City Readers Digital Historic Collections at the New York Society Library

The Century Association is a private club in New York City. It evolved out of an earlier organization – the Sketch Club, founded in 1829 by editor and poet William Cullen Bryant and his friends – and was established in 1847 by Bryant and others as a club to promote interest in the fine arts and literature which was open to "Artists, Literary Men, Scientists, Physicians, Officers of the Army and Navy, members of the Bench and Bar, Engineers, Clergymen, Representatives of the Press, Merchants and men of leisure." It was originally intended to have a limited membership of 100 men. Its early members included Bryant; painters Asher Durand, Winslow Homer, Jervis McEntee, and John Frederick Kensett; architect Stanford White; judge Charles Patrick Daly; author Lewis Gaylord Clark; and architect Calvert Vaux, who, along with Frederick Law Olmsted, was the co-creator of Central Park. However, by the middle 1850s, the membership primarily consisted of merchants, businessmen, lawyers and doctors.

The Century possesses a notable art collection, including important works by Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Thomas Doughty, and other Hudson River School painters. It is also an important venue for the exhibition of contemporary art created by its members.

The club agreed to start admitting women members in 1989, after a strenuous legal battle.