabody & Stearns}}{{NRHP in Cambridge, Massachusetts}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Category:Clubs and societies in Massachusetts Category:Buildings and structures in Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:Harvard Square Category:National Register of Historic Places in Cambridge, Massachusetts Category:1795 establishments in the United States Category:Student organizations established in 1795 Category:Local fraternities and sororities Category:Student organizations in the United States Category:Harvard College social clubs