[23628] in APO-L
Re: [APO-L] new logo
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Finder, Randolph J Mr NGB-ARNG)
Fri Mar 28 09:20:51 2003
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 09:19:26 -0500
Reply-To: "Finder, Randolph J Mr NGB-ARNG" <Randolph.Finder@ngb.army.mil>
From: "Finder, Randolph J Mr NGB-ARNG" <Randolph.Finder@ngb.army.mil>
To: APO-L@LISTSERV.IUPUI.EDU
> I agree with Jessica. There are things in our fraternity
> that should not be touched. The Coat Of Arms is so rich in
> sybolism, why would any brother want to change it? Just as
> our Toast Song, all of our Rituals, as well as all the
> history of each individual chapter.
But our Coat of Arms *HAS* been changed. Take a look at the Coat of Arms at
http://ww2.lafayette.edu/~library/special/Alpha/Charter.html
(I know there are better copies out there somewhere, if anyone knows please
give a URL. I'm actually working from the quarter page entry on Page 151 of
the national history book)
At *MINIMUM* the following things have changed in the crest since 1925. The
changes listed below were made by the 1932 convention and the coat of arms
created by those changes by National Board member Andrew R. Jansen first
showed up in the September 1933 Torch and Trefoil. (The changes paralleled
changes to the ritual)
1) It used to be three trefoils above and three trefoils below, with the
trefoils looking very much like the club symbol in a deck of cards. Now it
is three torches above and three trefoils below. much closer to what BSA
uses.
2) The Sword looks different. Before the blade gradually narrowed from hit
toward almost the point, like a dirk, now its parallel from hilt almost to
point like a true broadsword.
3) The squares around the cross used to be smaller with the cross taking up
the center third of each side.
4) The triangle of drops has gone from two above, one below to one above,
two below. (Though occasionally this gets screwed up, the blanket throws
sold by the national office are done the old way)
5) The area with the cross & drops in the upper left didn't used to be
vertically symetrical
6) The entire scrollery work has gotten more fancy, and there didn't used to
be any scrollery under the "PHI" in the ribbon.
As for what's been done to the crest in these days of computer graphics...
I recommend the following
http://www.walrus.com/~region1/images/apo.jpg
http://www.csuchico.edu/apo/images/main_crest.jpg
http://asucd.ucdavis.edu/organizations/greek/aphio/
As for the ritual, I would be fascinated to find out how much our
brotherhood ritual has in common *word for word* with the ritual that the
founders of Beta chapter went through given that in 1926, the purpose of the
fratenrity was "The purpose of the fraternity shall be to assemble those who
have had experience and training under the Scout Oath and Laws, to revive
the spirit of that Oath and Law, to develop friendship, to encourage
service, and to enable its members to become leaders of America's youth,
through character-building, citizenship, college spirit and manly strength."
*AND* the fact that for the first 9 years of the fraternity's existance each
chapter was lead by a Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master. (At the National
Level, Supreme Grand Master and Deputy Supreme Grand Master. *True Trivia*
Frank Reed Horton was never National President of Alpha Phi Omega, he was
Supreme Grand Master) *AND* Until at least 1932 we described ourselves as a
National Scouting Fraternity (College).
The Toast song was a creation of a brother from Iota chapter in 1931 and
changed in 1964 with the addition of the second verse.
Now *NONE* of this should be taken as an endorsement of the change to the
Coat of Arms as proposed, *BUT* both our current one and the two change
proposals do fulfill the description given of the coat of arms...
YiLeadership, Friendship, Service and large amounts of mind-boggling
historical trivia.
Randy Finder
National History and Archives Committee
