When the Classroom Building at Wheelock College was built and dedicated in 1941, a stone coat of arms was fixed above the main entrance on Pilgrim Road. In a letter included in the March 1942 alumnae newsletter, Lucy Wheelock described the significance of the newly adopted symbol of the institution she’d founded in 1888:
“Over the doorway of our building at 25 Pilgrim Road is the Wheelock coat of arms. It shows three wheels encircled by a wreath of oak leaves and acorns. The three wheels mean progress in the right training of childhood. They show the purpose of Wheelock College to follow the guiding ideal of the Kindergarten, – the training of the head, the heart, and the hand. We wish our children not only to know, but to do, and to feel the joy of service to humanity.”
And in her unpublished autobiography, My Life Story, Miss Wheelock describes the symbol’s relationship to her own educational hero, Friedrich Fröbel (or Froebel), the innovative German educator who first introduced the “kindergarten” in 1840:
“The wheels mean progress, progress toward Froebel’s ideal of child training of the head, the heart, and the hand. The oak leaves and acorns mean growth – Great oaks from little acorns grow.”
On June 3, 1960, Wheelock’s Board of Trustees voted to incorporate the coat of arms into the official seal for the college – a crest we continue to use to this day. You can still see the Wheelock College coat of arms above the entrance to the Classroom Building at 25 Pilgrim Road.
Learn more about the Wheelock College Archives online or schedule a time to meet with the Archivist about our collections documenting the history of our institution, the histories of our alumni, and the history of efforts by those at Wheelock and around the world to improve the lives of children and families.
-Andrew Elder, Archivist
Did you like this article? Share it with your friends!
Remember back in the fall when Hollywood came to campus and covered our quad with fake snow?
