E Clampus Vitus
The Ancient and Honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus (The old and honorable Order of E Clampus Vitus) , ECV, is a corporation founded in the 19th century männerbündische organization for the study and care of the heritage of the American West, especially the history of gold mining in the Region.
ECV has individual chapters in California , Nevada , Washington (state) and other western states. The members call themselves "Clampers". The name has no known meaning, the motto of the brotherhood Credo Quia Absurdum is a twisted version of Credo, quia absurdum est .
In connection with the scandal over a forged brass plaque ascribed to Francis Drake , some of the internal processes of the Order and its members as well as the propensity for tangible jokes were known to a wider public and the subject of scientific publications.
history
The order was founded in Sierra Lodge around 1857. The politician and restaurateur Ephraim Bee was one of the founders. Classic service clubs and men's associations such as Freemasons , Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks or Independent Order of Odd Fellows were parodied .
In contrast to the so-called nativist tendencies that emerged at the time, such as the Know-Nothing Party , the ECV was accessible to every upright man who was invited to the order. ECV flourished particularly in the mining sector. The stiff demeanor of city service clubs and Freemasons was countered by a decidedly relaxed demeanor in red shirts, jeans and black hats and a multitude of buttons made of tin . Official titles for leadership of the Order include names such as “Noble Grand Humbug”, “Roisterous Iscutis”, “Grand Imperturbable Hangman”, “Clamps Vitrix” and “Royal Gyascutis”.
The Order's meetings were held in a Hall of Comparative Ovations, usually the back room of a saloon. The corresponding events were flagged with a hoop skirt under the motto "This is the flag under which we fight". In this sense, the order also takes on social engagement for “widows and orphans”, with the focus on widows.
At the first high of the order around 1870, Mark Twain was among others , whose most famous short story about the jumping frog of Calaveras is said to be inspired by a clamper meeting. The repeatedly claimed membership of Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman is possible insofar as both were stationed in the Benicia Arsenal in northern California at the beginning of the 1850s. Grant was sentenced to 30 days' arrest for alcohol abuse, among other things, which could be attributed to the influence of the locally strongly represented order.
With the decline of the gold rush by 1900, the ECV also came to an end. In 1931 it was renewed in San Francisco by the historian Carl Wheat and his friends G. Ezra Dane and Leon O. Whitsell with the help of the last living members of the original ECV. The newly founded chapter was christened "Yerba Buena Number 1" or "Capitulus Redivivus".
The Francis Drake plaque scandal
In 1933 G. Ezra Dane inspired four of his friends to forge a historically documented brass plaque. When Sir Francis Drake landed in 1579 in the vicinity of the Golden Gate and San Francisco Bay, this was left nailed to a post with a dedication in honor of the British Queen and a sixpence silver coin with her image.
The plan was to slip such an imitation record onto the historian and clamper Herbert Eugene Bolton and to dissolve the whole thing as part of a clamp meeting. The elaborately inscribed and patinated forgery was hidden in a suitable place in 1933 and - which was not intended - found in 1936 and immediately recognized as genuine. Those involved kept themselves undercover for decades and tried in vain, also within the framework of the order, to dissuade Bolton from his belief that the record was genuine with indirect references. It was not until the 1970s that the public became aware of the forgery.
Historical commemoration as part of the organizational culture
The organization tries to establish historical remembrance for aspects of everyday history and beyond an elitist concept of culture. This applies to historical places that are usually overlooked or exuberant, such as former saloons and dumps to the film studios for Godzilla or the grave of the hotel and brothel owner Mary Ann Conklin, who is known in Seattle for her curses .
The dedications, still often carried out as a memorial plaque , are usually carried out with a doin , a theme-specific celebration. Typically, the respective chapters plan to affix a minimum of one or two new plaques per year and meet on appropriate days of remembrance at historical places that have already been marked.
In this context, ECV is not entirely sure whether the order is a "historical drinking society" or a "drinking history society".
Web links
- Albert Shumate: The Mysterious History of E Clampus Vitus. Self-presentation of the ECV history at the Julia C. Bulette Chapter in Nevada
literature
- Lois Rather: Men Will Be Boys. The Story of E Clampus Vitus. Rather Press, Oakland, California, 1980. (CALIFORNIANA OVERSIZE 366 R18)
- Curt Gentry: Last Days of the Late, Great State of California. Comstock Book Distributors (June 1977).
Individual evidence
- ↑ James David Hart: A companion to California. University of California Press 1987
- ↑ Edward von der Porten; Raymond Aker; Robert W. Allen; James M. Tip: Who Made Drake's Plate of Brass? Hint: It Wasn't Francis Drake. In: California History, Vol. 81, No. 2 (2002), pp. 116-133
- ↑ Erik Lacitis: Fraternal group plans tribute today for Seattle pioneer of ill repute. In: Seattle Times, May 13, 2006
- ^ Jesse McKinley: Promoting Offbeat History Between the Drinks. In: The New York Times, October 14, 2008