Scarab (fraternity)

Scarab was a professional fraternity in the field of architecture. It was founded in 1909 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as the first group of its type for architecture.

History
Scarab was founded on February 25, 1909, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Its members were students of architecture, landscape architecture, or architectural engineering.

Annually, each chapter held an exhibition of its best work. Chapters also issued a bronze or silver medal annually for excellence in architectural design in a competition that was open to any student at it institution. The national fraternity sponsored the annual Scarab National Competition.

The fraternity was governed by a supreme council that met during the annual convention. Its publication was The Hieratic. It also published the Scarab Bulletin twice a year.

Archival materials related to Scarab are housed at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Archives, and the University of Illinois Archives.

It is unknown when most chapters ceased operations; The mother chapter, at Illinois, ceased activity circa 1971.

Chapter list
Scarab's chapters were called temples. A list of its temples follows.

Notable members

 * William Francis Cody, architect
 * Raymond Eastwood, artist
 * Robert A. Kennard, African American architect
 * Robert E. Langdon Jr., architect
 * Arthur Silvers, African American architect
 * Louis Sullivan, architect
 * Gordon Greenfield Wittenberg, architect