Secret Societies at Smith

There were several secret societies of Smith College. This exhibit focuses on two in particular: the Orangemen and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. A 1954 Smith College Associated News article, “Membership in Hooded Society Insignificant Honor at Smith,” by Marcia Damon notes that the Orangemen and A.O.H. were the first to appear in the yearbook and began as “non-secret academic or social clubs.”1

Then, in 1907, the GD, Novel, Pleiades, and the Ku Klux Klan appear. The KKK was not pictured in the yearbook after that year. More about the history of the KKK at Smith here.2

Overtime, other secret societies were: Thistle, Pleiades, Omega, Diplomats, Uneeda, The Lion Roars, and SOQI.3

According to the article, the A.O.H., Orangemen, and Thistle were the last clubs to appear in the yearbook in 1940.4

Footnotes

  1. Marcia Damon, “Membership In Hooded Society Insignificant Honor At Smith,” Smith College Associated News (SCAN),  November 6, 1954, Secret Societies, 1951, Student Clubs and Organizations records, Box #3004.6, Smith College Archives, CA-MS-00022, Smith College Special Collections, Northampton, Massachusetts. ↩
  2. Damon, “Membership In Hooded Society Insignificant Honor At Smith. ↩
  3. Damon, “Membership In Hooded Society Insignificant Honor At Smith. ↩
  4. Damon, “Membership In Hooded Society Insignificant Honor At Smith. ↩