WOODEN SPOON PROMENADE, JUNE 19, 1865.
[New Haven: 1865]. Printed ticket to the Wooden Spoon junior prom at Yale. 2-1/4" x3-1/2." Lightly dusted, small hole at lower left blank corner. Else Very Good.
The "presentation of the Wooden Spoon, a custom going back to the earliest days of the promenade" [NY Times article, 7 March 1942], was the highlight of Yale's annual Junior Prom.
"Beginning in 1847, the ceremony centered around the presentation of a wooden spoon to the member of the junior class with the lowest grades — or 'appointments,' as they were called. This event was not without pomp and circumstance: elaborate speeches were made, the band played, the class sang 'Song of the Spoon' and the event was rigorously covered by the New York Times. Pretty soon, to receive the wooden spoon became a glamorous status symbol. The original custom of giving the spoon to the 'greatest glutton' in his class was lost. The recipient was then chosen, as described by an 1856 New York Times article, for 'his powers as a wit, his talent as a speaker, or his capacity to please the ladies' or in more modern terms, 'Mr. Popularity'.” [A fanciful trip into Yale’s leisure past, Yale Daily News online 9 March 2026.]
See, The Wooden Spoon Exhibition, The Yale Courant, Vol. 1, No. 27 (JULY 4, 1866), p. 111 (1 page), available at JSTOR online. Item #41821
Price: $50.00