The American Heraldry Society Selects Design Award Recipient

Armorial banners of the American Heraldry Society
and the School of Theology rendered by Lucas Hofmann.

The American Heraldry Society recently announced the 2024 winner of its design award, and this year's recipient is the School of Theology at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.  Established in 2006, the award is named in honor of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941), the great American heraldic designer responsible for reviving heraldry in the US during the early 20th Century.  Click here to read the full press announcement.

Arms of the School of Theology,
rendered by Lucas Hofmann.

The award has a unique purpose, to encourage and support excellence in American heraldry by recognizing coat of arms that provide the bearer with a strong public identity embodying the best heraldic design of the highest form, function, and aesthetic.  Society members may nominate any US corporate body from academic, military, civic, religious, or social organizations whose arms exemplify the best in heraldic design. There is one additional requirement for the nominee:  the arms must have been designed in the United States. 

The Society's mission is, "to promote the study and proper use of heraldry in America," and one way it advances that mission is through the design award.  In other words, the award is a celebration of the best in American heraldry.

I was proud to nominate the arms of my alma mater and honor the important contributions its designer made to field of American heraldry.  Designed in 1981 by Sewanee alumnus and professor Dr. James Warring McCrady, the arms of the seminary incorporated the colors red and gold from the arms used by The Rev. William Porcher DuBose (1836-1918).  DuBose served as the seminary’s second dean and widely known throughout the Episcopal Church as a scholar and theologian.  

Armorial flag of the arms of the School of Theology,
rendered by Lucas Hofmann.

The fleam represents the dedication of the student body to St. Luke and the seminary's original chapel on campus--history has attributed the saint as a surgeon. McCrady added the bar on the surgical device to create a unique crossed charge to clearly identify the school’s mission of priestly formation for the church. One important contribution to American heraldry made by McCrady was his creation of the “Sewanee tressure.” The tressure was a creative way to show corporate unification within all three arms he designed, and its name was suggested by the Lord Lyon in 1981 as McCrady submitted his designs for peer review to the authority in Scotland. 

Blazon:  Gules, on a cross Or surmounted by a Sewanee Tressure counter-changed a crossed fleam Sable. 

Having spent three formative years on the Domain of the University of the South as a seminarian, I had a lot of time to "inhabit" and own these arms.  For me, at least, they represent far more than a great design, they hold precious memories and important life lessons learned.  Click here to read a deeper analysis on the arms of the School of Theology. 

Solved: An Official Blazon for Tift College

The armorial ensigns of Tift College in Forsyth, Georgia.

During the COVID-19 Pandemic I found myself going down deep research holes regarding US scholastic arms.  One of the more interesting finds were the arms of Tift College which was located in Forsyth, Georgia.  Tift closed in 1987 and absorbed by Mercer University, and at the time finding detailed information in Mercer's archives yielded little.    

I kept running into one major problem.  Based on the best emblazonment of Tift's arms that I could find, the tincture for the chief remained unclear.  Vert or azure, I wondered.  I shared my data in the newly created Scholastic Heraldry group on Facebook in hopes that someone may have an answer.  Well, things got even more confusing.  My colleague from the American Heraldry Society, Joseph McMillan, shared an emblazonment he discovered in the files of the US Army's Institute of Heraldry--the rendering showed Gules for the chief.  So, which was the final adopted version of Tift's arms?  We agreed that without an official blazon for these arms we may likely never know.  

Perhaps an early draft of Tift's arms,
courtesy of Mr. Joseph McMillan.

According to Stone (1969), the arms of Tift College were designed by Col. Harry D. Temple (1911-2004) in 1965 (173).  Somewhere I learned that Temple had a daughter enrolled at Tift which likely explains his involvement.  Temple was simply a force in US heraldry during the mid to late 20th Century, making countless contributions to the cause for clear and smart heraldry.  Towards the end of his career in the US Army, Temple led its Institute of Heraldry and was later appointed to the Episcopal Church's Advisory Committee on Heraldry in 1983 (Wright, 2005).  A commemoration of Temple's life and work was published by his alma mater, Virginia Tech.  The article notes that not only did Temple design the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but rendered countless arms and designs for organizations:

"Temple also designed 42 coats of arms in the National Cathedral in Washington and the coat of arms for the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets, which was the first officially granted coat of arms from the Army to a unit outside the regular Army, National Guard, or Army Reserve. He shepherded it through the process to become officially registered with the U.S. Office of Heraldry. According to Temple's own estimates, he designed between 200 and 300 coats of arms for schools, colleges, and churches" (Cox, 2004).

