The Johnston Gate

There is a gate (one of several) in the wall surrounding the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This particular gate is called the Johnston Gate, named for Samuel Johnston who provided the funds for its construction. It was completed in 1889, and cost some $10,000, a gift of Samuel Johnston (Harvard College class of 1855).

Here is the ironwork of the arch of the gate:

One one of the two pillars of the gate, we find this carving and inscription:

The Latin may be roughly translated as: Samuel Johnston of Chicago · Graduate in the year 1855 · Who was born in Cincinnati in the year 1833 · Lived 53 years · By his will he ordered this."

The eagle and laurel wreath may almost be seen as heraldic, and could be used as a (bit complex, I will admit) crest.

But the other pillar contains the arms of the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts:

Adopted as a seal in 1846, it contains an image of the Gothic Revival style building, Gore Hall, the former library building at Harvard College. The Latin motto (which is often included around the city seal) underneath the Latin of the city's name, reads: "Literis Antiquis Novis Institutis Decora." It can be translated as: "Distinguished for Classical Learning and New Institutions."

The current city seal has added to Gore Hall an image of the Washington Elm, the Cambridge tree made famous by the popular legend of George Washington taking command of the Continental Army under it during the American Revolution, as found here on a building in Cambridge:

Maybe not the best of heraldry, but it is nonetheless heraldry!

Fight Fiercely, Harvard. Fight, Fight, Fight!

Those are some of the words to an old Tom Lehrer song.

He was a mathematician at Harvard University, who for several years in the Sixties also wrote songs, including what he suggests would have been a more appropriate fight song for Harvard. ("Demonstrate to them our skill! Albeit they possess the might, nonetheless we have the will! Oh, we shall fight for Harvard's glorious name; won't it be peachy if we win the game? Oh, goody. Hurl that spheroid down the field, and fight! Fight! Fight!")

Anyway, we were staying at a B&B in Cambridge, and had the opportunity over several days to stroll across and around the Harvard University campus. I've already shown you some of the arms that appear there in my last couple of posts: the arms of the United States, and those of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Well, today we're going to look at some of the depictions of the arms of the University itself, scattered here and there about the campus.

A blazon, I suppose, would be: Gules three open books argent bound and clasped or thereon the word VE RI TAS sable, if you keep in mind that the "gules" they use is often more of a "maroon" than a true "red". (This is not to say that you can't find a lot of depictions of the arms with red, only that you more often see it as a darker blood-red or maroon, like on the cap and tee shirt I bought there with the arms on them.)

Anyway, with all that as background, here are images of some of the coat of arms of Harvard University found on the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Over a doorway, flanked by the arms of the State of New York (left) and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (right):

Over another doorway, flanked by shields which are not so much coats of arms as printers marks (on shields) for Caxton, Rembolt, Fust & Schœffer, and Aldus, all famous early printers.

Elsewhere, a bird has made of Harvard (and Harvard's coat of arms) a home:

In addition, there were a couple of versions harking back to Harvard's early years as a school of divinity in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, where it was used on the college seal in 1650 and thence up until about 1800. These versions have a chevron between the three books, the upper two of which are face up, and the lower one of which is aversant (which can be seen best in the lower image). The upward facing books symbolize the truth that is discernible through our five senses; the overturned book symbolizes that which can only be known through the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

The first two pictures are of the same carving, and contain the motto Christo et Ecclesiae (Christ and the Church):

And through all of these, we now have, if you will pardon the pun, a "college" education!

Guess Where You'll See Many Depictions of the Coat of Arms of Massachusetts

Aw! You guessed.

But that's right! In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!

We saw quite a number of versions of the Massachusetts arms as we traveled about the eastern end of the state.

A good blazon of the arms would be: Azure, a Native American statant holding in his dexter hand a bow and in his sinister hand an arrow or in dexter chief a mullet [of five points] argent.

