Antique 1958 Yale Banner Book Skull Bones

Skull and Bones, secret society of senior (fourth-year undergraduate) students at Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, that was founded in 1832. Male society members are called Bonesmen, and many have ascended after graduation to positions of prominence in business or government. Three of them—William Howard Taft, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush—became U.S. presidents The emblem of the society is a skull and crossbones with the number “322” beneath it. The number is generally taken to refer to the year (322 BCE) of the death of the Greek orator Demosthenes, a turning point in the transformation of ancient Athens from democracy to plutocracy. The society’s clubhouse is a monumental brownstone building in New Haven called the Tomb. Originally built in 1856, the Tomb was doubled in size in 1903 and has since been further enlarged.