PREFACE

VER forty years ago, a few members of the theatrical profession,
in the city of New York, formed a social gathering of con¬
genial spirits into a sort of club known as the "Jo^y Corks,"
which hardly deserved the name of organization, as they had
little or no organization. They were made up of that stratum
of .humanity^the theatrical profession—which for preceding
generations had been stigmatized as "vagabonds"—those chil¬
dren of genius who have done so much to beautify and enrich
the world. As they, in their day, were misunderstood by the
outside world, so was their offspring for many years misunder¬
stood by this same outside world, and it has only been in later
years that the general public has come to understand the great
fraternity which sprang from the loins of this once despised
theatrical- profession. But three men have written anything of the history of the
Elks. The first book to appear on the subject was "The Elks' Annual Register,"
by Allen O. Myers, then Grand Secretary of the order. This was largely made
up of many brief and some scanty sketches of the various lodges then in existence,
with some prefatory pages giving a condensed version of the origin, which, owing
to the lack of time or opportunity to investigate, contains but little authentic
data on the subject. I^he second book, and practically the last one, was an
excellent but brief history as far as the limited time of the author permitted him
to go into the subject, and today stands as the best statement of the facts of the
founding and early, days of the order. The third writer intended to write a book,
but when the second book mentioned was published his original idea was aban¬
doned, and he issued instead a pamphlet of a dozen or more pages, which was
more in the nature of a brief in rebuttal to some statements made by the second
writer on one point touched upon than an effort at writing or formulating a
history of the order. The first and second books were both written by men
who were not members of the theatrical profession. The present work here
presented is the first history designed to be in a measure as complete as the long
and patient researches and the means of the author would permit, but written
almost wholly from the theatrical standpoint, of the organization which owes its
existence to the theatrical profession. The almost utter lack of any data at all
within the reach of the lay member brought forcibly to the mind of the author
the need of such a work as is now offered. When the writer began investigations
along the line of gathering data, but without any settled purpose then of its
disposition, every scrap of information was seized upon and put away with a
view of laying a foundation at least, and trusting to future developments to decide
what would be eventually done with it. Numerous inquiries made by others, in
line with my own, for information, decided the writer to begin a systematic
search for information and put it into shape., As time ran on and many old faces

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