Hasty Pudding Club

Not to be confused with Hasty Pudding Theatricals.

For other uses, see Hasty Pudding (disambiguation).

Hasty Pudding Club building
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
The Hasty Pudding Club stage circa 1876
Location:	12 Holyoke Street Cambridge, Massachusetts
Coordinates:	42°22′21″N 71°07′05″W
NRHP Reference#:	78000442
Added to NRHP:	January 9. 1978

The Hasty Pudding Club is a social club for Harvard students. It was founded by Nymphus Hatch, a junior at Harvard College, in 1770. The club is named for the traditional American dish (based on a British dish) that the founding members ate at their first meeting. The Hasty Pudding Club was originally established in Concordia Discors to bring together undergraduates in friendship, conversation, and camaraderie. It is the oldest collegiate social club in America.

The Pudding is currently the only club on campus that is coed and has members from all four years. Membership to the social club is gained through a series of lunches, cocktail parties, and other gatherings, which are referred to as the "punch process". In the past, membership in the Pudding was obligatory to joining waiting clubs and, eventually, final clubs. This tradition is no longer upheld. The Pudding holds its social activities in a clubhouse near Harvard Square. These include weekly "Members' Nights", dinner and cocktail parties, as well as its elaborate theme parties, such as "Leather and Lace".

The Hasty Pudding Club at 12 Holyoke St, Cambridge

The current clubhouse contains multiple rooms with specific purposes. Among these rooms is "The Arena", which is a room with no windows or openings to the outside world. "The Arena" is designated as the club's game room.

The club counts three U.S. Presidents (Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy) among its noteworthy members. The club also considers President John Adams as an alumnus, but as he graduated in 1755 and the club was not founded until 1770 this is unlikely. It is believed John Quincy Adams may have been an early member, but this is unsubstantiated.

The Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Radcliffe Pitches, and the Harvard Krokodiloes were founded at the Hasty Pudding Club. All of these groups are part of the Institute of 1770 and share clubhouse space as well as retain various social affiliations with the Pudding; their activities are focused on the performing arts, and they select members through open auditions.