Social Register

Specific to the United States, the Social Register (SR) is a directory of names and addresses of prominent American families who are claimed to be from the social elite. Inclusion in the Social Register has historically been limited to members of polite society, members of the American upper class and The Establishment, and/or those of "old money" or White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) families, within the Social Register cities. According to McNamee and Miller: "the acronym WASP ...is exemplified by the Social Register, a list of prominent upper-class families first compiled in 1887. ... There is great continuity across generations among the names included in these volumes."^[1] The cites are Newport, Rhode Island, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Philadelphia,^[2] Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C., as well as ones for "Southern Cities".^[3] In European countries, similar directories for the perceived upper class, such as Burke's Peerage and Landed Gentry in the United Kingdom, have been published for centuries.

History

The social elite was a small closed group. The leadership was well known to the readers of society pages, but in larger cities it was impossible to remember everyone, or to keep track of the new debutantes, the marriages, and the obituaries.^[4] The solution was the Social Register, which listed the names and addresses of the families who mingled in the same private clubs, attended the right teas and cotillions, worshipped together at prestige churches, funded the proper charities, lived in exclusive neighborhoods, and sent their daughters to finishing schools^[5] and their sons away to prep schools.^[6]

One of the earliest social registers in the United States was the Cleveland Social Directory, later known as the Cleveland Blue Book. Its first publication appeared in 1880 and was described by its publisher as a "Ladies Visiting List and Shopping Guide" for Cleveland society.^[7] A volume called The List: a Visiting and Shopping Directory, was published in New York City in 1880 by Maurice M. Minton, included lists of prominent New York families, with their addresses. The original New York Social Register first was published in 1886 by Louis Keller, a German-American of wide social acquaintance, who combined the "visiting lists" of a number of fashionable ladies to compile the families included.^[8][9] Initially, it consisted largely of the descendants of Dutch or English settlers, the "Knickerbocker" merchant class who had built New York City.

In the enormously expanded wealthy 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 appeared for the first time in 1826 to identify 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 status were not added to Burke's until the 1930s, when the family lost editorial control.

By 1918, the above-mentioned New York Social Register had spawned 18 such annual volumes, representing 26 cities, among them Dayton, Ohio. This reduced to 12 after 1927, as most of the editions west of St. Louis discontinued. There was no single all-encompassing Social Register until the cities were condensed in one large volume in 1977; local indices were compiled and published annually. Smaller areas within the scope of the New York Social Register have entities that publish "blue books" or "Social Lists" such as for Morris County, which often includes members of the New York register in their listings due to multiple residences. The Morris Social Directory, published annually since the late 1800s, lists the notable residents of the county, especially of the Morristown area which attracted many social register families from Manhattan to build "country residences" (christened with names) on self-sustaining estates with farms that were maintained year-round, but visited as retreats or for specific "seasons" of social activities.^[10] The Blue Book of the Hamptons was published annually in The Hamptons,^[11] which prior to the 1950s was the site of a Summer Colony of the social elite.

The Summer Social Register of 1952, listing all cities, covers New York, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Buffalo, and Dayton.

One's entry in a Social Register was not guaranteed to be permanent. People were removed from the ranks for various scandals or pecadillos, or simply for pursuing "undesirable" careers such as the theatre. One example concerns an actress, Jane Wyatt, who is a descendant of the prominent Van Rensselaer family. Wyatt was believed to have been removed from inclusion because of her profession, but was in fact still listed until her death in October 2006 at the age of 96. Jane Wyatt's article states she was restored to the register after her marriage. Charles Black was dropped from the Social Register in 1950 for marrying ex-child star Shirley Temple.^[12]

Present day

While decades ago the Social Register helped define high society, its day has passed. The New York Times stated in 1997:

Once, the Social Register was a juggernaut in New York social circles....Nowadays, however, with the waning of the WASP elite as a social and political force, the register's role as an arbiter of who counts and who doesn't is almost an anachronism. In Manhattan, where charity galas are at the center of the social season, the organizing committees are so studded with luminaries from publishing, Hollywood, and Wall Street, that the perceived importance of family lineage is almost irrelevant.^[13]

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 makes the final decision regarding inclusion. Approximately 5% of nominated names are added each year. The committee also arrives at additions on its own and sends the potential listees "blanks", or forms to fill in information.

