Sphinx Club records

Descriptive Summary
Title: Sphinx Club records
Creator: Sphinx Club
Inclusive Dates: 1912-2015
Language(s): English
Extent: 8.75 Linear Feet 12 boxes
Collection Number: UA0076
Repository: University of Georgia Archives

---

Collection Description

Historical Note

The Sphinx Club in the oldest honorary society at the University of Georgia, recognizing students, faculty, staff and alumni who have made significant contributions to the University, the State of Georgia and the nation. The society is believed to have evolved around 1897 from an earlier society, "yukpali", which was founded in December 1896.

Members are given sequential numbers as they are initiated, with sequential letter combinations being assigned to honorary members. Pandora yearbooks from the early part of the 20th century often contain photographs from Sphinx initiations in which members appear in costume. This tradition continued as late as 1941, when the well known photo of Sphinx members mocking Governor Eugene Talmadge was taken.

Scope and Content

The correspondence and financial records of the 1920s provide an interesting cross section of letterhead and receipts in the Athens business community of the time. Several photographs of skits appear in this collection. There are also three DVD documentaries on the society. Of special interest is the biographical information found in the Sphinx Record and other membership information submitted over the years. Among these biographical sources are pages from a disassembled book of biographies of all members created circa 1967.

Organization and Arrangement

Organized into nine series: minutes and membership records; correspondence and finanacial notes; dinner and reunion correspondence; financial information; subject files; photographs, media and artifacts; ritual; operational; and biographical sheets.

---

Administrative Information

Conditions Governing Access

At the request of the Sphinx membership, the rituals collected in box 4 can only be examined by those Sphinx members with a valid Sphinx ID.

Conditions Governing Access

Though the collection is open for research, the audiovisual recordings do not have reference copies; however, reference copies are available upon request. Audiovisual research requests are dependent upon the format and condition of the recordings.

Preferred Citation

Sphinx Club records, UA0076, University Archives, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, The University of Georgia Libraries.

General Notes

RG 6

---

Related Materials and Subjects

Subject Terms

---

Series Descriptions and Folder Listing

 

1. Minutes and membership records

box

folder

Request box

1a

1

Sphinx Records Book [minutes (1912-1924) and membership log and financial notes (1914-1919)], 1912-1924

1a

2

Sphinx record book [membership log], 1897-1961

1a

3

Sphinx membership [1] and [2], 1897-2011

box

folder

Request box

1b

4

Sphinx labels and addresses, 1991

1b

5

Sphinx numerical [membership] lists [list of members with addresses and degrees], 1996-2000

1b

6

Membership lists, 2003 July 13

1b

7

[Biographical Information Project], 1964

 

2. Correspondence and financial notes

box

folder

Request box

1b

9

[material], circa 1920-1928

1b

10

[Financial note], 1920

1b

11

[Correspondence and financial records], 1922

1b

12

[Correspondence and financial records], 1923

1b

13

[Correspondence and financial records], 1924

1b

14

[Correspondence and financial records], 1925

1b

15

[Correspondence and financial records], 1926

1b

16

[Correspondence and financial records], 1927

1b

17

[Correspondence and financial records, includes materials relating to the introduction of the Sphinx certificate], 1928

1b

18

Correspondence, 1938-1946

1b

19

Correspondence [includes letter from Frank Boland, class of 1897, regarding "yukpali" predecessor society to Sphinx], 1946-1950

1b

20

Correspondence, 1950-1954

1b

21

Correspondence, 1954 - 1958

1b

22

Correspondence, 1958 - 1959

1b

23

Correspondence, 1959-1961

1b

24

Correspondence, 1961-1963

1b

25

Correspondence, 1963-1964

1b

26

Correspondence, 1964-1965

1b

27

Correspondence, 1965-1967

1b

28

Correspondence, 1967-1968

1b

29

Correspondence, 1969-1969

1b

30

Correspondence, 1969-1970

1b

31

Correspondence, 1971-1978

1b

32

Correspondence, 1978-1988

1b

33

Correspondence, 1989-1999

1b

34

Sphinx current correspondence, circa 1998

1b

35

Requests for badges/pins, 1984-2004

1b

36

"Project X" project plan, 2012 spring

1b

37

Correspondence, 2016

1b

38

Correspondence, 2017

1b

39

Harley Langdale, Jr. Classroom and Center for Forest Business dedication ceremony, 2018 March 6

1b

40

Correspondence, 2019

 

