MSS 200 Kit Kat Club

              OHIO HISTORICAL SOCfETY
Manuscripts/ Audiovisual Collections
MSS 200 AV
Kit Kat Club Records
191 1- 2005
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number: MSS 200 AV
Title: Kit Kat Club Records
Creator: Kit Kat Club
Dates: 191 1- Present
Media: Papers, photographs
Quantity: 3.84 cubic feet
Location: Manuscripts: 3/ 33/ 6E- F
Audiovisuals: 3/ 17/ 4/ A
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
The Kit Kat Club of Columbus, Ohio has its roots in a literary publication titled The Honey Jar: A
Receptacle for Literary Preserves. The magazine began in 1898 in Columbus, but it had a
limited circulation. In 1911, it ceased publication, to the disappointment of Charles C. Pavey,
an attorney and contributor to the magazine.
Pavey offered to start a new publication to be called the Kit- Kat Magazine. The title came from
an article in The Honey Jar concerning the famous 18th century literary club of London,
England. The club's namesake was Christopher " Kit" Kat, the owner of an English tavern in the
1700s where members such as writer and critic Samuel Johnson reportedly met.
Pavey invited 19 men to assemble and discuss underwriting the publishing of the new
magazine. The meeting was held on October 5, 191 1 in the Ladies Dining Room of the Ohio
Club in Columbus. The Kit Kat Club was formed as a result of this meeting.
The club's first regular meeting was held on November 3, 191 1. Maurice S. Hague provided an
address on art, " followed by a light luncheon and cigars." For future meetings, each member
was urged to bring to meetings " a good, cheery, or instructive thought from something he has
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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