New! And Improved!

Well, okay, to be honest, it isn't really new.

And, frankly, although it is improved some, it's not really improved all that much.

With that disclaimer, over the past week I have been updating my American Heraldry Collection with an additional source of historical arms used in what is now the United States of America.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society has recently digitized and uploaded to their website five of the original volumes in a New Database: Roll of Arms Registered by the NEHGS, 1915-1945. This series of images is of the originally drawn and blazoned arms of the first 378 coats of arms registered by the Committee on Heraldry. Though the names, blazons, and line drawings of these arms (as well as the other 363 which have been registered since 1945) have been published in the book A Roll of Arms available for sale on the NEHGS website's bookstore, I have found that being able to see the original color paintings of the arms was helpful in deciphering some of the blazons where I had a question about what exactly was meant, and was thus able to revise the blazons in my American Heraldry Collection to be more accurate.

Anyway, having reviewed all 378 coats in this new NEHGS database and either confirmed (in the majority of cases) or modified their blazons, or added information from this database as a new entry (and sometimes being able to combine a couple of separate entries into a single unified one), I have updated and uploaded the New and Improved™ American Heraldry Collection so that if you are interested, you can download it for your own use.

It's in a .zip file that contains two documents: a .docx file that gives some background on the Collection as well as a key to all of the sources used; and a .xlsx file that contains all of the blazons of the arms and crests, and the sources for, each surname.

The Collection can always be downloaded by clicking on the link labeled "American Heraldry Collection" in the left-hand column of this blog under the Heading "Some Articles I Have Written".

Or, if you simply cannot wait to do it by scrolling down a little, it can be found here: www.appletonstudios.com/American_Heraldry_Collection.zip

Enjoy!