A War Club for President Richards

At the twentieth reunion of the class of 1902, an unusual gift was given to Lehigh’s President Richards.

Before the reunion banquet, the class presented him with a large war club with a brass plate inscribed with who it was from and how to use it. The part on how to use it is missing from the artifact today.

It is thought that this artifact is a copy or mock of a ceremonial mace, which would be used in important ceremonies to represent a persons, particularly the president’s in this case, authority.

The class seemed to have an infamous reputation at Lehigh for stuff like this. In the alumni bulletins leading up to the presentation of this mace, there were many comments on the class. Class of 1902 member, “Bob” Bird said that the reunion would be a quiet one and, in response, the author of the Bulletin responded saying “If so, it will be the first time this class has ever been quiet. I think they are trying to spring a surprise on the other reunion classes.” The Reunion Committee was described as “live-wires” and the class itself was said to be “one of those dangerous small classes.”

The war club was brought to Special Collections after being discovered in Packard Laboratory storage. It is cataloged and shelved with the other curious and divergent items in the Lehigh Memorabilia Collection.

Here are the links to the Alumni Bulletin online articles about the Class of 1902:

https://archive.org/stream/lehighalumnibull0908#page/20/mode/2up

https://archive.org/stream/lehighalumnibull0907#page/18/mode/2up

https://archive.org/stream/lehighalumnibull0909#page/10/mode/2up/

https://archive.org/stream/lehighalumnibull0903#page/18/mode/2up