Scope and Content Note
The records of the Gridiron Club span the years 1871-2021, with the majority concentrated between 1954 and 2021. The collection consists of two parts. Part I documents the Gridiron Club’s activities from 1885 to 1985, especially the club’s annual dinners. Part II primarily chronicles the club’s dinners and administrative operations from 1986 to 2021 and contains a small amount of material from the club’s earlier years. Further descriptions of each part follow.
Part I
Part I of the Gridiron Club Records spans the years 1885-1985. The collection consists of correspondence, writings, membership books, autograph albums, dinner programs and menus, financial records, newspaper clippings, printed matter, scrapbooks, slides, photographs, and other records relating primarily to the club's annual dinner hosting members of the press, the United States president, and other elected officials and political figures. The dinners feature satirical pieces and musical skits by club members and remarks of a humorous or self-deprecatory nature by the president and representatives of each political party. Part I is divided into Series A and Series B. The interrelated series with overlapping dates reflect an arrangement that was affected at the time of processing by restrictions that once existed on portions of Part I.
The majority of Series A consists of a chronological file that includes clippings, correspondence, meeting minutes, and printed matter related to club dinners. The dinner programs in this series contain scripts and song lyrics for the performances featured in the Gridiron Club’s spring and winter dinners. Also present are photographs, autograph albums, scrapbooks compiled by club member Albert Miller, and other miscellaneous material.
Series B also features a chronological file that consists of meeting minutes and notices, reports, and printed matter related to club dinners. The files containing dinner programs in this series additionally include menus, seating charts, reception invitations, and press releases. The correspondence in this series contains a large amount of dinner invitations and thank-you letters addressed to dinner guests. Additionally, Series B includes nomination speeches for club elections, slides, clippings, and loose material removed from a scrapbook created by club member Glen Perry.
Part II
Part II of the Gridiron Club Records spans the years 1871-2021, with the bulk of the material dating from 1986 to 2021. A large portion of Part II consists of programs, menus, rehearsal books, press releases, correspondence, seating charts, photographs, and miscellaneous printed matter related to club dinners. In several series in Part II, these types of material have been divided into spring dinners and winter dinners. The spring dinners are the Gridiron Club’s major annual event. They include satirical musical acts by club members, performances from the United States Marine Band, comedic remarks from representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties, and often conclude with a speech by the president of the United States. The winter dinners feature similar performances but occur on a smaller scale with a more limited guest list. Also present are correspondence, meeting minutes and notices, historian’s reports, material pertaining to club elections, treasurer’s reports, obituaries, and other newspaper clippings that document the club's internal operations. As with Part I, the arrangement of Part II was affected by restrictions that once existed on parts of the collection. Therefore, the series in Part II contain a fair amount of overlapping material. Part II is divided into the following series: Series C, Series D, Series E, Series F, and Series G.
Series C predominantly documents the club's administrative functions and dinners from 1986 to 1991. Subjects covered in the correspondence and meeting minutes include club picnics and other social events, academic scholarships offered by the Gridiron Foundation, membership dues, and the publication of The First 100 Years!: A Casual Chronicle of the Gridiron Club by James Free.
Series D also chronicles club dinners and other organizational operations. While the bulk of the material in this series documents the club’s activities in the 1980s and 1990s, the series also contains earlier correspondence, photographs, and dinner material. In particular, the 1945 correspondence highlights club president Lyle Wilson’s efforts to plan the first post-World War II Gridiron Club dinners after several events were downsized or canceled during the conflict. Later correspondence and meeting minutes discuss club picnics, membership dues, the addition of various new club members, and other administrative matters. Also present are outgoing letters from Helen Thomas’s term as club president in 1993. The majority of the photographs in this series are individual headshots of Gridiron Club members arranged alphabetically by last name. The series also contains a small amount of group portraits and other photographs from club dinners.
The majority of Series E relates to the club’s dinners and other activities from 1970 to 2005. For most of the club’s history, journalists were only admitted as members if they worked for traditional print newspapers. This series documents multiple attempts by club members to broaden the membership criteria to include television, radio, and magazine reporters. In 2004, the membership voted to amend the Gridiron Club constitution and admit these new categories of journalists. Other files in this series include welcome letters for new club members, meeting announcements, membership data forms, and material pertaining to the publication of The First 100 Years!: A Casual Chronicle of the Gridiron Club by James Free.
Series F features correspondence, reports, and research files primarily compiled by club historians Ernest B. (“Pat”) Furguson and Cheryl Arvidson between 1980 and 2009. Topics discussed in the historian’s reports and associated research material include the club's founding, appearances by various presidents at club dinners, and counter-Gridiron parties that protested the exclusion of women as club members. The series also includes an 1871 letter from Benjamin Perley Poore, the club’s first president, to Theophilus G. Wadman, publisher of the Masonic Monthly, about photographs Poore sent to Wadman. Other records in this series document the club’s decision to allow nonprint and magazine journalists as members, the activities of the Gridiron Foundation, club elections, and other general club meetings.
Series G primarily dates from 1981 to 2021. This series contains a chronological assortment of programs, menus, rehearsal books, correspondence, seating charts, press releases, and digital files related to club dinners. The digital files consist of video recordings of the 2003 and 2007-2019 spring dinner performances and speeches. This series also chronicles the club's administrative operations, particularly in the second half of the series. Topics highlighted in these files include the admission of nonprint and magazine journalists as club members in 2004, the merger of the Gridiron Club and Gridiron Foundation in 2008, and the cancellation of the 2020 spring dinner due to the coronavirus pandemic.