Social Register

Social Register, annually published directory purporting to list the socially prestigious members of society in 13 selected U.S. cities. It is administered and published in New York City by the Social Register Association, which refuses any interviews about its publication and which will not disclose the prerequisites to inclusion. The Social Register’s subjects are mostly white, Christian, well-connected, sponsored and endorsed by other listed persons, and found ultimately acceptable by the association’s advisory committee.

The Social Register was founded in 1887 by Louis Keller, a former gossip-sheet publisher; it was priced at $1.75 and contained 3,600 names. Ownership stayed among three families related to Keller until 1976, when control reportedly passed to a business publishing house, the Forbes Corporation. The publication continues to guard its reputation for secrecy.