Heraldry of Harvard University

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Seal of the Harvard Corporation, found on Harvard diplomas. Christo et Ecclesiae ("For Christ and Church") is one of Harvard's early mottoes.^[1]

Harvard University adopted an official seal soon after it was founded in 1636 and named "Harvard College" in 1638; a variant is still used.

Each school within the university (Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Law School, Harvard Extension School, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, etc.) has its own distinctive shield as well, as do many other internal administrative units such as the Harvard College residential "Houses" and the Harvard Library. Many extracurricular organizations‍—‌such as clubs, societies, and athletic teams‍—‌also have their own shield, often based on the coat of arms of Harvard itself.

Harvard University coat of arms[]

Harvard University's coat of arms

Harvard University's logo, with the coat of arms at left

The coat of arms displayed on the Harvard Shuttle, 2014

Description[]

The Harvard University coat of arms, or shield, has a field of the color "Harvard Crimson" and, in the foreground, has three open books with the word VERITAS (Latin for "truth") inscribed across them.^[2] This shield provides the basis for the shields of Harvard University's various schools.

Blazon[]

Gules, three open books argent with edges of leaves and covers on the two sides and bottom and clasps or, on the books VE - RI - TAS sable.

History[]

The Harvard Board of Overseers originally designed the shield during meetings in December 1643 and January 1644. However, the design was forgotten until rediscovered by University President Josiah Quincy and revealed in the bicentennial celebrations of 1836.^[2] In 1843, the Harvard Corporation officially adopted it as a seal, and the seal in use today is very similar.^[3]

Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)[]

Harvard College[]

Blazon: Arms of Harvard, differenced by a chevron argent between the books.

Each of the residential houses of Harvard College has its own arms, which are used commonly on merchandise, in architectural ornaments, on dining hall china, etc.

Residential Houses of Harvard College

House	Arms	Blazon	Symbolism
Adams House		Or, five sprigs of oak gules in saltire, each with a single leaf and an acorn.	The arms reference the Adams family of Quincy, Massachusetts, who had used an oak leaf logo in several family papers.
Cabot House		Or, three chabots haurient, with dorsaI fins sinister gules.	Canting arms, used by the Cabot family, assumed from the French Chabot family.
Currier House		Gules, in base an apple tree surrounded by a bench or, in chief a barrulet sable engrailed and fimbriated argent.	The apple tree references an apple tree which used to stand in the Radcliffe Yard, and was used as a symbol in a fundraising campaign in 1969 to complete Currier House.
Dunster House		Gules, three facing stags' heads caboched within an orle, all or.	A differenced version of an unrelated Dunster family, on a mistaken attribution by the College of Heralds.
Dudley House
Eliot House		Argent, a fess gules between two bars gemel wavy.	The arms come from a 16th century adopted arms by the Devonshire Eliots, from whom the Massachusetts Eliot family descended.
Kirkland House		Gules, on a cross sable fimbriated argent, three mullets argent of five points in fess.	Arms of the Kirkland family of Carlisle.
Leverett House		Argent, a chevron between three leverets courant, all sable.	Canting arms—a "leveret" is a young hare—found on the tombs of many of the family: perhaps inherited, perhaps granted by Charles II for service in King Philip's War.
Lowell House		Sable, a hand dexter couped at the wrist and grasping three darts blunted with points down, one in pale, and two in saltire, all argent.	Taken from the genuine arms of the Lowell family, as documented from at least 1563.
Mather House		Ermine, on a fess wavy gules three lions rampant and langued sable.	Probably assumed arms, pace Samuel Mather, of an unrelated William Mather of Shropshire.
Pforzheimer House		Per bend gules and sable; four squares per bend, each divided per bend and countercharged sable and gules.	Preserved temporary arms from "North House," the Pforzheimers having given no arms. Colors represent Harvard and Radcliffe, and the squares the four buildings included. Colors violate heraldic rules.
Quincy House		Gules, seven mascles conjoined, three, three, and one, or.	Probably assumed arms, but found on a silver cup belonging to Edmund Quincy, a second generation settler.
Winthrop House		Argent, three chevronels gules and over them a lion rampant sable armed and langued gules.	Genuine arms of the Winthrop family, brought from England in 1548.

Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS)[]

John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)[]

Extension School[]

The coat of arms for the Harvard Extension School was approved in 1983.^[4] At the top of the shield the three books spelling out Veritas (Latin, "truth") represent graduate education; a similar arrangement is seen on the arms of Harvard's law school, medical school, and other graduate schools.^[4] Instead of a straight line separating it from the rest of the shield, as is found in the other schools, a line with six arcs pointing up was used instead.^[4] A silver chevron was used to represent undergraduate education, a device used in the shield of Harvard College in the 17th to 19th centuries.^[4] Two bushels of wheat are included to represent John Lowell's stipulation that courses should not cost more than two bushels of wheat.^[4] A golden lamp symbolizes both learning and the fact that some classes are taught at night.^[4]

Graduate and Professional Schools[]

Radcliffe Arms[]

Other arms[]

See also[]

• Heraldry of Columbia University
• Coat of arms of Yale University

References[]

Sources[]

• Hammond, Mason (July 1981). "A Harvard Armory: Part I". Harvard Library Bulletin. XXIX (3): 261–297.
• Hammond, Mason (October 1981). "A Harvard Armory: Part II". Harvard Library Bulletin. XXIX (4): 361–402.
• Hammond, Mason (Summer 1986). "A Harvard Armory: Part III". Harvard Library Bulletin. XXXIV (3): 251–293.
• Hammond, Mason (Summer 1987). "Official Terms in Latin and English for Harvard College or University". Harvard Library Bulletin. XXXV (3): 294–310.
• Harvard University. Corporation. Seals, 1650-[1926]. UAI 15.1310, Harvard University Archives.
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (September 1933). "Harvard Seals and Arms". Harvard Graduates' Magazine. 42.
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1936). "Harvard College in the Seventeenth Century. Part I": 11. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1995). "The Founding of Harvard College": 3, 193, 325, 328–30. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Rosenmeier, Jesper (January 1968). "Veritas: The Sealing of the Promise". Harvard Library Bulletin. XVI (1): 26–37.
• Spindle, Robert B. (May–June 1996). "02138. Arms and the (10,000) men". Harvard Magazine. Vol. 98 no. 5. Letter to the editor.
• Bethell, John T. (March–April 1996). "Variations on a Theme". Harvard Magazine. Vol. 98 no. 4.
• Williams, George Huntston (2014). Divinings: Religion at Harvard: From Its Origins in New England Ecclesiastical History to the 175th Anniversary of The Harvard Divinity School, 1636–1992. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. p. 82. ISBN 978-3-525-55056-4.

External links[]

• Seal of approval, May 14, 2015, Harvard Gazette