Talk:Heraldry of Harvard University

Extension school arms

EEng has placed a dubious tag on the following statement: "At the top of the shield the three books spelling out Veritas (Latin for "truth") represent graduate education, as the same device is found on the arms of the other graduate schools" saying that the three books appear on the College's arms and those of the university as a whole. He is right, of course, but the distinction is the placement of the books. On those of the university and the college, below, they are spread out across the shield.

The graduate schools have the books run across the very top of their respective shields.

So, too, do the books on the Extension School's arms.

Is the distinction clear now? --Slugger O'Toole (talk) 00:10, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Sorry, at Harvard they don't teach us heraldry technobabble like device. It's not for me, here on this talk page, that you need to make it clear – though I think I dimly get it now – it's for our readers, in the article, that it needs to be made clear. EEng 00:21, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

EEng, I am no expert either, just think I understand what the current text says. Would the following be clearer? "At the top of the shield the three books spelling out Veritas (Latin for "truth") represent graduate education, as the same element is found on the arms of the other graduate schools." Something else? How would you phrase it? -- Slugger O'Toole (talk) 01:14, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

I figured device was some technical term. In fact, even without looking you can bet it is. So, probably, is element. And almost any other word you can think of. Maybe not arrangement:

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.

Notice how cunningly I worded it so that it refers to the graduates schools in a way that's ambiguous on the question of whether HES is one of them, because frankly it sounds weird to call it one. EEng 01:27, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

EEng, That language works for me. I'll move it to the main. I believe HES offers master's degrees which would make them a graduate school, I suppose, but my limited understanding of Harvard is that nothing is simple there. -- Slugger O'Toole (talk) 01:35, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

You can't even begin to imagine. EEng 02:26, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

Images

It's going to be a fairly massive undertaking to get the images for each of the schools, houses, institutes, etc. up on Wikimedia for what seems to me like it should be fairly straightforwardly fair use claims. Any suggestions on how to go about that?

Lpburrows (talk) 01:04, 21 June 2021 (UTC)

New Law School arms

The new Law School shield adopted in 2020 is nearly impossible to blazon in traditional heraldic language. It is more of a logo than heraldry (which is fine). Not sure how to account for this here, and very open to idea. Lpburrows (talk) 17:35, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

Just done it GarterKingOfArms (talk) 02:23, 11 April 2023 (UTC)

Oh, this is brilliant. Garter King of Arms, indeed. Lpburrows (talk) 02:18, 14 April 2023 (UTC)