NEHGS Committee on Heraldry

Arms of the NEHGS Committee on Heraldry

While the US does not have any arms granting authorities, there is, however, the oldest non-governmental heraldry organization known as the Committee on Heraldry which functions within the New England Historical and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) which is headquartered in Boston, MA.  The committee has recently launched a new website which announce's its charge:

The Committee on Heraldry was established in 1864, within the New England Historic Genealogical Society, to “collect and preserve information in regard to heraldry.” Dating back to the twelfth century, heraldry is the art of representing individuals and families with particular symbols and colors arranged on and around a shield (a “coat of arms”) or other conventional shape. Because heraldry has been used for centuries to identify individuals and families, it can be vitally important for genealogical research. Yet beyond their genealogical value, heraldic arts from every era are well worthy of study and appreciation. Heraldry can be found abundantly on gravestones, seals, portraits, embroideries, and countless monuments and buildings, in every European country and in every land colonized by Europeans, including the United States. Since 1864 the Committee on Heraldry has been collecting information on American colonists and modern Americans with coats of arms, as well as on the use of heraldry and heraldic artifacts in the United States and her colonial predecessors. This website provides information on the Committee and its projects, an index to the Roll of Arms of colonists or early immigrants with proved hereditary arms, and information and forms for registering or recording coats of arms with the Committee.

My arms were officially enrolled with the Committee on 2 September 2014.  I am quite excited to have my arms registered here.

A Seal for Saint Joe

 Proposed Arms and Seal for the Alumni Association 
of Saint Joseph Central Catholic High School

Huntington, WV

While it seems like ages ago, I remember well my student days at St. Joe.  I was fortunate to be a student during my junior and senior years as a result of a large county-wide public school consolidation.  I went from being in a class of 200 or so to roughly 40.  Yes, my graduating class numbered 40 something.  It was at St. Joe that I was actually challenged by my teachers to think and to write--novel ideas I assure you for high school.  I was selected to read the prayers over the school's PA system every day--from The Book of Common Prayer no doubt!  I loved my time there.  

Through the connectivity of Facebook, I learned that St. Joe is forming an alumni association.  Immediately I thought of what I could contribute being so distant from the school and then an idea started to emerge.  The school employs a rather bad bucket logo for their arms.  It's clearly more of a 1950's notion of high school logos than heraldry per se.  However, in 2024, the school will officially celebrate 100 years of Roman Catholic Education on their existing site in Huntington, WV.  It's time to have a brand that represents the timeless qualities of the educational experience so many students enjoy within those hallowed halls.

Saint Joseph has attributed arms that include the lily and a carpenter's square.  The carpenter's square is rendered as a chevron in heraldry.  I wanted to keep that same imagery but difference it for the alumni association.  The school's current logo was of no use.  I also wanted to incorporate the use of an open book, something that is synonymous with academic arms.  Since the school's mascot is the "Fightin' Irish," I opted to drop the lilies and use trefoils which can mimic the shamrock depending on how their drawn.  In chief, I used the open book with three clasps bearing the inscription, "In Principio Erat Verbum," of "In the Beginning was the Word" (John 1:1).  I surrounded the arms with the classical seal used by many Roman Catholic institutions and added the school's name.  The font, Lombardic, is in my opinion the classic seal font and I'm getting better with writing in it.

Proposed arms rendered as a flag.

The school's colors are navy and gold.  Since navy is not a tincture in heraldry it cannot be used on the shield.  These colors are referred to as the livery colors. 

Should the school wish to adopt the seal and arms, my suggestion would be to drop "alumni" from the bottom and add the founding date of 1924.   

The shield's blazon is:  Or, a chevron azure between three trefoils of the second, on a chief azure an open book of three clasps or thereupon "In Principio Erat Verbum."  

   

New Arms

Private Commission, Copyright 2014.

I recently completed a new achievement of arms for a close friend of mine.  While I'm only displaying his crest, the full blazon reads:

Arms:  Gules, on a pale azure fimbriated argent three escallops of the third enfiled with as many vidame coronets or;

Crest:  On a wreath of argent and gules, a lamb rampant gorged of a vidame's coronet or holding in dexter arm a market stick proper erect with crook facing sinister and on sinister arm an eschuteon of the first thereupon a Chi Rho of the second;

Motto:  "From Strength to Strength."

The new armiger is a devout Christian who adores the image of Christ the Good Shepherd, which really helped me design a crest befitting great meaning for him.  The market stick is a lovely example of how a shepherd's tool (and also a great walking stick for support) can be incorporated along with the Shield of Constantine.  I think the crest creates a compelling image of a pilgrim preparing for battle with instruments of love and compassion.

The vidame's coronet creates a nice symbol for lay Christians.  

The Arms of the College of William & Mary

The Arms of the College of William & Mary

Williamsburg, Virginia 

One can hardly discuss scholastic heraldry in the US or even the Commonwealth of Virginia without mentioning the arms of the state's oldest institution of higher learning, the College of William & Mary located in Williamsburg.  Granted by the College of Arms in London on May 14, 1694, the arms are blazoned:  "Vert, a colledge or edifice mason'd argent; in chief a sun rising or the hemisphere proper, as in the margent hereof is more plainly depicted."  (Donald M. Sweig, "Vert a Colledge...:A Study of the Coat-of-Arms and Seals of the College of William and Mary in Virginia," The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 84, No. 2, April 1976, page 143).  Jack E. Morpurgo gives the blazon as, "Vert, a colledge or edifice mason'd argent in chief a sun rising or" (Their Majesties' Royall Colledge,Washington, DC: Hennage Creative Printers, 1976, 36). 

I am somewhat conflicted about these arms.  I'm reminded of L.G. Pine's statement regarding good heraldry and the legitimacy of arms--just because they're legally granted does not mean that they're good arms.  With the opening of a new colony, new resources, new everything, I suppose the heralds were not inclined to change convention with regards to new charges. Is it a coincidence that the "colledge" looks a bit like Oxford?  The brilliance of the sun seems overshadowed by a depressed star.  In some way, I suppose the heralds saw the new world with the cracked lens of the old; heraldry was not going to take off in a new direction and create any new trends.  Not then, at least.

It is worth noting that the college changed their seal, dropping these arms, in favor of a republican-looking temple which has been recorded on an honorary degree granted March 6, 1790 (Sweig, 146).  Moreover, the seal of Virginia also changed in 1776.  Sweig recounts this poignant quotation from Lyon G. Tyler (1894):

"The Revolution was, in Virginia, a revolution not only in government, but in church, education, and sentiment generally.  Monarchy in every guise became odious.  The Roman Republic presented at that time the highest exemplars of virtues and heroism known to history...Heraldry, the history of pedigrees, fell into utter disrespect" (Sweig, 146).

Eventually, however, the arms granted by the Herald's College would resurface as the official arms used for the seal of the college.

Another grant of arms from London came a few months prior to the college's, those of Francis Nicholson (1655-1728) who would later serve as Governor of the Province of Virginia among other offices.  Nicholson was also a founder of the college.  His arms are blazoned: "Azure, on a cross argent between four suns or, a cathedral church gules" (Morpurgo, 36).  Below is a sketch of Nicholson's arms as found in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, 1885, Vol XXXIX, page 73.

The Arms of Francis Nicholson (1655-1728)

Granted March 9, 1694

This should help give a sense of heraldry at the close of the Seventeenth Century.  All in all, I love history, especially Virginia history.  I am proud that this old Virginia institution is and has been such a force in the Commonwealth.  Whether or not I like their arms, of course, is irrelevant.