Recently, I was back in a deep rabbit hole researching armorial bearings possibly connected to Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941) when I stumbled upon a copy of Tift College's yearbook from 1967.  Mercer University's Archives had since added this work to their Tift College collection.  Inside the Chiaroscuro, I discovered Temple's blazon and design rationale.  I was giddy with excitement.

Page snippet from Tift (1967) page 107.
Click to enlarge.

The following blazon for Tift College's arms is found on page 107 in Tift (1967), and from this document the chief's color is azure:

Shield: "Argent a cross sable with a maltese cross of the first, on a chief azure three roses or barbed vert."

Crest:  "On a wreath argent and sable a rising sun or charged with a sprig of oak fructed azure" (107).

From the rationale, its interesting to note the use of the maltese cross to symbolize St. John the Baptist while alluding to the College's ties to the Georgia Baptist Convention.  The golden roses in triplicate found on the blue chief represent three fundamentals espoused by the College: "development for usefulness in a democratic society, a high responsibility to establish the Christian family, a broad outlook for service" (Tift, 1967, 107).  Moreover, the roses represent the State of Georgia's official flower, the Cherokee Rose, while symbolizing, "gracious and blossoming young womanhood" (Tift, 1967, 107).

Problem solved.  Finding answers regarding corporate arms from closed institutions can be frustrating and rewarding at the same time.  I am thankful for Mercer University's ongoing work to preserve Tift College's history and legacy in US higher education.  As more documents are digitized and made accessible through the Internet, future discoveries--such as Tift's blazon--will add to our knowledge and understanding of the American heraldic tradition.

Works Cited

Cox, C. (2004 Feb 25). Designer of Nation's Presidential Medal of Freedom Dies.  Virginia Tech News.  https://news.vt.edu/articles/2004/02/2004-202.html

Tift College (1967).  Chiaroscuro [yearbook].  The Chiaroscuro Collections, Special Collections and University Archives, Mercer University, Macon, GA.  http://hdl.handle.net/10898/10928 

Stone, E.W. (1969).  Yesterday at Tift.  Foote & Davies.

Wright, J.R. (2005 May 26).  Heraldry of the American Episcopal Church [Lecture summary].  New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.  https://silo.tips/download/heraldry-of-the-american-episcopal-church

Reflections On A Year Like No Other

An impromptu December gathering of members of the
American Heraldry Society in Alexandria, Virginia.

The year 2023 marked a decided turn for me in my heraldic journey.  After putting off what seemed inevitable, I finally embraced a 10-year challenge to finish researching the heraldic work of Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941).  Frankly, this resolution and goal changed everything for me.  Towards the end of late summer, motivation crashed upon me like gigantic tidal waves pushing me deeper into la Rose's world.  A virtual explosion of articles seemingly sprang up from my finger tips.  With sharper research skills and the benefit of being very close to my data, I was making new connections and analyses at a startling pace.  

Furthermore, I learned to follow my intuition when identifying whether or not a given coat was worth tracking down evidence--with sufficiently trained eyes, I can now spot a la Rose design fairly easily.  Finding new arms for my data, however, has proven frustratingly painful given that many of these corporate arms are from closed institutions with scare evidence.  Thus, I made the ultimate decision to set a timer on data collection, and begin moving forward with analysis and writing.  I knew I could either spend the rest of my life tracking down la Rose's work, or move ahead with data in hand.  I truly hope that others will be capable of following my methods and add to the body of la Rose's heraldic work in time.  

My goal from the very beginning is to give the herald his proper place in history.  This past year has given me a renewed vigor in seeing this mission through.   

Research Highlights

Among the many breakthroughs I experienced this year regarding my research on la Rose, I can only write one word, CHICAGO.  

For a number of years, I kept having a gnawing feeling regarding several arms located in Chicago, arms that I believed were designed by la Rose but could not prove his work.  All that changed thanks in large part to the archivists from the Women and Leadership Archives of Loyola University Chicago who held a letter from la Rose dated July 19, 1930 giving answers to my long-held questions.  To read an analysis of these corporate arms, please click here.

The arms of Kenyon College (Gambier, OH) designed by Canon Watson between 1907-1908
appearing in the 1917 yearbook, The Reveille.  Watson was the first in the US to create the "unifying chief" for scholastic heraldry.  Source:  Kenyon College Archives. 

