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KENAN
Welcome to Lynx to the Past. This is the podcast that uses the Rhodes College digital and physical archives to tell stories about the history of our institution.
Have you ever wondered who your dorm was named for or why there is a water fountain dedicated to a dog named Cujo? We are here to help.
My name is Kenan Padgett and I am a librarian. I love to root around in old documents and images and try to put together a story. But I’m not a historian. For that, I need the help of a Rhodes college history major and an archivist.
Lillian Brimberry is a Rhodes College senior majoring in history with a concentration in Public History. Bill Short is a Rhodes College alumnus and archivist with over half a century of institutional memory.
Using archives, interviews and intuition, Lillian, Bill and I will solve campus mysteries and legends of our college.
Together we will create Lynx to the Past.
KENAN
Today, Lillian and I are going to talk about the Rhodes College seal. A college seal is used on materials associated with official and ceremonial occasions. You might see them on your graduation announcement and your diploma. You won’t see the seal just anywhere. It represents the history, founding principles and core messages of the institution.
The seal is the round one with the shield in the middle and that literally says “the Seal of Rhodes College” on it. And that is what Lillian is going to tell us about today.
LILLIAN
As a student at Rhodes, the College Seal is a huge part of our daily life whether we realize it or not. There are many images of the seal on campus but the one that holds the most importance is the seal in the Southwestern Hall Cloister, situated in the middle of the floor, surrounded by four stone pillars and the names of contributors to the college. It is a common superstition among the students that if you cross the seal before your graduation then you will not graduate on time. My peers and I avoid the seal and the names surrounding it whenever going to and from class in Southwestern Hall. This superstition is so embedded into the college’s mindset that an important part of the graduation ceremony for seniors is to walk across this seal for the ‘first time’. Due to COVID -19, the graduating seniors of the class of 2020 were unable to cross the seal during their processional at Commencement. This tradition is so significant to the college that Rhodes mailed a seal for each senior to cross during their virtual graduation. The seal honors and represents the college’s past, but it also celebrates a Rhodes College student’s future as they graduate. The seal tells the story of our college’s history, and each aspect of the seal tells a story of the college’s past.
President Charles Diehl spent a long time communicating with The Bailey, Banks & Biddle, Co. out of Philadelphia to design the seal. In President Diehl’s correspondence he was very particular about how he wanted the seal to look. He was leading the college during a huge transition. He wanted Southwestern to be seen as prestigious as ivy league schools. In a letter to Bailey, Banks and Biddle Co., Diehl stated that “this college concerns itself not only with high standards of scholarship, but it lays an unusual emphasis on moral culture.” Diehl wanted to portray this in the design since the seal was representative of how outsiders perceived the school. It was Dr. Diehl’s wish that “the principles of this institution” would be “set forth in our seal.” In the communications between President Diehl and Bailey, Banks & Biddle, Co., Diehl was very specific in what he wanted. In a letter from July 9, 1924, Diehl made clear that his main goal was for the seal to be dignified and simplistic without being cluttered. In the middle of the design process President Diehl consulted Professor Derr, and had him create a draft of the seal. Diehl then sent this to the designers in July 1924 and instructed them to replicate Professor Derr’s design as closely as possible. President Diehl made sure each symbol and color used on the seal was thought out carefully: in order for it to accurately represent the college and its students.” It took about a year and a half to finalize the design.
KENAN
What does the seal itself represent?
LILLIAN
The seal of Rhodes College honors all the changes in the college’s history. The shield that is the center of the seal today has remained the same since 1900. According to President Diehl, the shield stands for the shield of faith and the red cross stands for the Cross of Christ. A book in the center was originally created to represent a Bible. Rhodes has a very strong historical ties to Christianity, specifically Presbyterianism. Now the book represents the college’s educational mission.
KENAN
What does the arm stand for?
LILLIAN
The top of the shield is a bent right arm grasping an implied mallet. This honors the college’s Masonic origin in 1848 in Clarksville, TN. The most common symbolism of the bent right arm is strength and power. The mallet is a type of hammer that is commonly used during masonry construction. The opening of this University in 1848 marks the beginning of Rhodes College. In the design process there was much discussion on how to depict the arm. Diehl and the design team decided to omit the hammer that the arm would have been holding. This reflects the already existing seal on a building that Dr. Diehl mentions in a letter on May 9, 1924. In the same letter he states, “The omission of the hammer will itself record a bit of history, and I believe it is worthwhile to do this.”
