Hamilton Gazetteer / Entities / Pentagon Society

The content of this site was generated automatically using Claude Code and Mnemotron-R, based on OCR data from Spectator (1947–2025) and other college archival materials hosted at the Internet Archive. It it intended as a proof of concept for the Mnemotron-R project, and has not been reviewed for completeness or accuracy by a human reviewer.

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organization

Overview

The Pentagon Society was Hamilton College’s senior honor society — the highest undergraduate honor in the college’s three-tiered class honor society system. Founded in May 1901, Pentagon selected five members each spring from the junior class, based on their “demonstrated love for Hamilton and a willingness to work for her welfare in all activities,” encompassing athletic proficiency, individual personality, and curricular and extracurricular engagement. The society was non-secret and gave its members gold pentagonal badges. It operated throughout the college’s all-male era and is documented in the corpus from 1901 through at least 1948. Pentagon sat atop a hierarchy that included Was Los (junior honor society) and D.T. (sophomore honor society), which together constituted the formal class-based social honor system at Hamilton.

History at Hamilton

The Pentagon Society was formally announced in the May 25, 1901 Hamilton Life as “a new senior society, named the Pentagon.” The article described it as “non-secret and composed of five men chosen spring term from the junior class upon the basis of interest shown by them in the welfare of the college.” Honorary members were provided for. The founding honorary members listed in the 1901 announcement included President M. W. Stryker, Dr. W. R. Terrett, Clinton Scollard ‘81, Joseph Rudd ‘90, Robert G. Kelsey, and Richard S. Cookinham. The gold pentagonal badge had an open-work H in the center with class numerals.

By 1907, Pentagon was well established as “the Senior honor society,” as the April 1907 Hamilton Life described in the coverage of Robert Maxwell Scoon’s Rhodes Scholarship — noting that Scoon had been admitted to Pentagon for his “ability as an all-around college man.” The May 1907 Hamilton Life documented Pentagon tapping five members from the Class of 1908: Horace K. Holley, Lloyd D. McLean, George B. Smith, Harold O. White, and Paul B. Williams.

By the interwar period, Pentagon, Was Los, and D.T. collectively organized major campus events. A November 1931 Hamilton Life describes the three societies jointly organizing the annual pre-Union game rally, with D.T. having direct control of arrangements. In December 1947, the three societies launched the AIM (American Intercollegiate Mission) drive to send food packages to Europe, with Pentagon directly assisting the drive chairman.

The May 1948 Spectator provides the most detailed description of Pentagon’s rituals: at the final midweek Chapel service of the spring semester, each retiring Pentagon member would “move forward individually from the dais, tap one of the new men, and escort him down the aisle” before the entire student body. The five members tapped in spring 1948 were Nicholas K. Burns (Sigma Phi, student council president), Elton L. Francis (ELS president and IFC president), John Gallagher (Phi Beta Kappa, Continental editor), Nathan A. Turkheimer (Hamiltonews and Spectator editor, WWII Bronze and Silver Stars), and a fifth member. Pentagon membership was described as “the highest of all undergraduate honors at Hamilton.”

Pentagon’s continued existence after the college’s shift to coeducation in 1978 is undocumented in the corpus to date.

The three-tier honor society system comprised:

D.T. Club (sophomore honor society): The D.T. Club is documented in the corpus from at least 1903, when the June 6, 1903 Hamilton Life notes that “The ‘D.T.’ Club held its solemn festival in Utica Thursday night, after which thirteen of the class of nineteen-six were admitted into its mysterious circle.” The February 1905 Hamilton Life documents D.T. members attending a theatre party in Utica. By the 1920s, D.T. is confirmed as “the honorary sophomore society” with annual tap ceremonies. A 1923 reference describes it as an “unrecognized sophomore society.” D.T. members were selected from the sophomore class by the preceding year’s members. The letters D.T. were not expanded in the surveyed sources; the early student life topic page notes it may stand for “Delta Tau.” In the 1940s, D.T. had six members and organized dances and class activities.

Was Los (junior honor society): Was Los is documented from at least 1926, when the May 25, 1926 Hamilton Life describes its tapping of junior members with the title “honorary junior society.” The 1926 tapping selected Robert Fisher (DKE, soccer) and William Church (Sigma Phi, baseball, Honor Court). A 1927 Hamilton Life reference notes a “junior society calling itself Wein” — possibly a variant or predecessor name. By the 1940s, Was Los had six members (described as “Keepers of the Crew Hat and Big Brothers of the Freshman Class” in the Hamilton yearbook). Tapping ceremonies took place outdoors; the April 1948 Spectator provides a vivid account of a Was Los tapping on the Chapel steps: the sophomore was “seized, forced pell-mell down the steps and spread-eagled, face down, on the muddy green” before Was Los members trooped over him. Members typically progressed from D.T. (sophomore) to Was Los (junior) to Pentagon (senior) as they advanced in class.

Notable Members

Notes