Furthermore, Chicago presented a rather interesting plot twist regarding the arms of the University of Chicago.  Following an analysis I completed on the arms of Kenyon College and the work of The Rev. Canon Orville E. Watson (1857-1951), I began revisiting all arms in my data devised between 1900-1915 that employed chiefs--I wanted to determine whether or not Canon Watson was indeed the first herald to use this technique in US scholastic arms.  To read about Canon Watson and the heraldry of Kenyon College, please click here.  This led me back to Chicago.  After stumbling upon some printed material in my files, I realized something was off regarding la Rose's attribution as the designer of the university's coat and off I went.  It turns out that la Rose did not in fact design the final version of arms used presently by the university, and the evidence blew my mind.  To read about the arms of the University of Chicago, please click here.      

Simply put, analyzing all that rich data was absolutely fascinating in my mind and represented some significant breakthroughs for our field.  While I have thankfully experienced other such breakthroughs, I've decided to save those for the book.  

Finally, I remain indebted to countless archivists across the US and Canada for their generous time and research assistance.  I received a lot of artifacts, correspondence, and data which helped fill in so many gaps in my research on la Rose.  After so many discoveries I had to share and used this blog to selectively post my findings.

Sharing My Research

The arms of the
University of the South (Sewanee, TN),
rendered by Dimitri Prica.

La Rose research aside, I had two lingering issues that I needed to address and overhaul--articles regarding the heraldry of my alma maters.  Readers might be interested to know that, by far, the two most visited articles share the stories of the armorial bearings of Hampden-Sydney College and the University of the South.  Knowing this, I wanted to overhaul those articles with updated data and emblazonments.  To read the story of how Hampden-Sydney College received its arms, please click here.  Finding digital emblazonments of Sewanee's heraldry was virtually impossible, so I commissioned two digital heraldic artists for complete sets in order to make these beautiful arms more accessible.  Please click here to learn about the heraldry of Sewanee.  It was important to me to do justice to both of my schools, and I hopefully accomplished that through my work. 

I was deeply honored to have several opportunities to present on US heraldry this past year.  Co-presenting with Paul Campbell from the College of Arms Foundation on the heraldry of the Ivy League was a bright moment this past fall.  I especially enjoyed the challenge to present at my daughter's high school earlier this month, sharing facts and my love of this subject with those students was definitely a personal highlight.

As I continued to fire up my laptop and post more regularly, I quickly began to build an audience of heraldry enthusiasts and this led to my final highlight.   

Building Community

A significant highlight for me this past year was being elected to serve on the American Heraldry Society's Board of Governors, a community that I've been a part of since 2014.  Additionally, I was appointed to lead our membership committee and we've already been hard at work, recently completing the Society's first member survey.  

The data we collected is both rich and revealing for the Board.  I thoroughly enjoy mixing my research background and professional non-profit experience to help advance the work of the Society.  I'm enjoying my new volunteer leadership role and hope to make meaningful contributions.      

The pandemic clearly changed our human experience and the methods in which we connect and communicate with others.  While Zoom has its benefits, there is nothing that could ever replace live human interaction.  Earlier this month, I had the great fortune to finally meet several members from the American Heraldry Society in-person for the first time.  While I've spoken on the phone and exchanged numerous emails with several, I had never actually met these heraldry enthusiasts before.

What's Next

The coming year promises to hold many exciting developments which I hope to share in time.  With many exciting developments in the pipeline for the American Heraldry Society, the International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences coming to Boston in September, and more research breakthroughs on the horizon, the new year will keep me busier and engaged like no other.   For now, I want to thank all my readers for your support and encouragement to keep moving forward.  Onwards!

Myth-Busting Heraldry: Fables, Facts, and the American Way

Newly emblazoned arms for my daughter.
Rendered by Allen Crawford, December 2023.

Several days ago, I received a text message from my daughter detailing a rather intriguing assignment for a high school history class.  What was the assignment?  You guessed it, students were asked to design their own coat of arms.  I contacted the instructor with an offer to deliver an age-appropriate presentation on heraldry with a specific focus on US-based heraldry.  "Myth-busting heraldry: Fables, facts, and the American way," quickly became the perfect presentation title.  

Having way too much fun building this slide deck.

The main goal with this presentation is to dispel many of the common American myths regarding the subject--every family has a coat of arms, armorial devices for nobility only, etc.--and provide accurate context and facts regarding heraldry and its use in this country.  I also wish to emphasize armorial assumption (a.k.a. "the American way") as this country's method in the absence of any heraldic authority.  I continue to believe there is nothing more American than armorial assumption.  

