Who was part of Purdue University's Sacred Order of Skull and Crescent?

Answer 1

The Sacred Order of Skull and Crescent is a collegiate secret society of Purdue University. It is also known as TheLafayette Club and The Society of Bubo and Bones.

Little is known about the secrets of the club to non-members, and Purdue's order is similar to Yale University's Skull and Bones Society. Membership is considered a great honor, and joining is by invitation only.

The society was founded by John Purdue and Salmon Portland Chase in 1869 while Purdue was founding Lafayette Savings Bank and Chase was serving as US Secretary of the Treasury. Both individuals are believed to have been a type of Freemason associated with the Lafayette Club, a gentlemen's high society club in Lafayette, Indiana.

Today, Chase and Purdue continue to be linked through JP Morgan Chase & Co's purchase of Purdue National Corporation of Lafayette, Indiana in 1984.

The society is not officially recognized by Purdue University, and no members have ever spoken in great detail about the club or have ever revealed its fullest secrets.

The group has been linked to the university since its founding and is known to have tapped student members since the 1870's.

Skull and bones and the great horned owl (Bubo) are the most outward symbols associated with the society, but there are other symbols too, and the group is rumored to have once, or still be, closely linked to Yale's Skull and Bones Society.

In the 19th century, it was defined as a philosophical and cultural society. Collecting artifacts and commissioning works of art pertaining to the club's symbolism and secrets have been an ongoing tradition of its members, having even displayed certain pieces in public exhibitions.

Little verifiable facts are known to non-members, and the order may have also been connected with American engineering enterprise or NASA. Members of Purdue's Board of Trustees were directly connected to the club in the 19th and early 20th centuries. US President Benjamin Harrison, and Purdue Board of Trustees' member, has been linked to the society, along with other illustrious figures associated with Purdue University. The club had both students and adult professionals connected to it.

One known facts is that the group was responsible for placing an order for a death mask to be created for John Purdue after his demise. This mask was originally placed within a vault at Lafayette Bank, but is now part of Purdue University's special collections.

Answer 2

The Sacred Order of Skull and Crescent- also known as The Lafayette Club and The Society of Bubo and Bones never posted membership lists, unlike Yale University's Skull and Bones Society which did- or at least did at one time in its history.

The best list that I can come up with would be the following individuals:

John Purdue: a founder of the society, and benefactor for Purdue University, and the creator of Lafayette Bank.

Salmon Portland Chase: a founder of the society and US Treasury Secretary under President Abraham Lincoln.

Alphonso Taft: a founder of Yale University's Skull and Bones Society and Secretary of War under President Ulysses S. Grant.

Daniel Russell: Freemason and cousin to William Huntington Russell, a founder of Yale University's Skull and Bones Society.

Vitus Sebastian Barbaro: the Baron dell' Albergo, Patrician of Venice and 5th Princely Count of the Grand Principality of Transylvania; art historian associated with the Art Institute of Chicago; aerospace engineer and automobile designer.

Wright Brothers: aviation pioneers and educators for Purdue University.

Amelia Earhart: aviatrix and adviser of Purdue University.

Benjamin Harrison: US President and trustee of Purdue University.

William Howard Taft: US President and Skull and Bones member.

Answer 3

No one really knows for sure. What has been said is that it is sacred for being linked to the history of our American founders.

It has also been said that the name comes from the union of Yale's Skull and Bones society with Purdue's Bubo and Bones society during the 1880's. This happened by Salmon Portland Chase, an Alpha Delta Phi brother of Dartmouth College (and one of the founder's of Purdue's secret society) uniting with the brothers of Alpha Delta Phi from Yale University's Skull and Bones society. Alpha Delta Phi was the main fraternity who tapped members for Skull and Bones. It was suggested that there were some sacred rites between the two parties. The skull comes from Purdue's and Yale's members as "Brothers of Death" and the crescent comes from the original emblem of Alpha Delta Phi- which was founded on the same date as Skull and Bones in 1832.