Blue Dove

Concept piece for the College of Arms Foundation
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Its quite an honor to serve on the Board of Directors for the College of Arms Foundation whose purpose is to promote English heraldry and genealogy in the US while providing financial support to the College in London.  Recently I was renewing my membership with the UK-based counterpart, The White Lion Society, whose badge consists of one of the lions from the College's achievement supporting a flag of the College's arms.  I thought it would be a fun challenge to see if I could create something similar using our blue dove.  Voila.

I think it turned out nicely.  Disclaimer:  my humble illustration above is merely a fun project and is not an official image for the Foundation.  Who knows, perhaps one day this blue bird might get used in some sort of official capacity.    

Recent Finds IX

Coats of arms for various US academic institutions
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Our Recent Finds series continues!  To view past articles, click on the label below the post.  Sharing some recently completed renderings of scholastic arms found online.  The key for the arms illustrated above is below and I've highlighted three with a few details as well.

Top Row (L-R):  St. Timothy's School, Stevenson, MD; Trinity Episcopal School, Richmond, VA; and Boston University, Boston, MA

Bottom Row (L-R):  Milton Academy, Milton, MA; St. Timothy's School, Raleigh, NC; and Berkeley Preparatory School, Tampa, FL 

Coat of arms of Milton Academy
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

The Milton Academy's coat of arms was adopted by the school in 1898, one hundred years after its founding in Milton, Massachusetts.  Given this newfound coat of arms, my running top 10 list of US academic institutions bearing arms needed an update.  The list is an ever-evolving project cataloging coats of arms borne by any US school, academy, college, seminary, etc.  Now, with Milton's arms dated to 1898, the school sits at number 7 for having the oldest arms among US academic institutions.  Harvard, no surprise, is number 1 with the oldest having adopted theirs in 1643.  

Blazon for the arms of Milton Academy: Per fess Tenne and Azure on an open book edged with two clasps Or "Dare to be True."

Coat of arms of Trinity Episcopal School
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

For several years now, I've been conflicted regarding the "crest" for Trinity Episcopal School located right here in Richmond, VA.  While I still cannot put my hands on any hard evidence, I was able to locate some data.  It is also possible, perhaps, that Col. Harry D. Temple (1911-2004) designed these as he did live here for some time.

Coat of arms and armorial flag of Trinity Episcopal School, Richmond, VA
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Since the organizers for the school used St. Michael's Episcopal Church in town as their HQ and sponsoring parish, I felt using the "cross of St. Michael" was appropriate.  Otherwise, it's rather difficult to make out the exact cross from any contemporary rendering found online.  Either way, I thought as a flag Trinity Episcopal School's coat of arms translate well as an armorial flag.

Blazon for the arms of Trinity Episcopal School (Richmond, VA):  Vert, a straight tau cross throughout Argent and in chief three crosses pommy Or.

Coat of arms of Berkeley Preparatory School
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

While riffing on the traditional arms of Berkeley, the prep school in Tampa, FL managed to change tinctures as a mark of difference for their arms.  I think these arms are a great example of how even minor differencing can avoid infringing on established arms; however, the design could be improved to include unique identification indicating a school or its location.   

The Armorial of the US Priory of the Order of St. John

The front cover image of the US Priory's new armorial

A couple of days ago, I received a copy of The Armorial of the Priory in the USA, published by the US Priory of the Order of St. John in 2024.  The softcover tome is massive in weight, its number of pages rich with data, and first-rate heraldic illustrations rendered by Quentin Peacock in the UK who is one of the best in the world.  Even more, there are A LOT of renderings found within the Order's US Priory, providing tons of eye candy for the reader.

A small committee of confreres voluntarily labored for some time gathering data, coordinating renderings for publication, and so much more.  The team of our heraldic experts simply made this all happen and thank God for their work.  The armorial advances our knowledge on the subject of heraldry within the Order of St. John while providing a legacy for its patrons and members.  The attractive armorial is worth every penny.    

Since my investiture was held long after the submission cut-off, my arms are not included.  Even if I had submitted my arms, I would not be able to display the Member medal below my shield owing to their provenance.  The Order's heraldry in the US is under the authority of the College of Arms in London and thus why my assumed arms could not display the medal.

