Fraternity and Sorority Arms, Seals, Flags and other Insignia

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by Psi U MC Vito

Somebody correct me if wrong, but most of the CoAs aren't technically correct right?

For women's groups things are iffy, but MysticCat posted about that. Pi Beta Phi's use of the lozenge is more "correct" in terms of women and crests/COA.

You know who knows a lot about heraldry, created COAs and corrected some? Emily Helen Butterfield, the first woman architect in Michigan, and a founding member of Alpha Gamma Delta. Other than us, groups I can think of she worked with are Tau Kappa Epsilon, Theta Phi Alpha, and Sigma Tau Gamma, but I know there are others I've forgotten.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

You know who knows a lot about heraldry, created COAs and corrected some? Emily Helen Butterfield, the first woman architect in Michigan, and a founding member of Alpha Gamma Delta. Other than us, groups I can think of she worked with are Tau Kappa Epsilon, Theta Phi Alpha, and Sigma Tau Gamma, but I know there are others I've forgotten.

Definitely. Per The Wiki, she designed or helped design/revise the arms for Alpha Kappa Psi, Sigma Delta Rho, Sigma Tau Gamma, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Zeta Tau Alpha, Phi Beta, Theta Upsilon Omega (later merged with Sigma Phi Epsilon) and Theta Kappa Nu (later merged with Lambda Chi Alpha), Lambda Omega (later merged with Delta Zeta).

[VandalSquirrel]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Definitely. Per The Wiki, she designed or helped design/revise the arms for Alpha Kappa Psi, Sigma Delta Rho, Sigma Tau Gamma, Tau Kappa Epsilon, Zeta Tau Alpha, Phi Beta, Theta Upsilon Omega (later merged with Sigma Phi Epsilon) and Theta Kappa Nu (later merged with Lambda Chi Alpha), Lambda Omega (later merged with Delta Zeta).

I wasn't sure of the wiki, so I went off my own research/memory. I found it interesting she was working with George Banta and allegedly did "crests for hire" via BPA for new and emerging organizations. I'm proud to say my chapter is one of the last who received a hand done Butterfield charter as we were installed the year of her death. Maybe we need to add that to our emergency exit procedure so someone grabs it off the wall in the event of fire or flood.

[MysticCat]

I love it when I have a reason to bump this thread.

Originally Posted by VandalSquirrel

I wasn't sure of the wiki, so I went off my own research/memory. I found it interesting she was working with George Banta and allegedly did "crests for hire" via BPA for new and emerging organizations.

To my surprise, I have recently read (on the Wiki) that one of the newer fraternities for whom George Banta and Emily Butterfield did the coat of arms was Sinfonia. (Banta also published The Sinfonian in its early years, and was a 1917 honorary initiate of Alpha Chapter.) I haven't seen it anywhere but the Wiki, but knowing how the brother who maintains our Wiki pages operates and how careful he is on accuracy, I can't imagine he would have put it there without evidence.

I knew that a committee had been responsible for the design and had solicited ideas for what should be included, and that at the 1910 convention the design was adopted "in its essentials," but was later put into its final form by the committee. If what's on the Wiki is right, the committee enlisted Banta and Butterfiled to design the final form.

I'm finding this very cool, and it makes me even more glad that the decision was made to revert to the original form of the design. (I wonder if uncovering information that led to going back to the original design is also what led to information regarding Banta and Butterfield's involvement.)

Just as a reminder: