This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these messages)
|
Rascals, Rogues, and Rapscallions | |
---|---|
Founded | February 3, 1989 Manhattan, New York City, New York |
Type | Social and literary |
Affiliation | Independence |
Status | Active |
Scope | Regional |
Publication | The Megaphone |
Chapters | 2 active |
Headquarters | PO Box 211 Bryn Athyn , Pennsylvania 19009 United States |
Website | www |
The Rascals, Rogues, and Rapscallions is a cigar-friendly men's fraternal society devoted to scholarly research on obscure topics. Dubbed "America's Most Interesting Men's Club", the RR&R meets for quarterly dinner meetings at which one or more members of the society present findings on either their current research projects or a topic that had been assigned to them by the group. [1]
Rascals, Rogues, and Rapscallions first met on February 3, 1989, at Harvey's Chelsea Restaurant in Manhattan, New York City, New York. [2] Its founders were nine men that were invited by Dan Morrison. [2] The fraternity is devoted to exploration and discovery through scholarly research. [3]
When Morrison moved to Pittsburgh to pursue a Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, he decided to recreate the fraternity there. [2] After finding some recruits, the fraternity was formalized with a constitution and charter. [2]
Lair No. 1 was chartered on March 5, 1994 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. [4] Lair No. 2 was chartered in 1996 in Roanoke, Virginia two professors at Hollins University, one being the brother of a member of Lair No. 1. [5] This was followed by Lair No. 3 in 2000 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. [6] This group formed after Morrison moved to Doylestown and included some of the original Manhattan members. [2]
Each chapter holds quarterly meetings, consisting of dinner and a research presentation. [1] Presentations that fall into one of four categories: Rascal Challenge, Rogue Challenge, Mass Challenge, or Research Report. [7] [8] In addition to its regular meetings, which are for men only, chapters host an annual ball, to which women are welcome, and at which presentations of the Landgraf medal and Rascal 'o the Year trophy are made.
The fraternity's governing body is its board of trustees that is called The Ephorate. [3] Its publication is The Megaphone, first published in November 1994. [9] Its headquarters is in Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania. [10]
Before research presentations, its members sing "Interesting Thing" the society's theme song, composed by Greg Scheer. [2] After the presentation, the men sing "My Last Cigar," a song attributed to James Maurice Hubbard. [2]
Cigars are a regular part of all RR&R meetings. In the early days of society, public restaurants had rooms set aside for parties that wished to smoke. Since that time, however, increasingly restrictive legislation has driven the RR&R from public restaurants to private clubs, such as the Moose Lodge or the Maennerchor Society, where smoking is permitted. Each Lair (chapter) elects a Keeper of the Humidor who provides unusual cigars at each meeting.
Meetings closes with a singing of "My Last Cigar," a sentimental ballad popular in the late 19th century. This ballad, and its author/composer, have been the subject of considerable RR&R research, including, most recently, "Second-Hand Smoke: James Maurice Hubbard and the Search for the Elusive Author and Composer of America’s Second Favorite Song" by Daniel Paul Morrison. [11]
Pennsylvania State Poet Samuel John Hazo wrote and presented "When the Evening Gets Down to Cigars" [12] to the RR&R at the December 4, 1993 meeting of the Pittsburgh Lair, a meeting dedicated to the life and times of Moses F. Gale, the inventor of a gas-fired cigar lighter. [13] In 2023, Prof. Dr. Alan Blum of the University of Alabama' Center for Tobacco and Society featured the RR&R and the song My Last Cigar which they sing at their meetings. [14] [15]
Since 1995, the Jonathan Zerse Landgraf medal has been presented annually to the winner of each Lair's Mass Challenge competition. First-time winners receive the medal in bronze; two-time winners have their medal silver-plated; three-time winners have their medal gold-plated, Each subsequent win is marked with the addition of a star on the ribbon. The award is a memorial in honor of an early member of the society. As of October 2021, a total of 21 medals have been awarded. [16]
The Rascal o' the Year trophy is presented annually in each chapter to the individual who most exemplifies the qualities of the society, as determined by popular vote. [17]
In 2023, the Ephorate of the Rascals, Rogues, and Rapscallion licensed the name "Rascals, Rogues, and Rapscallions" to the Van Lieu's Brewing Company of Perkasie, Pennsylvania. This New England-style double IPA is available on tap at several restaurants and taverns in eastern Pennsylvania. [18]
Since 2001, the Doylestown chapter has published scholarly papers under the moniker Occasional Papers of The Doylestown Institute. [19] It includes some of the presentations at RR&R quarterly meetings.