KENAN
What about the owl?
LILLIAN
The owl on the left side of the shield is the Greek symbol of wisdom and intuition. The owl on the shield signifies the period from 1855 to 1875 when the college was named Stewart College. In 1855, the Masonic University faced economic troubles and William M. Stewart, the president at the time, used his connections to the Presbyterian Church to organize the Presbyterian Synod of Nashville to purchase the college. This was a regional governing council of the Presbyterian Church. The Presbyterian Synod of Nashville wanted to create a higher education institution and benefited greatly from this purchase. This was very successful until the college closed briefly in February of 1861 when all but two students leave to serve in the Confederate Army.
KENAN
There is a tree on the shield. What does that signify?
LILLIAN
On the right of the shield is the “bush that was burned but never consumed", which is the Hebrew symbol that represents the presence of God. In creating the seal, the burning bush was difficult to make clear. It recognizes the period when the college was known as Southwestern Presbyterian University. It evokes the story in Exodus where God directs Moses via the burning bush to lead the Israelites out of Egypt into Cannon. This is representative of the transition of the college from Clarksville, Tennessee to Memphis, Tennessee. In 1874, the Presbyterian Synods of: Tennessee, Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas, started to lay the foundation for “The Plan of the Union” which aimed to combine each synod’s educational interests into one university. This was mostly successful being named as Stewart College as the single Presbyterian College for all the Synods. Before long, the Synods of Arkansas and Texas withdrew from the “Plan of the Union” to create their own educational opportunities within their own state lines. On May 31, 1875, the charter for Southwestern Presbyterian University was registered with the State of Tennessee and enrolled 131 students. Almost 50 years later, in 1924 while Dr. Charles E. Diehl was president, the Tennessee Supreme Court allowed for Southwestern Presbyterian University to move to Memphis, TN. Along with the college’s move it also acquired a slight name change. The corporate name became “Southwestern, The College of the Mississippi Valley”.
KENAN
There is a type of torch at the bottom of the shield. Tell me about that.
LILLIAN
That is actually a Lotus flower and is the Egyptian symbol of immortality and rebirth. The lotus flower grows in muddy water, but it blooms to become a beautiful flower. In an early draft of the seal there was the Egyptian sign for immortality. The architect, Henry Hibbs recommended that it should be replaced because the original Egyptian symbol reminded him of “carvings of country out-houses.” Deihl took this into consideration and wrote to Bailey, Banks & Biddle and recommended the lotus flower. The symbol of the lotus on the seal marks the future of the college starting once the college had moved to Memphis as Southwestern at Memphis which later transitioned to Rhodes College. The lotus is a symbol for the hope that Rhodes College will have a strong and successful future.
LILLIAN
The shield is the main focal point of the seal but there are other symbolic features that surround the shield. There is an intertwined laurel and oak beneath the shield which is emblematic of strength and victory. The laurel traces back to Greek mythology where laurel was representative of martial victory. An early draft of the seal had laurel and oak separated but in the final draft of the seal has them intertwined.
KENAN
What about the words on the seal?
LILLIAN
Surrounding the seal are the words truth, loyalty, and service. These have been present on the seal since 1875 when the first draft of the seal of Southwestern Presbyterian University was created in 1875. These three words are an essential part of the Rhodes College mission.
On December 28, 1984, the seal of the College was placed in Southwestern Hall Cloister. This was significant since the college was transitioning from Southwestern at Memphis to Rhodes College. The seal was put in the first building on the new campus, Palmer Hall now renamed Southwestern Hall. The Southwestern Hall Cloister is a dark room with lights above that illuminates the seal. The architecture around it is beautifully crafted with big arches between the pillars in the collegiate gothic style. Before looking into the history of the seal I had never looked closely at its design and never knew the story behind it. All I knew was to never cross the seal or else I would not graduate. Now when I arrive back to campus, I will be able to fully appreciate the seal and what it represents. It tells the story of our history while also showing the growth of the college overtime.
Rhodes is a historic campus with many traditions, but I would argue that the seal is one of the most significant. It is an emotional process walking over the seal since it represents the closing of a student’s time spent a Rhodes. At that moment you are surrounded by your peers and faculty members that have helped you grow in the past four years, much like the college has in the past one hundred and seventy-two years.
LILLIAN
But. If the seal is the official, ceremonial symbol of Rhodes, what about the lynx?
