1909
ChapterCoat of Arms When the Fraternity’s coat of arms was devised in 1897 it was the intention to later delve into the traditions of each Beta chapter and its respective college/ university by placing a symbolic heraldic device on the first quarter of the shield (upper-left when looking at it). This would result in a distinct and appropriate coat of arms for each chapter. The idea lay dormant until the spring of 1909, when the Michigan chapter appealed to the Board of Trustees to sanction the arms they had designed. The Board, not having any authority under the law, sought such, and so at the Convention of 1909 legislation was passed so that a chapter, with approval of the Board of Trustees, might adopt their own coat of arms (August 2, 1909). The approval of the Board of Trustees was necessary so that all designs would be inaccordance with the specified template/rubric.
The Michigan chapter had their request granted and thus they were the first chapter to have their own “chapter coat of arms.” Heraldic devices for all of the
General Fraternity
In 1897, a new coat of arms was adopted, designed by George M. Chandler, Michigan 1898. The coat of arms of Beta Theta Pi has the following technical description: Quarterly argent and gules, a chevron azure bearing three mullets or. Crest: a dragon sejant or. Motto: –kai–
chapters were eventually worked out, and by the spring of 1914 each chapter with the sanction of the Board had adopted and was using its own coat of arms. New chapters were at once provided with proper devices, Beta Brotherhood | page 82
and the scheme had been put into operation whereby each new chapter was given a copy of its arms done in vellum with permanent colors and real metals (illuminated manuscript) upon receiving their charter. The first 10 chapter coats of arms, in-order of Beta founding, followed the English rule of heraldry (the parent followed by the nine sons in the family). After the first 10, all of the other chapters’ heraldic devices were chosen after painstaking research of the following: •
The college and state seals
•
The history of the institution
•
The history of the chapter
•
The heraldry of the founder of that particular state or commonwealth
•
The founder or benefactor of the college or university
•
The founder or perhaps the most prominent member of the chapter (Denison has a Shepard’s crook or cane for Francis Wayland Shepardson).
— The Faithful Home of the Three Stars, pg. 345