Fly Club

The Fly Club is a male-only final club at Harvard University, founded in 1836.

Both the Fly and A.D., another Harvard final club, trace their beginnings to the original Harvard chapter of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. The clubhouse is located at 2 Holyoke Place, near Harvard Square in the "Gold Coast" area. [Cambridge Historical Commission (2001): City of Cambridge, Landmarks and Other Protected Properties [http://www.ci.cambridge.ma.us/~Historic/landmark.pdf] ] It is situated in front of Lowell House, across Mt. Auburn St. from the Harvard Lampoon building.

The club's name was derived by combining the "ph" from "Alpha," the "l" from "Delta," and the "i" from "Phi," to get "phli," and pronouncing the result as "Fly." [cite book|title=Harvard University|first=Douglass|last=Shand-Tucci|year=2001|publisher=Princeton University Press|id=ISBN 1-56898-280-1 p. 101 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN1568982801&id=3g6vmGl0UgwC&pg=PA101&lpg=PA101&dq=%22fly+club%22&sig=l21YThItR7hXoCId8tBzvk02wDc] ]

Fly Club Gate

The Fly Club Gate is located along the exterior of Winthrop House [cite web|url=http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~winthrop/web/history.htm|title=History of Winthrow House|publisher=Harvard University|accessdate=2007-02-14] , facing the Charles River. An English Baroque structure, the gate was built in 1914 by a grant from members of the Fly Club. The "kitty" symbol of the Fly is centered within the ironwork above the entry, and inscribed is the following dedication: "For Friendships Made in College the Fly Club in Gratitude has Built this Gate." [ http://hcs.harvard.edu/~winthrop/web/history.htm ]

Notable members

*James Bryant Conant - 26th President of Harvard University [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=152267. "James B. Conant '14, was in the D.U. (which was absorbed by the Fly in 1995)." ]
*Louis Kane - Founder of Au Bon Pain bakery and café [http://www.harvardmag.com/issues/mj97/jhj.club.html "...says former D.U. graduate president Louis Kane '53..."]
*Fred Gwynne - played Herman Munster and co-starred in My Cousin Vinny
*Abbott Lawrence Lowell - historian, 25th President of Harvard University [Yeomans, Henry (1977). "Abbott Lawrence Lowell". Arno Press. ISBN 0-405-10009-4. p.38. "He tried to avoid what he considered Wilson's mistake in alienating them at Princeton; and he himself accepted honorary membership in the Fly in 1904."]
*Deval Patrick - Governor of Massachusetts [ [http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/08/03/patrick_says_he_quit_the_fly_club_in_1983/ Patrick says he quit The Fly Club in 1983 - The Boston Globe ] ]
*Jay Rockefeller - U.S. Senator from West Virginia ["Harvard Journal: All-Male Club Opens Its Doors Warily," "New York Times" 9 October, 1993. "LexisNexis Academic".]
*Franklin Delano Roosevelt - 32nd President of the United States ["Franklin D. Roosevelt Center", American Heritage Center Inc. website [http://www.fdrheritage.org/fdr_museum_preview.htm] : "Returning to Cambridge, he found he had made both the Institute and the Dickey. Then came the blow... he was not among the eight sophomores elected to the Porcellian.... FDR settled for membership in the next most prestigious club, Alpha Delta Phi, also known as the Fly Club."]
*James Roosevelt- son of Franklin Roosevelt, U.S. Congressman (CA) [FDR Library, biography of James Roosevelt [http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu:8000/findbrow.cgi?collection=Roosevelt,+James] : "He was a member of the Signet Society, the Fly Club, Institute of 1770 and Hasty Pudding Club"]
*Ernest Lawrence Thayer, author of Casey at the Bat [cite book|title=The Annotated Casey at the Bat: A Collection of Ballads about the Mighty Casey/Third, Revised Edition|first=Martin|last=Gardner|year=1995|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|id=ISBN 0-486-28598-7 p. 1 [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0486285987&id=fzxmKDuyreQC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=%22fly+club%22&sig=kEZLbrczaCrQQIsRjKYN3jWYMOw] ]
*William Weld - Former Massachusetts Governor [Edlich, Alexander R (1993): Harvard 'final club' to may become first to admit women, The Dartmouth Online, October 19, 1993 [http://www.thedartmouth.com/article.php?aid=1993101901060] : "According to The Crimson, Massachusetts Governor William Weld, who graduated from Harvard and was a member of the Fly Club, wrote the club in 1987 urging it to admit women."]
*Tony Lake - President Bill Clinton's National Security Advisor [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=152267.]

References