Members are organized into four ranks: Postulates, Rascals, Rogues, and Rapscallions. A man joins the society at the rank of Postulate. Upon completing one “Mass Challenge” and one “Research Report” within two years, the Postulate is elevated to Rascal and receives from the Lair his "Rascal Challenge," a specific research topic on which he is challenged to discover interesting and important results. Upon his presentation of his "Rascal Challenge" report at a regular meeting of the Lair, the Rascal is elevated to Rogue and receives a "Rogue Challenge" from the Order of Rapscallions. Upon his presentation of his "Rogue Challenge" report at a "Rogues' Dinner," the Rogue is elevated to Rapscallion and becomes a member of the Order of Rapscallions. [2]
Chapter (lair) officers include the director, Assistant Director, Secretary, Treasurer, Keeper of the Humidor, and Archivist. Coordinating the work of the RR&R at a national level and acting as the society's Board of Trustees is the Ephorate, a council comprising three Ephors, a constitutional office found in ancient Sparta.
The fraternity is organized into chapters called Lairs.
Lair | Charter date and range | Location | Status | References |
---|---|---|---|---|
February 3, 1989 – c. 1994 | Manhattan, New York City, New York | Inactive | [2] | |
No. 1 | March 5, 1994 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | Active | [20] [4] [a] |
No. 2 | January 6, 1996 – 1997 | Roanoke, Virginia | Inactive | [20] [5] [b] |
No. 3 | November 11, 2000 | Doylestown, Pennsylvania | Active | [20] [6] |
Doylestown is a borough in and the county seat of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 census, the borough population was 8,300.
The University of Pittsburgh is a state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the university's central administration and around 28,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The 132-acre Pittsburgh campus includes various historic buildings that are part of the Schenley Farms Historic District, most notably its 42-story Gothic revival centerpiece, the Cathedral of Learning. Pitt is a member of the Association of American Universities and is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". It is the second-largest non-government employer in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area.
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and statistical record of baseball. The organization was founded in Cooperstown, New York, on August 10, 1971, at a meeting of 16 "statistorians" coordinated by sportswriter Bob Davids. The organization now reports a membership of over 7,500 and is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
The ephors were a board of five magistrates in ancient Sparta. They had an extensive range of judicial, religious, legislative, and military powers, and could shape Sparta's home and foreign affairs.
Sigma Tau Gamma (ΣΤΓ), commonly known as Sig Tau, is a United States college social fraternity founded on June 28, 1920, at the University of Central Missouri. The fraternity was founded as a result of friendships made while some of the founders fought in World War I in France.
Phi Delta Theta (ΦΔΘ), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded in 1848, and currently headquartered, at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has over 200 active chapters and colonies in over 44 U.S. states and five Canadian provinces and has initiated more than 310,000 men between 1848 and 2024. There are over 180,000 living alumni. Phi Delta Theta chartered house corporations own more than 135 houses valued at over $141 million as of summer 2015. There are nearly 100 recognized alumni clubs across the U.S. and Canada.
The Delphic Fraternity, Inc., also known as Delphic of Gamma Sigma Tau (ΓΣΤ), is an American multicultural fraternity. It was originally founded in New York State in 1871 as a literary society and was re-established in 1987 as a multicultural fraternity. It was a founding member of the National Multicultural Greek Council.