3. Dinner and reunion correspondence
box	folder
Request box
2	1	Sphinx reunion [correspondence, clippings and financial notes], 1963
2	2	Early reunion correspondence, circa 1984
2	3	Sphinx reunion correspondence [and photographs (bicentennial)], 1984-1985
2	4	Sphinx reunion, 1989
2	5	Sphinx luncheon, 1991 November
2	6	Sphinx reunion, 1996 May 3
2	7	Sphinx reunion [includes photograph of custom-made Sphinx pin & photographs of Sphinx Plaza at Ohio State University], 1996
2	8	Sphinx dinner and campaign, 1997
box
Request box
8		Reunion and dedication of Sphinx Honor Plaza at Tate Center , 2007-2009

 

4. Financial information
box	folder
Request box
2	9	Receipt book, 1924
2	10	Sphinx society, receipts & expenditures, 1950-1967
2	11	Sphinx check register, 1967-1981
2	12	Bank statements, 1982-1986
2	13	Foundation account #SR593-other income-50-R3930, 1985-2001
2	14	Foundation acct #SR593, 1985-2001
2	15	Foundation acct-status reports, 1991-1996
2	16	Foundation acct #SR593-agreement, 1984
2	17	Student activities registration, 1984-2000
2	30	Foundation status reports-Sphinx, 2001-2006
2	31	Sphinx financials, 2000-2003
2	32	Sphinx financials , 2004-2009

 

5. Subject Files
box	folder
Request box
2	18	Sphinx charm [correspondence], 1973
2	19	Undated items and William Tate column on history of Sphinx, Athens Observer, 1977 December 17
2	20	Sphinx members-[biographical] information [news clippings]
2	21	Alfred O. Halsey [biographical information]
2	22	Jasper Dorsey [biographical information], 1990
2	23	Sphinx at Ohio State University [information about society of same name as UGA's-see also photographs in folder 2:7]

 

6. Photographs, media and artifacts
box	folder
Request box
2	24	Sphinx certificates, 1920s
2	25	Sphinx pin, circa 2003
2	26	Photographs of Sphinx skits, 1920s
2	27	Photographs of Sphinx groups, 1990-2002
2	28	Initiation blindfolds
2	29	Sphinx Banquet program-signed by attendees, 1906
2	33	The Lightning Bug, Volume 1, Number 6, 1926 May
			This volume is an issue of a magazine published by the Lucy Cobb Endowment Fund and contains an article on the Sphinx Club.
box
Request box
10		Sphinx statue/paperweight
box
Request box
3		Five documentaries on DVD: "The Sphinx Club: The Early Years", "The Sphinx Club: The Counter Culture Years", "The Sphinx Club: How Sphinx Responded to Change", "The Athletes in Sphinx" and "For the Future"

 

7. Ritual [restricted to Sphinx Club members]

At the request of the Sphinx membership, the rituals collected in box 4 can only be examined with their approval.

box

Request box

4

The Sphinx Ritual [Restricted to Sphinx Club members only]

 

8. Operational files
box	folder
Request box
5	1	Sphinx, 2000
5	2	Sphinx Peter's Files [Peter Shedd files], circa 2000
5	3	Sphinx, 2001
5	4	Sphinx, 2002
5	5	Sphinx Videotaping, 2002
5	6	Sphinx, 2003
5	7	Sphinx Videotaping, 2003
5	8	Sphinx, 2004
5	9	Sphinx Videotaping, 2004
5	10	Sphinx, 2005
5	11	Sphinx [includes photographs of intiation of Charlayne Hunter-Gault], 2006
5	12	Sphinx Student-Centered Garden [Proposal & Design], 1995-2001
5	13	Jasper Dorsey Award, 2000-2002
5	14	Sphinx, 2007
box	folder
Request box
5a	1	Sphinx , 2013
5a	2	Sphinx , 2014
5a	3	Sphinx , 2015

 

9. Member biographical sheets

box

Request box

6

Biography Sheets for Student Members 1-478, 1967

box

Request box

7

Biography Sheets for Honorary Members A-WZ and Boards from Original Binding

 

10. Additions
box	folder
Request box
11	1	Sphinx Clippings, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2017
11	2	Sphinx Reunion, 2009
11	3	Sphinx Selection
11	4	Sphinx New Members, 2001-2002
11	5	Sphinx Initiation Dinner, 1993, 2000-2004, 2011-2013
11	6	Sphinx Reception and Dinner Program, 1985, 1989
11	7	Research Proposal, 2012
11	8	Sphinx Correspondence, 2018
11	9	Sphinx Initiation Correspondence, 2012
11	10	Sphinx Initiation Photos, 2012 April 10
11	11	Sphinx Misc