Using my own achievement for illustration.

To engage the students with this subject, I created (what I hope will be) a fun and engaging quiz, "Name That Shield," to underscore how coat armor creates identity.  For example, I'll share the arms of Harvard, the Episcopal Church, the arms of the sovereign of the United Kingdom, and so forth to see which arms are immediately recognizable.  Like any good teacher, following the exercise we will unpack the reasons pertaining to how and why the students were able to name the bearer of those shields.  My hope is students will begin to understand that simple and perspicuously designed arms hold power in our memories, serving as timeless abstract symbols of identity.

Perhaps the most exciting portion of the presentation, at least for me, will be guiding the students through the design and creation process.  To help bring this exercise to life, I created a coat of arms for the school itself to keep everything close to home in the minds of the students.

Fuqua School is a private, K-12 school located in Prince Edward County, Virginia.  The school is named after its benefactor, Mr. J.B. Fuqua (1918-2006) whose generous philanthropy helped propel the school to live out its mission to provide excellence in rural education.

Proposed arms for Fuqua School
designed by the Author and rendered
by Lucas Hofmann, November 2023.

Since the school's benefactor and namesake did not bear arms, I opted to use the school's mascot as the basis for the design.  The black falcon displayed, an unusual attitude for this heraldic bird, was fun to render.  The school's livery colors are black and red, and I knew those colors needed to be incorporated somehow as well.  The school does not have a motto, and thus I selected to charge the breast of the bird with a closed book to represent learning and scholarship.  Using the book--open or closed--is a well-known charge in scholastic heraldry.  

Given several limitations, I wanted to incorporate in these armorial bearings a geographical reference for further customization.  Formed in 1754, Prince Edward County is named for Prince Edward, the Duke of York and Albany (1739-1767).  To reference the county's namesake, I selected a simple ancient coronet for clear identification.

For additional reference, I selected three sheaves of wheat to identify the location of both Farmville and Prince Edward County.  The county's seal contains wheat, but also Mr. Fuqua's origins of farming and agriculture fits nicely as well.  

Roundel showing identification in the proposed arms for Fuqua School.
Rendered by Lucas Hofmann, November 2023.

Having three sheaves of wheat enfiled by the ancient coronet contained in a roundel using red and gold provided a logical solution for using red while also locating the school geographically--a design scheme Pierre de Chaignon la Rose (1872-1941) created for his devisal of arms for Mundelein College in 1930.  For the college, la Rose used two roundels on the wings of a phoenix rising from the flames to reference the religious community's foundation as well as the corporate sole.  I believe this arrangement was perfect for this new design.  

The armorial flag of Fuqua School, rendered by Lucas Hofmann,
November 2023.

Through the American Heraldry Society, I received helpful feedback regarding my design.  One critical learning outcome:  falcons in heraldry are typically "belled and jessed," and this blazon was new to me. Adding bells tied with strings on the legs helps identify the bird as a falcon, while referencing the ancient practice of falconry at the same time. 

I was most impressed with how the designed turned out in full color--especially when seen as an armorial flag.  I can simply see this flag unfurled and flying on the school's flagpole any day now.

Why should schools consider adopting arms?  While it's my belief that heraldry was never intended to serve as a corporate brand as defined in the business literature, institutional heraldry serves as a distinctive expression of the mission and values of that brand.  In an age when schools, colleges, and universities (especially private ones) are constantly rebranding in order to own marketshare for enrollment needs, schools using arms provide a static symbol for countless generations of alumni and friends of their institutions.  A well designed shield creates a dignified emblem for the entire community to embrace and inhabit.  Additionally, arms provide decoration for school memorabilia, especially when otherwise using the legal corporate seal should be reserved for authentication.  Heraldry also elevates any school or academic ceremony with dignity while creating new traditions at the same time.  Ultimately, a school's coat of arms becomes a timeless symbol of pride for the entire community, a testament to the carrying power of an idea birthed in the 12th Century.  I believe these are among the best reasons for academic institutions to adopt and use arms. 

Sharing my love of heraldry, and how arms provide unique identification, is work I'll never grow tired of doing; I'm excited for next week.  While it remains to be seen if the school likes, much less adopts this design of arms, I enjoyed the process and the creative stimulation.  I'll certainly post any updates in the future.

Blazon of proposed arms for Fuqua School: Argent, on the breast of a falcon displayed sable belled and jessed proper, a closed book with two clasps Or, on each wing a torteau edged Or charged with three sheafs of wheat enfiled by an ancient coronet all Or.