 Honorary members leading historical, political, and literary figures of the nineteenth century, including most notably James Buchanan, Mark Twain, Fitz-Greene Halleck, Thomas Alva Edison, and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen.However, In 1879, when American humorist and author Mark Twain was invited, and accepted honorary membership in the Philoclean Society, he did not render the customary monetary donation.In the same capacity that he was only partly accepted as a member of the Rutgers Glee Club, the singer, athlete, Rutgers valediction 1919 and political radical, Paul Robeson was elected to the Philoclean Society in 1917  without being allowed to fully share in its festivities due to the racist climate in the United States at the time.