Social Register

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Specific to the United States, the Social Register is a directory of names and addresses of the powerful and wealthy individuals who form the social elite, though until recently not necessarily the political or corporate elite; inclusion in the Social Register was formerly a guide to the members of "polite society" in the "Social Register cities": Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, New York, Kansas City, Philadelphia^[1], St. Louis, and San Francisco.

1 History
2 Today
3 Some European precursors
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links

[edit] History

The original New York Social Register first was published in 1886^[2] by Louis Keller, a German-American of wide social acquaintance, who combined the "visiting lists" of a number of fashionable ladies.^[3] It initially consisted largely of the descendants of English or Dutch settlers, the "Knickerbocker" merchant class who had built New York City.

By 1918, there were eighteen such annual volumes, representing twenty-six cities, such as Toledo, Ohio. There was no single all-encompassing Social Register; instead, local indices were compiled and published annually. In the case of Canada, proximity to the United States and increasing cultural distance from the United Kingdom led to the inclusion of some Canadians in American social registers. Later, uniquely Canadian volumes were created, including a series with nationwide coverage, The Social Register of Canada, first published in 1958. The Summer Social Register of 1952, listing all cities, covers New York, Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati & Dayton, Baltimore, Buffalo.

In the enormously expanded society of the Gilded Age, the American institution of a Social Register filled a newly perceived void, one that was being served in the United Kingdom by Who's Who, which, since 1849, had identified public figures in Parliament and the professions as well as aristocrats and gentry, and by Burke's Peerage, which had appeared for the first time in 1826 and identified the members of the peerage of the United Kingdom and the baronets. Burke's Peerage was extended beyond the peerage in 1833, when the first of the companion series of volumes that became known as Burke's Landed Gentry, was published. Family backgrounds of those of purely celebrity interest were not added to Burke's until the 1930s, when the family had lost editorial control.

One's entry in the Social Register was not guaranteed to be permanent. Persons were removed from the ranks for various scandals or pecadillos, or for simply pursuing "undesirable" careers such as the theatre, such as in the case of the actress Jane Wyatt, who was a descendant of the prominent Van Rensselaer family.

[edit] Today

A successor publication, The Social Register, is released annually as a single national directory, published in winter and summer editions from New York by Forbes magazine. Those aspiring to be listed must be sponsored by at least five individuals currently appearing in its pages. Those sponsored are reviewed by an Advisory Committee that has the final decision; about five percent of suggested names are added each year. The Committee also arrives at additions on its own and sends the potential listees "blanks" -- forms to fill in information. The President and Vice President (and thus, by extension, their wives the First and Second Ladies) always are included.

In addition to winter and summer addresses (termed "Dilatory Domiciles"), the Social Register lists the educational backgrounds, maiden names, and club affiliations of listed persons. Juniors can be listed with their parents beginning at birth (a recent change from the age of 13). It is sometimes called, humorously, a "stud book".

Members of so-called Café Society were not necessarily listed in the Social Register, but that has changed. Bobby Short, the "king" of café society, (and also a prominent African American) was listed for many years until his death.

A few independent social registers continue publication, such as the Denver Social Register and Record, which was first published in 1908 as Who's Who in Denver Society from materials that had been collected since 1904 by Mrs. Crawford Hill. It was distinguished from the unmodified listings of "Social Register cities" by its inclusion of chapters on subjects such as "Worth Over a Million," "Pioneers in the Social Field," "Types of Denver Beauty" and "Eligible Men"^[4]

There is also the Los Angeles Blue Book (also known as the Society Register of Southern California), which has published since 1917 and the District of Columbia Green Book. While the LA book naturally included a substantial number of Roman Catholics from onset, given that Spanish land-grant families created the city's elite society, it also continues to almost totally avoid persons in the entertainment field. Both of these editions are published annually.

In March 2006, the Social Register Web site was launched. It is intended for the use of listed persons only.

[edit] Some European precursors

In continental Europe, the earlier precursors of Burke's were the genealogical almanacs, many of which were maintained more or less informally across Europe, deriving their information from court gazettes and published genealogies. In 1763, appeared the first edition of the Almanach de Gotha, which detailed the ancestry of all of the reigning European dynasties and superseded all others as the standard work of reference.

[edit] Notes

^ The Philadelphia volume included Wilmington, Delaware.
^ According to the current publisher, Forbes, at ForbesInc.com.
^ Social Register online
^ http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/spotlight_columnists/article/0,2777,DRMN_23962_4341962,00.html "Blue Book centennial a history of prominence", Rocky Mountain News 26 December 2005]

[edit] References

Stephen Birmingham, Our Crowd: The Great Jewish Families of New York notes the exceptions to exclusion of Jews.
Cleveland Amory, Who Killed Society?
Stephen Richard Higley, Privilege, Power, and Place: The Geography of the American Upper Class Based on the geographical locations of listed persons in the 1988 Social Register.
The Social Register of Canada, volume I (1958), and subsequent volumes 2 (1959), and 3 (1961). The Social Register of Canada Association. Montreal, Canada.