Megatherium Club

The Megatherium Club was a group of Washington, D.C.–based scientists who were attracted to that city by the Smithsonian Institution's rapidly growing collection, meeting from 1857 to 1866.

The leading spirit of the club was marine biologist William Stimpson, who hosted its earliest meetings in his home.

But they were eventually thrown out of their castle suites by the institution's secretary, Joseph Henry, who disapproved of the way members held sack races in the Great Hall and periodically serenaded his daughters.

Formal meetings ceased about the year 1866 when Stimpson moved to Chicago to oversee that city's Academy of Sciences.

Several other "Megatherium Clubs" exist; one formed of overseas Smithsonian researchers, yet another only in fiction, supposedly located in London, United Kingdom.