This book contends that concepts surrounding the role of elite non-state actors are central to understanding the development of the Pilgrims, just as they help explain the activities of other, better- known, and more recent groups. Indeed, the argument here is that the early activities of the Society were a form of nascent public diplomacy. While members of the Society and others associated with the organisation did not use that term, the Society's activities in the period up until the end of the 1920s not only exhibited many of the characteristics of later forms of public diplomacy but also contributed to their development in the 1930s and 1940s. The Pilgrims Society was a semi-official public diplomacy actor in the realm of foreign relations, which means that there is a line of descent from the Pilgrims to organisations like the British Council and the Division of Cultural Relations in the 1930s, themselves precursors to Cold War organisations like the United States Information Agency (USIA). This argument stands in contrast to that of most writers on public diplomacy, many of whom begin their examination of the subject with reference to these later organisations. This chapter analyses the different and changing ways in which public diplomacy has been understood across time and outlines why it can usefully be applied to the early twentieth century. It also establishes how concepts of public diplomacy, associational culture, and elite networking intersect and demonstrates why this intersection is important to the history of the Pilgrims Society. The chapter is divided into four sections. The first section analyses the existing literature in the field of public diplomacy and shows why the history of the Pilgrims Society is an important addition to this canon. The second section establishes a working definition of the concept. The definition outlined in this section is used throughout the rest of the book. The third section presents some preliminary thoughts about how some of the antecedents to the Society helped shape its approach to international relations, while the final section argues that the Pilgrims’ activities must be seen in the context of the history of other elite clubs and societies.