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.^[1]

Scarab was founded on February 25, 1909, at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.^[1] Its members were students of architecture, landscape architecture, or architectural engineering.^[2]

Annually, each chapter held an exhibition of its best work.^[3] 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.^[3][4] The national fraternity sponsored the annual Scarab National Competition.^[2]

The fraternity was governed by a supreme council that met during the annual convention.^[2] Its publication was The Hieratic. It also published Scarab Bulletin twice a year.^[2]

Archival materials related to Scarab are housed at Carnegie Mellon University Libraries, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Archives, and the University of Illinois Archives.^[5][6][7]

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

Scarab's chapters were called temples.^[2] A list of its temples follows.^[8][9]

• William Francis Cody, architect^[13]
• Raymond Eastwood, artist^[14][15]
• Robert A. Kennard, African American architect^[16][17][18]
• Robert E. Langdon Jr., architect^[19]
• Arthur Silvers, African American architect^[16][20]
• Louis Sullivan, architect^[4]
• Gordon Greenfield Wittenberg, architect^[21]

• Professional fraternities and sororities