Bootsie Mitten, the Harvard Club Cat

Photo: Allyn Baum / The New York Times

November 3, 2026

Bootsie Mitten, the Harvard Club Cat

Bootsie found a new career at one of New York's most distinguished private clubs after not fitting in Connecticut's suburbs.

In 1964, the Harvard Club of New York welcomed a new staff member. His name was Bootsie Mitten, and he had been sent there because he couldn't behave himself at home. Bootsie was a black-and-white cat originally from Big Spring, Texas, where he'd enjoyed life outdoors with the Perry family. But after the family moved east to Connecticut, Bootsie had a little trouble adjusting to suburban life. According to Mrs. Perry, he began taking out his frustrations by scratching their six-year-old daughter, Kathy. So, when the Perrys heard that the Harvard Club needed a cat to deal with its mice, Mr. Perry drove Bootsie all the way to Manhattan. That's how Bootsie began his new career at 27 West 44th Street.

A new life at the club

Bootsie had the run of the building and made himself right at home. He lounged by the fireplaces, curled up in leather chairs in the Grand Hall, and played with a stuffed mouse on the main staircase. But his favorite spot during the day was the ladies' powder room. He usually stayed there until dark, then he’d head out to hunt mice around the club. As a distinguished mouser, he had a taste for the finer things in life, like crabmeat from the club kitchen.

People seemed to love having him around. Within his first 18 days, Bootsie had caught five mice in the bar. Club member Frost L. Tinkelpaugh considered him a good investment, calling him “a good ratter.” Another member thought Bootsie added a homely touch to life in New York.

But not everyone was impressed. A Yale man visiting the club suggested the whole thing sounded like a typical Harvard joke. When The New York Times called the Yale Club to ask whether it had a resident cat, the response was brief: “No cats. No comment.” And The Princeton Club even had a question about Bootsie's five mice caught in the bar: “Were they sitting on the stools?”

Bootsie at the club Photo: Allyn Baum / The New York Times

13 years at the Harvard Club

Bootsie was still remembered at the Harvard Club more than a decade later. In September 1977, The New York Times introduced Carey, the club's new resident cat, describing her as the successor to Bootsie Mitten, who had spent 13 years there. The article didn't explain what had happened to Bootsie, but it confirmed that his career at the club had lasted much longer than anyone might have expected when he first arrived.

A cat who had been sent away for scratching a child had found himself a new home with fireplaces, leather chairs, crabmeat and plenty of mice. And unlike most Harvard Club members, Bootsie hadn't needed a degree to get in.

Sources: The New York Times, March 10, 1964 and September 7, 1977.

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