Samuel John Hazo is a poet, playwright, fiction novelist, and the founder and director emeritus of the International Poetry Forum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also McAnulty Distinguished Professor of English Emeritus at Duquesne University, where he taught for forty-three years.
Phi Chi Theta is one of the largest co-ed professional business fraternities in the United States. Phi Chi Theta was founded as a women's business fraternity on June 16, 1924, in Chicago, Illinois. Today, Phi Chi Theta comprises 41 collegiate and alumni chapters across the United States. While most chapters are now co-ed, there are some which have only women as members.
Alpha Beta Alpha (ΑΒΑ) is an American honorary library fraternity that is dedicated to serving college and university library science majors at the undergraduate level. The fraternity has two active chapters, after the recent reinstatement of its Alpha chapter at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana in 2018. Rho chapter is situated at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. It has installed 37 chapters, two of which are currently active.
The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, to elect the 18 U.S. representatives from the state of Pennsylvania, a loss of one seat following the 2010 United States census. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate. Primary elections were held Tuesday, April 24.
Phi Epsilon Pi (ΦΕΠ) fraternity, active between 1904 and 1970 and now dormant, with a predominantly Jewish membership, was founded in New York City and eventually opened at least 48 chapters on college campuses across the United States and one in Canada. After several mergers, it consolidated into Zeta Beta Tau in November 1970.
Beta Kappa Chi (ΒΚΧ) is an American collegiate honor society that recognizes academic achievement in the fields of natural science and mathematics. It was established in 1923 at Lincoln University, an historically Black university near Oxford, Pennsylvania.
Adrian R. Morrison was an American neuroscientist and vivisection activist known for researching the neurobiological mechanisms of sleep. He was President of the Sleep Research Society and was the 1991 AAAS Scientific Freedom and Responsibility Award recipient. Morrison was a firm supporter of animal experimentation for biomedical research and an opponent of animal rights.
In North America, fraternities and sororities are social clubs at colleges and universities. They are sometimes collectively referred to as Greek life or Greek-letter organizations, as well as collegiate fraternities or collegiate sororities to differentiate them from traditional not (exclusively) university-based fraternal organizations and fraternal orders that have historically acted as friendly societies or benefit societies to certain groups unlike the ones mentioned in this article.
Phi Rho Sigma Society (ΦΡΣ) is a co-educational medical fraternity founded by medical students at Northwestern University in 1890.
Phi Lambda Kappa (ΦΛΚ) was an international professional medical fraternity that was founded at the University of Pennsylvania in 1907.
George Levi Knox II was a U.S. Army Air Force/U.S. Air Force officer, combat fighter pilot and Adjutant with the all-African American 332nd Fighter Group's 100th Fighter Squadron, best known as the Tuskegee Airmen. One of the 1,007 documented Tuskegee Airmen Pilots, he was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen's third-ever aviation cadet class, and one of the first twelve African Americans to become combat fighter pilots. He was the second Indiana native to graduate from the Tuskegee Advanced Flying School (TAFS).
Leasure K. Darbaker was a bacteriologist and Professor of Pharmacognosy and Bacteriology at the Pittsburgh College of Pharmacy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
The International Poetry Forum (IPF) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1966 by Samuel John Hazo in Pittsburgh, PA. Since its inception, the IPF has hosted poetry readings and educational programs by over 800 poets and performers from more than 50 countries at the Carnegie Lecture Hall, Carnegie Music Hall, Heinz Hall, and other venues in Pittsburgh. The organization has also presented a series of performances at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Alumni of the IPF include nine Nobel Prize laureates, 14 Academy Award winners, 28 U.S. Poet Laureates, 39 National Book Award winners, and 47 Pulitzer Prize winners. Often cited as one of the most significant poetry programs in the country, the IPF has received the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian for its contributions to the arts.