# Adventurers' Club of New York

The Adventurers' Club of New York was an adventure-oriented private men's club founded in New York City in 1912 by Arthur Sullivant Hoffman, editor of the popular pulp magazine Adventure. There were 34 members at the first meeting. In its second year, "Sinclair Lewis, Hoffman's assistant, was elected secretary and served three years." Monthly dinner meetings, and weekly luncheons, were the primary functions of the club.
According to club secretary, and newspaperman Fred J. Splitstone, the club's "One inviolate rule is that no publicity is ever given to the meetings. It makes men freer to talk." It also makes the club difficult to research. However, soon after making those comments, in 1926, the club began publishing a monthly newsletter, The Adventurer. It ran at least until 1960. Its content primarily concerned club business, e.g., leadership changes and new members. It occasionally ran profiles—and obituaries—of members. The main content was typically a description of the previous monthly dinner meeting. The speakers were described, along with a summation of their speeches.
A weekly CBS radio show, Gold Seal Associates, featuring members of the club describing the most exciting moment of their lives, was inaugurated on June 13, 1930. Major C. E. Russell was the inaugural speaker.
The club was one of at least two such clubs in New York. The other club was the Ends of the Earth Club, which included Mark Twain as a member.
The club appears to have faded out in the 1970s.

## Chapters

Spin-off clubs were founded in Chicago, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Copenhagen. The Adventurers' Club of Los Angeles remains active, as does the Adventurers' Club of Honolulu (founded in 1954) and the Adventurers' Club of Denmark.

## Members

In 1925, the club had 185 total members, of whom 140 were active. The Adventurers' Golden Jubilee (1964) listed 195 active members and 68 associate members, for 263.
Among the members of the Adventurers' Club of New York were many prominent citizens, travelers, writers, artists, and explorers, including the following. Members who attended the first meeting on December 7, 1912, are indicated with "[O]," for original.

## Speakers

Notable speakers before the club include the following:

## Presidents

| # | From | To | President |
| 1 | 1912 | 1917 | Henry Collins Walsh |
| 2 | 1918 | 1918 | Robert Welles Ritchie |
| 3 | 1919 | 1925 | William E. Aughinbaugh |
| 4 | 1926 | 1927 | Wesley H. Wallace |
| 5 | 1928 | 1928 | Norman Schwarzkopf |
| 6 | 1929 | 1930 | George W. B. Witten |
| 7 | 1930 | 1930 | Fred J. Willock |
| 8 | 1930 | 1930 | George W. B. Witten |
| 9 | 1931 | 1931 | Wyndham Phinny |
| 10 | 1932 | 1932 | C. E. Russell |
| 11 | 1933 | 1933 | John J. Lyons |
| 12 | 1934 | 1935 | Tex O'Rourke |
| 13 | 1936 | 1937 | Raymond C. Schindler |
| 14 | 1939 | 1939 | Henry M. Kalvin |
| 15 | 1940 | 1940 | Lewis N. Cotlow |
| 16 | 1941 | 1942 | Charles R. Haffenden |
| 17 | 1943 | 1944 | John McElraevy, Jr. |
| 18 | 1945 | 1945 | James B. Pond |
| 19 | 1946 | 1946 | Charles R. Haffenden |
| 20 | 1947 | 1947 | Raymond C. Schindler |
| 21 | 1948 | 1948 | Harry Bruno |
| 22 | 1949 | 1949 | Harry C. M. Reed |
| 23 | 1950 | 1950 | Arthur M. Menken |
| 24 | 1951 | 1951 | G. Theon Wright |
| 25 | 1952 | 1952 | Norris L. Bowen |
| 26 | 1952 | 1952 | Russell B. Aitken |
| 27 | 1953 | 1953 | Paulus P. Powell |
| 28 | 1954 | 1954 | Edward L. Bill |
| 29 | 1955 | 1955 | G. Theon Wright |
| 30 | 1956 | 1956 | John S. Davis, Jr. |
| 31 | 1957 | 1957 | Raymond E. Buck |
| 32 | 1958 | 1958 | Bernt Balchen |
| 33 | 1959 | 1959 | Patrick B. Fay |
| 34 | 1960 | 1960 | Ansel E. Talbert |
| 35 | 1961 | 1961 | A. Fred Nielson |
| 36 | 1962 | 1962 | Carl von Hoffman |
| 37 | 1963 | 1963 | Frederick Houk Law (Emeritus) |
| 33 | 1964 | 1964 | Justin William Pierce |

## Award winners

The club also awarded medals and honors. Recipients include:
* Sasha Siemel

### Gold Medal

* William O. Douglas (1964). Supreme Court justice; mountain climber.

### Bronze Medal

* Alexander de Seversky (1971)

### Life Membership

* William Willis (1954). Ocean rafter.

## Books
### Call to Adventure

In 1935, Robert Spiers Benjamin edited an anthology Call to Adventure. Contributors were:
* Major George Witten, president
* Zane Grey
* Lowell Thomas
* Allan J. Villiers
* Frank M. Hawks
* A. E. Dingle
* Gordon MacCreagh
* Seymour Pond
* F.F. Van de Water
* Victor Shaw
* George E. Holt
* S. E. Sangster
* Frances Gow-Smith
* John N. Page
* Frederick Law
* Ozark Ripley
* Victor Weybright
* F. S. Dellenbaugh
* W. H. Wallace
* F. J. Franklin

### The Adventurers' Golden Jubilee

In 1964, the club published The Adventurers' Golden Jubilee 1912–1962: A History of the Adventurers Club of New York.