Seal of California
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The Great Seal of the State of California was adopted at the California state Constitutional Convention of 1849 and redesigned in 1937. The seal features the Greek goddess Athena (Latin: Minerva), the goddess of wisdom; a California grizzly bear (the official state animal) feeding on grape vines, representing California's wine production; a sheaf of grain, representing agriculture; a miner, representing the California Gold Rush and the mining industry; sailing ships, representing the state's economic power; and San Francisco Bay or the Sacramento River. The phrase "Eureka," meaning "I have found it!" is the California state motto.
The geography is not an exact view from any one place in California, although the waters were described in 1849 as being "of the Sacramento" and the mountains in the background as being "the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada."
The original design of the seal was by Robert S. Garnett and engraved by Albert Kuner. However, Garnett was unwilling to introduce the design to the 1849 state constitutional convention, so Caleb Lyon introduced it as his own design, with Garnett's approval. Garnett later became the first general to be killed in the Civil War, where he served as a Confederate general.
The city of Eureka, California, uses the same seal, being the only US location to use the state seal as its seal.
[edit] California State Normal School
In 1862, the California Legislature created the California State Normal School (now San Jose State University), and bestowed its Great Seal upon the school, as shown at right. Although the University's version of the Seal still graces its Tower Hall and several other buildings on the San Jose State campus, its fate as the school's official Seal is unclear. In recent years the school has also used a different seal depicting its Tower Hall building.
[edit] Original 1849 description
| “ | Around the bevel of the ring are represented thirty-one stars being the number of states of which the union will consist upon the admission of California. The foreground figure represents the Goddess Athena (Roman: Minerva) having sprung full grown from the brain of Zeus (Roman: Jupiter). This is introduced as a type of the political birth of the State of California without having gone through the probation of a Territory. At her feet crouches a grizzly bear feeding upon clusters from a grapevine emblematic of the peculiar characteristics of the country. A miner in engaged with a rocker and a bowl at his side, illustrating the golden wealth of the Sacramento upon whose waters are seen shipping typical of commercial greatness and the snow-clad peaks of the Sierra Nevada make up the background while above the Greek motto "Eureka" (I have found it) applying either to the principle involved in the admission of the State or the success of the miner at work. | ” |
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—Original 1849 text describing the seal |
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[edit] External links
- Images of the original 1849 and revised 1937 seals
- California State Capitol Museum: Great Seal of California
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