Project Scroll Research Note 2026-14
When the chapters of E Clampus Vitus were founded, 1931–2023: a compiled list
Summary
E Clampus Vitus, Inc. lists 51 chapters today, in what it counts as eleven western states, but its list gives no founding dates, and we have found no list of charter dates in print or online. This note compiles one. For the chapters founded to 1966 it follows the order’s own history, E Clampus Vitus: Then and Now, 1852–1966 (Stockton, 1966); for later chapters, the chapters’ own histories, newspaper reports and dated plaques, with charter dates confirmed by Jim Cirner, Sublime Noble Grand Humbug No. 54. A founding or charter year is found for 35 of the 51 chapters, from Yerba Buena No. 1 (1931–32) to Copper Queen No. 1915 (chartered 6 May 2023); for 11 more, the first year in which the chapter is found at work; for one, Al Packer No. 100, the year it became an outpost (1994); and for four, none. Where sources disagree, both dates are given: Wm Bull Meek No. 10, 2 April 1938 (later accounts, 1936); Lord Sholto Douglas No. 3, 1934 (the roster in Then and Now, 1935); Snowshoe Thompson No. 1827, 1956 as Markleeville-Genoa, re-chartered 1976. The list shows the revived order growing slowly before the Second World War (six of today’s chapters by 1941), quickly after the Grand Council was formed in 1954 (twenty by 1966), and spreading beyond California and Nevada from 1988, when Matt Warner No. 1900 in Utah was chartered.
The record
E Clampus Vitus: Then and Now, 1852–1966 (Stockton, 1966), pp. 19–25
The order’s own account of the revival and of the chapters chartered to 1966, with their dates.
Joaquin Murrieta Chapter No. 13 (online copy) · See the record
E Clampus Vitus, Inc., “Chapters” (read November 2026)
The chapters of today and where each is based: 51 chapters and four outposts, with no founding dates.
E Clampus Vitus, Inc. · See the record
“E Clampus Vitus Copper Queen No. 1915 is chartered on May 6, 2023,” Pizen Switch Times, 18 May 2023
“E Clampus Vitus Copper Queen No. 1915 is chartered on May 6, 2023”
<i>Pizen Switch Times</i> · See the record
Lost Dutchman Chapter No. 5917+4, chapter website (read 31 October 2026)
“established in Arizona on October 1, 1990”
Lost Dutchman Chapter No. 5917+4 · See the record
John A. Sutter Chapter No. 1841, past boards
“chapter status granted at Grand Council 6018” (2013)
John A. Sutter Chapter No. 1841 · See the record
Bob Wyckoff, “The rebirth of E Clampus Vitus and the local chapter,” The Union (Grass Valley)
The Nevada City chapter “chartered in 1936”; the Wm. Morris Stewart chapter (1958) and the Bull Meek chapter combined in 1962.
<i>The Union</i> · See the record
What it changes
For the first time, a founding or first-recorded year for all but four of the order’s 51 chapters, in one list, with the order’s own dates to 1966 and the chapters’ and newspapers’ dates after; and a measured picture of the order’s growth: six chapters of today by 1941, twenty by 1966, and beyond California and Nevada from 1988.
Limits
Several chapters’ own websites give no founding year, and some could not be read. Chapter numbers are usually dates or jokes, not founding years, and are not used as evidence. A “first found at work” year comes from a dated plaque or report, and the charter may be earlier. Dates after 1966 rest on each chapter’s own account or a single newspaper report.
What we searched before calling it new
ecvinc.org (Chapters, Grand Council, Sublimes, FAQ); each chapter’s website; Historical Marker Database; Historic Oregon Newspapers; HistoryLink; local newspapers (Pizen Switch Times, Porterville Recorder, Seattle Times); Online Archive of California finding aids.
Our standard for calling a finding new is set out in How we research, and how we weigh each kind of record in Scrollsigns.
“New” means new to print as far as we can tell. If you know of an earlier publication, tell us and we will credit it here and raise the note’s version.
Project Scroll is independent research. It is not affiliated with, sponsored by or endorsed by E Clampus Vitus, Inc. or any of its chapters, and it does not speak for the order. E Clampus Vitus®, ECV® and Clampers® are registered trademarks of E Clampus Vitus, Inc., as are its designs of a kicking jackass, of a miner and a braying jackass with the motto Per caritate viduaribus orphanibusque sed prime viduaribus, and of a coat of arms with the banners “Satisfactory” and Credo quia absurdum. The order’s names, mottoes, emblems, plaques and publications are named or quoted here only to identify the order and report its history; this site sells nothing, all rights in them remain with the order and its chapters, and nothing on this site is a product or publication of the order. Book covers and plaques are shown only to identify the works and places discussed. Help from individual members is credited to them personally and is not an endorsement by the order.
Works cited
Earlier work, catalogues and databases named in this note, besides the records quoted above.
- The full table, with the source for each chapter, is on the web page of the story: “E Clampus Vitus revived: the Clampers from 1931 to today,” Project Scroll (2026). https://projectscroll.com/news/e-clampus-vitus-revived-1931-today/#the-chapters-one-by-one
The full story
The finding is set out in context, with the rest of its sources, in E Clampus Vitus revived, 1931 to today. In the discoveries register:
How to cite this note
Michael Urbanski and Jim Cirner, “When the chapters of E Clampus Vitus were founded, 1931–2023: a compiled list,” Project Scroll Research Note 2026-14, version 1 (5 November 2026), https://projectscroll.com/discoveries/notes/2026-14/. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23968654.
BibTeX
@techreport{urbanski202614,
author = {Urbanski, Michael and Cirner, Jim},
orcid = {0009-0006-8183-5828},
title = {{When the chapters of E Clampus Vitus were founded, 1931--2023: a compiled list}},
institution = {Project Scroll},
type = {Project Scroll Research Note},
number = {2026-14},
year = {2026},
month = {nov},
url = {https://projectscroll.com/discoveries/notes/2026-14/},
doi = {10.5281/zenodo.23968654},
note = {Version 1}
}