My small contribution to the project
Source: US Priory of the Order of St John (2024), page 91 
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

A few months ago I was honored to help with this project in a small way by contributing my rending of the arms of the Episcopal Church in the fashion of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941) who designed them.  

La Rose prominently placed his version of the bishop's mitre--from the 1515 Heralds' Roll in the UK--as the sole external ornament for diocesan coats of arms in both Episcopal and Roman Catholic churches.  I wanted to bring la Rose's mitre back to these arms, believing there was a good chance it was on the proposal for adoption during the 1940 General Convention.  I suppose my thinking of ways to preserve la Rose's work influenced that design move.  

This year continues to defy any belief I've held of making contributions in this rather niche field of heraldry.  I am inspired to work harder and do my part in service to the cause. 

MAA Centennial Conference Presentation

Indulging in some fun: impaling the arms of Harvard with
the Medieval Academy of America
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Next week, some 500 scholars from across the globe will be converging on Harvard's campus for the Centennial conference of The Medieval Academy of America.  The Academy was established in Boston in 1925, and of course Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942) was among the founders.  I've covered the arms of the Academy previously so please click here for background information regarding Pierre de Chaignon la Rose's (1872-1941) design produced in 1927.

If you're counting, the Academy took 2 years to study and consider what emblem(s) best represented the new scholarly enterprise.  Cram chaired the committee that commissioned la Rose for the design.  Thus, the Academy turns 100 this year, but its coat of arms must wait two more years.  Given the youthful history of heraldry in the United States when compared to those European countries of origin, celebrating a centennial milestone for the Academy's coat of arms becomes rather significant.

The carrying power, as la Rose stated, best describes those simple and clear designs which endure.  In other words, these cherished symbols somehow cement the human experience for those communities whose identities are branded in sound heraldry. 

Another artifact proving this theory can simply be found in the arms of Harvard, adopted through armorial assumption by the Corporation in 1643.  To have the brand, the essence, and the whole corporate identity wrapped in abstract symbols--onto a 13th century implement of war, no less--surviving and widely known throughout the world for 382 years reveals the true carrying power of heraldry in the modern era. 

Flyer for shameless promotion - click image to enlarge
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

Frankly, it was one of my heraldic projects from February 2024 that began my interest in the Academy which led to a research proposal, "From Battlefields to Beer Steins: Devising Heraldic Identity for Select US Academic Institutions."  The paper will explore how 13th century designs painted onto shields for identification in the chaos of battle, evolved to serve as modern day branding for those US academic institutions receiving coats of arms from the College of Arms in London.

To date, there are 2 institutions holding actual grants of arms while 9 others received devisals of arms.  While this distinction between grants and devisals appear innocuous, in the subject area concerning the law of arms these terms matter.  So, we'll definitely dig into that area as well.

Hampden-Sydney College's iconic coat of arms will be front and center as an eminent example of how an institution successfully embraced arms creating its brand identity.  Of those 11 academic institutions in the US, I argue that HSC was one of the few that got it right.  

The creative genius of Richard McClintock played a significant role in figuring out ways to incorporate Hampden-Sydney's arms in publications, admissions materials, etc. ultimately leading creating the College brand which persists to this day.  His work provides the College community with an enduring symbol that has now cemented the Hampden-Sydney experience for several generations of students and faculty.  Click here to learn about Hampden-Sydney College's coat of arms.

Riffing on the classic American film capturing campus life,
Animal House
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

While brainstorming digital assets to create for my presentation, I had the idea of riffing on the ubiquitous "college" tee shirt worn in the film Animal House.  Since my doctorate was in the social sciences and I'll be wading through a sea of humanities scholars, I'm leaning on a few tricks to win acceptance!  Thus, I wanted to use Latin as my audience will be extremely well versed in the language par excellence, and may appreciate the playfulness while engaging more with this subject.  I'm planing to ask a lot of questions in hopes of sparking dialogue for the art and science of heraldry, as I want to understand its historic absence from such scholarly gatherings.  As far as I know, there will be no other papers on the subject of heraldry!  

Another fun doodle
Rendered by Chad Krouse, 2025

All are welcome to the conference and program details can be found by clicking this link to go to Harvard's site.  I certainly plan to share a recap shortly thereafter with hopes of submitting the presentation as a journal article.