Fraternity and Sorority Arms, Seals, Flags and other Insignia

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by SWTXBelle

Symbol: Crescent Moon
Founder Mary A. Bingham contributed the idea of a crescent as part of the badge design. The crescent stands for growth of the Sorority and its individual members.
"We . . . must show growth in knowledge, wisdom, power, womanliness year by year or we are not living up to our chosen symbol." Sara Preston Finley (University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, 1912)

. . .

Crest
Our crest, or shield, was envisioned by Gertrude Comfort Morrow (University of California-Berkeley), the winner of a Sorority-wide design contest in 1915. The meaning behind its individual components, including the lamp, book, crescent, Greek letters and carnations, is revealed to members during the initiation ceremony. At Convention 1927, delegates affirmed that the crest could only be worn by initiated members who were able to understand and appreciate the ideals within.


eta - and I love, love, love our badge - A monogram badge? A symbol badge? It's two, two, two types of badges in one! Our beautiful crescent in black enamel with the Hebrew word - revealed during initiation or if you are a Hebrew scholar - and a gorgeous monogram in the center.

And here's where posting badges in this thread can be helpful. We get to see how the crescent symbol is carried through on the coat of arms and badge.

Question: Has there ever been another rendering of the coat of arms, of have you always used this version? (I'm talking about the specific way it is presented, where it looks sort of painted, not the design itself.)

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Here's a monochrome version of our coat of arms, often also seen in lavender. I couldn't find a good, full color version so I'll go with this one.

I'm always fascinated that Sigma Kappa and Kappa Sigma both have 5 stars on a bend (diagonal bar), or bend sinister (from the left from the wearer's perspective) in the case of Kappa Sigma. Cool coincidence.

Keep 'em coming, and it would be great if along with pictures, we could get information on things like when they were adopted. That way, trends (if any) might be a little more evident.