Reed College - Griffin Yearbook (Portland, OR)

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the sake of the stone cutters, but of course retaining the principal 'motive of the original, represent the leading uhiversmes and colleges. Those of the oldest colleges in the Umted States are laced over the main south entrance, and include, from' east to West, Columbia, Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Pennsylvania. The east half of the building carries seals from the eastern halls of learningf-the end including a group of womens colleges,- thewestern half, seals of the western colleges. The seal of Reed College is to be found on the west side of the oriel above the Chapel door. Ht also forms a part of the cornice between House C and D on the facade of the dormitory, and of the decoration over the Sally Port archQ Parts of the seal have been convention- alized for this use as a mural decoration.- It may be of interest to note the sources considered before the final charge, or design of the seal, was completed. The coat-of- arms of Washington University, St. Louis, Dr. T. L. Eliot,s Alma Mater, now placed as a seal on a t the left hand side of the Chapel I platform, was one of the many that were Considered as a source for ideas. The John Adams, crest, also considered for possible parts to complete the Reed College Seal, is now the coat-of-arms used for the Reed College Library book plate. Amanda Wood Reed, who with her husband, Simeon G. Reed, endowed the college, was related to the Adams fam- ily. Only minor details were adopted from the shields of John Adams and of Washing- ton University, the dominant note, the griH-in, or griHon, be- ing obtained from the coat-of Page Fourteen

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ile of a colle e. T will still be ingperfeWOh Cl COME: g together with the arch: stions for the plans. he expressmg thoughts and idea :he creating of a new sourtf happiness. They worked; rs conning all collegiateheh: BSpecially. As a reshlt oh 1.1 t Arts Building wae land 11h tted bv the Masochr ct. 'ths? 12, a second ceremony,nerv saw the laying of the cor . l1; . n. re the materialsfcgiizrd l ' 6 style . 1? er lib andth oundatlogzd km 1 mm lllcmemth esent se , rlutufeob; e thousan ksshouldf; P11 un ole With later additions. T?- re l to be found on some c012 of administration buildings d Library and science build: t W. T. Foster, Dr. T.LE1 deepened. They became: a group of bricklayers were set to constructing the East Side Library, as practice work preparatory to starting the structures here. The bricks are laid in English fashion, lengthwise and cross- wise in alternating rows. Stone and brick are peculiarly adaptible materials. As used in the Arts Building, they succeed in making it expressive of strong and permanent ideals; but as used in the Dormitory, they give a sense of domesticity, and of comfort and security. The majority of students, though not having the trained eye of an architect to recognize the fifty details of architectural deco- ration to be found here, hnd inspiration and inexplainable joy in discovering them. They are delighted, for instance, when they awake, one day, to a realization of why the main entrance has always impressed them with a feeling of its stately completeness. They discover for the first time the rectangles 0f Heurs-de-lis, symbolizing the quest of France after beauty and truth, and of conventionalized Richmond roses, symbolic of the ideals of Reed, which decorate the panelling around the archway. And they hnd that that same rose design forms the support for the pendant post on either side of the archway, that two large trefoils ta muCh-used Gothic designh fill the spandrels, 0r triangular spaces left by the arch, which is of modified Tudor, that two kingly lions, each With a paw on an open book, lie above the posts on a ledge beneath the oriel, or bay window, that the corbels sup- porting the oriel are covered with an overlapping leaf design, that the architrave between the pendant posts is completed with end seals in blank, awaiting the permanent name of the Arts and Science building. Evidences, like this latter, of careful planning for the future development of the college and the growth of tradition, are to be found scattered everywhere. Such are the blank rectangular slabs over the Dormitory doors, and the numerous uncarved seals and incomplete decorations. Noticeable elaborations on the oriels of the Arts building are the carved seals in the panels of the windows. There are ten oriel or bay windows in all, some having seven seals, others having five. The seals, in some places simplified from the original for Page Thirteen

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sources considered beforef: was completed. The coat: . Louis, Dr. T. L. Eliost'r: arms of Mr. ReedIs family. The charge finally chosen in the lat- ter part of the year 1914 includes a shield with a border of thir- teen stars, a Heur-de-lis placed at each of the upper points of the shield, a rose at the base point, and the griHCm on a conven- tional background of a Hattened rose. The thirteen stars come from the Adams crest, and the Heurs-de-lis from that of Dr. Eliot,s Alma Mater. The rose tRichmond rose, color of deep redy was added for local symbolism, representing Reed as the college of Portland, the Rose City. The griHin, which is the prevailing feature of the seal and the only one of its kind in use on an American college coat-of-arms, symbolizes something fine which every lover of Reed spirit should interpret and understand. With the head, shoulders and feet of an eagle, and the body of a lion tthe eagle and the lion being the two noblest beasts, one of the air and the other of the landy, the griffin has from time immemorial symbolized a guardian and protector of man and the beasts of the earth. In its early habitat in Asiatic Scythia, it was credited with the protection of gold and precious stones. Thus, in familiar tradition, it has gained, through centuries, the attributes of swiftness and strength in the service of protection. The griH'in was also connected in Mythology with Artemis, and with Apollo, the Sun God, whose Chariot was sup- posed to have been drawn by one. In this capacity as the servant of light, it became the enemy of ignorance. In later times the griHin,s position as guardian extended to the protection of sarcophagii, and, in many places, to its establishment as the Genie of a city. In the medieval period when the old legends died out through loss of contact with the East, the Church adopted the griHin to serve its own purpose. The new legends sometimes held it as representing the devil, eager to carry souls away to the deserts of Hell. The Bestiaries of the times give the first record of the griffin en rampant as thus falling into disrepute as an emblem. In other medieval legends, however, it represented the Savior. The griH'in in this case was symbolic of the union of the divine and human in Christ. Dante in Purgatory saw the car of the Church drawn by a griHin. Later, when heraldry was being Page Fifteen