A legal, less heraldic description of the arms can be found on the website of the American Heraldry Society: A shield having a blue field or surface with an Indian thereon, dressed in a shirt and moccasins, holding in his right hand a bow, and in his left hand an arrow, point downward, all of gold; and, in the upper corner of the field, above his right arm, a silver star with five points.

Here's what it looks like in color, from the state flag flying in front of the Police Headquarters in Milford:

The crest is: An arm embowed vested and grasping a broadsword or.

And the motto: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem (By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.).

The arms, crest, and motto were adopted by Governor John Hancock and his Council on December 13, 1780.

Anyway, with all that a background, here are some of the other depictions of the arms we saw while we were there. Here's one from the façade of the Boston Library:

And a couple from the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge. One becoming worn from the weather ...

And the other, more protected, in wonderful condition:

Not necessarily the best heraldry, or the most culturally sensitive, but you have to remember that it was designed by committee, in 1780, in the middle of a war (1775-1783). So there's that.

In any event, it's what they use, and as a non-resident, I'm not really in a position to tell them to change it. (Now if they asked me about it, yeah, I could give them some suggestions!)

Differing, But Erroneous, Depictions of the Arms of the United States

Continuing to look at how heraldry is not like logos and trademarks, we come to several different depictions (some incorrect!) of the arms of the United States of America that we came across in our 2008 trip to Massachusetts.

The first one we found on the grounds of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It's a fairly stock depiction of the arms of the U.S., though it does have an error, and a weirdness.

For the error, if you look closely (and you may want to click on the image above to see a larger version), there should be no stars on the chief. The arms of the U.S. are blazoned: Paly of thirteen argent and gules a chief azure. No stars.

The weirdness is that they have placed the entire achievement of arms – arms, supporter holding a branch of laurel and a sheaf of arrows, and motto, but without the crest – on a shield! Maybe it's just me, but I find that to be very weird.

Next was another Art Deco depiction of the arms of the U.S. over the main entrance to the United States Post Office in Boston.

Here again, I personally like Art Deco depictions of heraldry, but once again, they have placed stars on the chief, which is an error.

And finally, we run up to the town of Salem, Massachusetts, about 18 miles northeast of Boston, where the old Custom House (where author Nathaniel Hawthorne worked for three years) has yet another (and this time, doubly incorrect!) depiction of the arms of the United States.

Although the overall way that the eagle manages to hold the laurel branch and arrows as well as shield are somewhat attractive, the shield of the arms repeats the error of placing stars on the chief, and then adds another error, by reversing the colors of the red and white stripes; the outside (dexter and sinister) stripes should be white, and then alternating with red. (I suppose I could also argue that the eagle is ten arrows short in his sheaf, as their properly ought to be thirteen, but I think that doing so would just be "piling on", don't you?)

And there you have it! Three widely different versions of the arms of the United States, each attractive in its own way, and yet each wrong.

Welcome to David Appleton's "Art Deco Fun With Heraldry"!

And Art Deco fun with heraldry-like objects.

As I threatened promised you, today we' re going back a few years, to a trip we took to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a long, long time ago (2008).

And I'm going to continue, at least a little bit, on the theme of my last two posts: the fact that heraldry is not a logo or trademark, and so can be depicted in more than one way.

Anyway, in our travels about the city of Boston, we ran across some heraldry (and some heraldry-like objects) depicted in an Art Deco style, that for some reason I find especially attractive. (I've never considered myself to be much of an Art Deco kind of guy; I tend to prefer the curves and swirls of Art Nouveau. But what can I tell you? I really like heraldry done in an Art Deco style.)

These are the arms of Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli), who was Pope from 1929 to 1958. His arms are blazoned: Azure a dove close reguardant argent holding in its beak an olive branch proper, atop a trimount argent issuant from a terrace vert, a base barry engrailed argent and azure.

Here the arms are surmounted by the crossed keys and triple tiara of the Papacy, with four tassels filling the role normally taken by cloth mantling.

There were some other decorative plaques on the building as well:

A cross paty issuant from a chalice, presumably representative of the Eucharist, framed by laurel branches.

A double (six-petalled) rose.

A lymphad (ship) sailing on waves of the sea, it's pennon and mainsail charged with a cross, and atop the stern, a dove rising wings displayed.

And finally, and slightly more heraldic than the others, an eagle displayed issuant from a ducal, or crest, coronet.

All of these done in a classically Art Deco style.

Are you as attracted to these depictions as I am?

How a Coat of Arms Is Different From a Logo, Part 2

In our last post, we looked at a wide variety of renditions of the coat of arms of Heidelberg, Germany, as an example of the variety that you can get in heraldry that you cannot do with a logo or trademark.

This time, we're going to look at a personal coat of arms, and some of the many differing examples of it. But no matter how different they may seem, they all follow the blazon, and are all the same coat of arms.

First, a comparatively "plain vanilla" version of the arms Argent two chevronels azure between three apples gules slipped and leaved vert.

(Full disclosure: Yes, this is my coat of arms, designed by myself, and used publicly since 2002. Some versions of it also come with a crest: An apple tree fructed proper.)

In the ensuing 20 years, I have created a few other slightly modified versions:

But the real fun has come from having other artists more skilled than I create their interpretations. Like this one from the roll of arms of attendees at the 2002 International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences in Dublin, Ireland:

Or this simply sketched one for his Liber Amicorum (Book of Friends) by Magnus Backmark:

By Antonio Salmeron:

By Dennis O'Meskel MacGoff:

By John Rafael (with the crest):

A black and white pencil drawing by Ronny Anderson:

And a library painting by Sunil Saigal:

No, these are not even all of the different renditions that I have. But I wanted to save space for just a few examples of bookplates that I have created (thank you, clipart collections!) of my arms and crest, ranging from very Baroque to Art Deco to I'm not sure what (Classical Modernist?). You should be able to figure out for yourself which is which:

Once again, this is not the kind of variety you can get with a trademark or logo.

But in heraldry? The possibilities are limited only by your own imagination (or in my case, the quality of the clipart I have purchased and then modified). As the examples here, all of a single coat of arms, pretty clearly demonstrates, I think.

How a Coat of Arms Is Different From a Logo, Part 1

Last time we discussed trademarks and logos, and how they pretty much have to be reproduced identically every time. And how sometimes people think that coats of arms are like that; that each depiction should closely match every other depiction.

Well, heraldry ain't like that.

Indeed, one of the pleasures that many of us get out of heraldry is to see the different ways that artists will interpret a blazon. But no matter how these depictions may differ from each other, they are all the same coat of arms!

Next time we'll see variants of a personal coat of arms, but today, we're going to see different versions of a municipal coat of arms: that of Heidelberg, Germany: Sable a lion rampant or armed langued and crowned gules atop a trimount vert.

Here's a pretty standard depiction of the Heidelberg arms, depicted in a stained glass window in the city.

But there are quite a variety of examples of this coat of arms in and around the town, ranging from the fairly Baroque:

All the way up to Art Deco:

And, of course, everything in between:

There are even some "freestanding" versions of the Heidelberg coat of arms, not displayed on a shield:

Though this last one has the lion holding a sword and an orb, items not seen in the coat of arms:

These are all variants that you would be unable to do with a trademark or logo. I mean, really, sometimes the lion has a single tail, sometimes two (double queued), and sometimes the tail begins as one but is split into two (queue-forchy). The crown it wears comes in many different forms. Usually the trimount is issuant from base, but in a couple of cases, it issues from base and goes up the side of the shield. There is a wonderful amount of variation in these depictions, something not found in different depictions of trademarks and logos.

But this is heraldry, folks! And so long as an example stays true to the blazon, then it, and all of the others like (and unlike) it, is a rendering of that coat of arms.

And that's one of the joys that I get from heraldry. How about you?