In addition to winter and summer addresses and the household members, a Social Register lists the educational backgrounds, birth names, and club memberships of listees, and the names given to estates or grand residences. The Summer edition lists names of yachts, specifications, and country of registration. Juniors may be listed with their parents beginning at birth (a recent change from the age of 13). The Social Register Observer is a separate publication that lists "Dilatory Domiciles" Births, Deaths, Marriages, and any address/telephone changes, to include listed members articles, party photos, and recent published books by those listed. The "Observer" is issued each year with the Summer edition.

Despite the yearly updates, The Social Register continues to name its sections in the same fashion as its former editions. The arcane title "Dilatory Domiciles" refers to house listings in the summer register that were submitted too late for inclusion in the main (winter) edition. The section called "Married Maidens" refers to a cross-listing of married and birth names. In the past few years the Social Register has moved to include e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers. The quixotic typography that was almost a trademark of the Social Register has given way to a more mundane typesetting standard.^[14]

Members of the so-called café society were not necessarily listed in the early Social Register. This has changed recently. Bobby Short, the "king" of café society, was listed for many years until his death. Opera singer Jessye Norman was listed; many celebrities or their families were listed such as Chevy Chase, Glenn Close, Stockard Channing, Harry Hamlin, James Spader, Julia Child, and Fox News' Brit Hume, Tucker Carlson, Cokie Roberts, Howard Dean & Alexandra (A.B.) Stoddard. Presidents and Vice Presidents of the United States including their families are automatically included.

At the peak of social exclusivity, the first half of the 20th century, localities of all sizes published social directories, typically called "Blue Books". Many competed with the directories of the Social Register Association. A few competing social registers continue publication, notably the Southwest Blue Book (subtitled The Original Society Directory of Southern California), which Lenora King Berry founded in 1903 and which she and her descendants have published annually, ever since.^[15] Established in 1917, the Los Angeles Blue Book (subtitled The Society Register of Southern California) also continues as an annual publication. It included a substantial number of Roman Catholics from onset, in part because Spanish land-grant families constituted the city's first elite society. While it ultimately has met the international quality of the city's present prominent members, it continues generally to avoid listing persons in the entertainment field. The Denver Social Register and Record 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."^[16] The Denver book ceased publication in 2012.^[17] Washington D.C. has the Washington Blue Book and "The Social List of Washington" better known as the "Green Book" and it is also published annually. In Texas, "Social Directories" for Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth came late to the practice (1930s) but continued publication into the 21st century.

In March 2006, the Social Register website was launched. It is intended for the use of listed persons only, although the site is also available to the public to answer any questions regarding the Social Register. The Social Register Observer may be viewed on the site also.

Canadian register developed

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, notably with the expansion of the Dau's Society Blue Book to include residents of Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec.^[18] Later, uniquely Canadian volumes were created, including a series with nationwide coverage, The Social Register of Canada, first published in 1958.

Some European precursors

In continental Europe, the 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, the first edition of the Almanach de Gotha appeared, which detailed the ancestry of all of the reigning European dynasties and superseded all others as the standard work of reference.

See also

• High society (social class)
• Ruling class
• The Power Elite

Notes

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

Primary sources

• Social Register Locater compiles all the major cities into one list
• 35 Social Registers from major US cities early 20th century; online free
• The Social Register of Canada, volume I (1958), and subsequent volumes 2 (1959), and 3 (1961), The Social Register of Canada Association. Montreal, Canada

External links

• Official website
• "How do you get listed in the Social Register?" - The Straight Dope