KENAN
The lynx is our mascot. The big Lynx sculpture is one of the most recognizable landmarks on campus. In the mid 1980s, President Daughdril asked Prof Lon Anthony to create a lynx statue for the campus. About that time, there was a freshman student in his beginning sculpture class named Ann Moore. She had an interest in wildlife and a talent for animal sculpture. Lon decided that she could do a better job with cats than he could. He proposed that she make this her project. Over the next three years, Ann worked diligently to create the huge, 900 pound bronze lynx cat. She made trips across the street to the Memphis Zoo to study the cats in order to create several small studies of a lynx. She then enlarged the scale and eventually bronzed the 6’ cat.
It was unveiled at half time during the 1987 homecoming football game against Sewanee, then permanently placed in front of the Rhodes Tower.
LILLIAN
But the lynx almost wasn’t our mascot...
KENAN
True! In 1924 while Charles Diehl was making plans to move the college to Memphis, he had a lot of details on his mind. Not only was he having a ridiculous number of exchanges with Bailey Banks and Biddle about designing the perfect college seal, he was also getting bombarded with questions from the architect. One of the most nagging questions that spring had to do with the stone toppers on Ashner Gateway.
Henry Hibbs, the architect, sent Dr. Diehl a letter in June 1924. It was a reminder that when they designed the gate post caps they had thought that the school might want to use an animal as a college mascot. Therefore they designed two figures on the posts. He advised that if they couldn’t come up with an animal mascot pretty soon, they might just want to replace the animal figures with some giant spheres.
Diehl wrote back quickly.
VO
June 16, 1924
My dear Mr. Hibbs,
Replying to your letter of the 14th inst. I have tried to get the boys to adopt a college mascot, but they do not seem to have done so. I suggested to them the jaguar as the wild animal that should be our emblem. Nearly all the decent wild animals have been appropriated by the various institutions and some of them like the tiger, the wild cat, and the panther, have been appropriated many times over. I wanted to have something distinctive and so far as I know, no college has the jaguar, and that is some wild animal. The polecat has not been appropriated, and it is effective, but to say the least it is not dignified.
I do not know how a jaguar would look on the top of those two gate posts, but if he would look all right, suppose you put him up there. I will leave that matter to your judgment, whether or not we ought to have an animal or sphere, but if we have an animal, put up the jaguar and make him wild and as pretty as you can.
With all good wishes, I am,
Very sincerely yours,
CED
KENAN, con’t
In late August 1924, Mr. Hibbs was still trying to pin them down on the animal. He mentioned they had considered changing the animal from a jaguar to a lynx. A handwritten note on the letter indicated that Dr. Diehl met with the architects in their office in Nashville a few days later. He told them emphatically that the animal was still to be a jaguar- NOT a lynx.
BUT! Less than a month later in September, Miss Belle Kenny, a well-known and respected sculptor in Nashville was enlisted to create the animal sentries for the gate. You may have seen her work on the reproduction of the Parthenon in Nashville. She requested a drawing of the college shield so that she could correctly model the shield for the posts. The shields that would be held by two LYNX. .
LILLIAN
How did this change happen in three months?
KENAN
The missing correspondence available is maddening, especially since retellings of the origin story say that the idea of the lynx was initiated by President Diehl and a dean of students who chose it because the lynx is an animal of “acute vision, domination and intense individualism” --and also because it was “more pleasant than a skunk”. There was not another school at that time with a lynx mascot. Legend has it that the student body at Clarksville unanimously accepted the lynx...but so far I haven’t found definite proof.
One way or another, by the time school started up in Memphis in the fall of 1925, the lynx was the mascot. The athletic teams were referred to as “Lynx Cats”, except for the female athletes who were called “Lynx Kittens”. The yearbook was changed from The Pioneer to The Lynx.
LILLIAN
Does the lynx mascot have a name?
KENAN
His name is Leroy Lynx. But that hasn’t always been the case. As far as I can tell, it didn’t have a name for many years. Then in the 1991, it wore a name tag that said R.C. Then in 2002 there was a vote on an official name for the athletic mascot. The winner was Lynx Maximus or “Max”. It beat out Paws, Lucky, Champ and LeSTeR. Lester, the name suggested by Prof. Victor Coonin, stood for Loyalty, Service, Truth, Rhodes...
LILLIAN
Oh, from the Rhodes college Seal!
KENAN
Yup! See how well we tied this all back together!
Thank you for joining us for this episode of Lynx to the Past. If you have questions, comments or want to share your own Rhodes College story, email us at lynxtothepastpodcast@gmail.com.
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