Page from Parthenon book, Trinity College Archives. Photo taken by Amanda Matava.

The Parthenon Society was one of Trinity College's first literary societies. It was formed in 1827 as a rival to the Athenaeum Society and most students were a member of one or the other. Societies such as the Parthenon allowed for students to debate and learn outside of the classroom.

The Parthenon's Constitution stated that it was “instituted for the exercise and improvement of its Members in Composition, Declamation and Extemporaneous Debate.” Current students were known as Resident Members, and alumni were considered Honorary members. The society also had officers in order to enforce order and discipline, keep records, and manage the Society's monies and library. One responsibility of the President was to “admonish or fine any member guilty of disorderly or ungentlemanly conduct,” while the Senior and Junior critics' role was to “criticize the compositions…to notice their grammatical and phraseological improprieties…to select from time to time the most meritorious compositions and attend to their publication.” In its earliest days, student compositions were also deposited in the Society Library, though this “law” was repealed some years later.

The Parthenon, along with the Athenaeum Society, had a club room in Jarvis Hall on the original campus where they stored their libraries. Though these libraries were considered exclusive to the members of the society, the College considered their collections to be integral to the College Library.

The College societies met on Saturday mornings to read papers and debate on relevant literary, political, and social topics. Later in the day, the Parthenon would debate with the Athenaeum. During one period, the societies would hold Exhibitions, the Parthenon's occurring just before commencement, with Latin orations, poetry, and satire.

Eventually, secret societies rose to popularity. In comparison, societies such as the Parthenon appeared less and less attractive, with students favoring the more rebellious ways of these new societies.

During the Civil War, the Parthenon donated the use of their club room to the Graham Guard for their drills. In 1868, the society returned after a relatively quiet period, but this revival was short-lived as enthusiasm for such societies was low. Literary societies had lost their popularity due to a number of factors. At that time, university curricula was shifting focus from oral class recitation to essay-writing, which made debating, one of the main activities of the Parthenon Society, less appealing to students. Additionally, the College expanded its offerings to include Modern Literature and History, topics which had previously been addressed by the Society's activities. The establishment of publications at the College also provided students with opportunities to write outside of the classroom, making literary societies unnecessary. The College's main paper at the time, The Trinity Tablet, reported that the societies were struggling to survive and in the spring of 1870, they gave in. Their libraries were divided among the College.

Not all students were happy with this decision and in the fall of 1871, a few loyal members reopened the club. Weekly meetings were held on Mondays and attendance was reportedly rather large. The excitement allowed the group to remain open into the spring of 1873. That same year, a final meeting was held around commencement.

History of Trinity College (1967) by Glenn Weaver, pp. 55, 58, 131, 156, 159.

Trinity Tablet, December 1870.