The Columbia University seal is based on a design by the first president of King’s College, Samuel Johnson. In fact, the main difference between the original and the current seal is the name of the institution. Did you know that the original engraving of the seal was lost for over 120 years?

Samuel Johnson designed the original King’s College seal with a “Lady sitting in a Throne or Chair of State” surrounded by texts in Latin, Greek and Hebrew. The Latin motto, In lumine tuo videbimus lumen (“In your light we shall see light”), is taken from Psalms 36:9 and became the official motto of the University. The Hebrew, auri al, (“God is my light”) is adapted from Psalms 27:1. The Greek inscription, logia zonta (“living words” or the lively oracles) alludes to St. Stephen’s words in Acts 7:38. Alma Mater, as the lady came to be called, is shedding the light of knowledge on three children representing her pupils. In 1756, the design was cast in silver and presented as a gift to the new college by George Harison, a vestryman of Trinity Church. Harison paid 10 guineas for the seal.

Then came the Revolutionary War. On April 6, 1776, the Committee of Safety ordered the trustees of King’s College to prepare the college building in six days for the reception of troops. The College was to be turned into a hospital. Most students were dispersed and the library books and college equipment were deposited in the City Hall for safekeeping. The last few students were able to finish their classes at a borrowed house on Wall Street. While there was no public commencement ceremony, the College ordered an engrosser to prepare 6 diplomas for the graduating class. A note at the bottom of the list states that the diplomas were sent to Acting President Benjamin Moore. As far as we know, none of these diplomas have survived, but these were presumably the last ones with the King’s College seal attached to them. 

After the war, the College reopened with the new name Columbia College in 1784 under the New York State Regents, and then re-incorporated in 1787, under the current charter. In 1788, the Trustees of the newly-independent Columbia College arranged to have a new seal struck by Peter R. Maverick. The 1756 King’s College seal was sent to Maverick to use as a model for the new one which was in most respects identical, except for the name: Reg., short for Regalis, (or King’s) became Columbiae. While the trustee minutes record the commission and later the receipt of the new seal, they never mentioned what happened to the original model. 

The King’s College 1756 seal was believed to have been lost until it resurfaced in 1910. George H. Parke of Williamsport, PA claimed that his grandfather had purchased it from Maverick and that he inherited the seal in 1876. In 1914, the Secretary of the Board of Trustees John B. Pine purchased the seal from Parke for $250. It was displayed at the 1914 Commencement and has been in the University Archives collections ever since.

You can find engravings of the three seals – King’s College (1754-1776), Columbia College, University of the State of New York (1784-1787) and the current Columbia University – above the entrances to Hamilton Hall and Butler Library.