Dartmouth College Crest

1957

Dartmouth College, New Hampshire

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Dartmouth College was founded in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, a Congregational minister from Connecticut, who was keen to establish a school to train Native Americans as Christian missionaries. On 13 December 1769, a charter was granted to the school, and eventually a seal with a coat of arms was created, depicting a pine grove, Native Americans walking towards Dartmouth Hall, and the school motto: Vox clamantis in deserto (‘A calling voice in the wilderness’). After various iterations, a simplified line-drawing was designed in 1940 by noted typographer W. A. Dwiggins. In 1957 his version was modified, changing ‘1770’ (on the original seal) to ‘1769’, which matched the charter date.