Coat of Arms

       Yet it is pleasant to know, albeit in a country where coats of arms are out of order, what the coat of arms was that fell to one's ancestors in the great strifes for existence and booty in previous centuries, as historically illustrative of the character and attainment of a man whose ever-so-many-times-diluted blood may run in our veins, and of the standard which he was obliged to live up to, as we now try to live up to our blue china. And one also naturally takes pride in the motto that indicates, if it chances so to do, a lofty character in the man from whom we have some part of our character as well as of our blood. Many a coat of arms, indeed, as well by its bearings, its crest, as its motto, indicates the whole character and nature of a family a nature impressed so powerfully that all the other sides of the house have failed to make themselves felt in material modification, and if the family were to be characterized by heraldry today, it might be in the same manner. Thus one may actually have an interest in the arms of the family that is perfectly legitimate, and not a subject of pompous parade or improper pride an interest in the expression of heroism, or force, or whatever it may be that they commemorate, shut up in that little space as if it were crystallized there; and one feels a right to hope that something of such worthy ancestry may at some time reappear in one's self or in one's children.

       For other use than this, which may be called a virtual and virtuous use, citizens of a republic have no need of a coat of arms, which is recognized neither by the laws nor the customs of a republic; and it is to be expected that it will be looked on with suspicion, when blazoned abroad in all its bravery, by those who are jealous of the preservation of so costly a boon as liberty, wrenched as that was from the hands of those who still display their armorial bearings in countries that do not present so fair a view of human nature in the masses as this one, in which the common people mount heights of thought and education and comfort hand in hand with the liberty that their fathers gained. 

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       "It's about constructing your personal narrative. It's about knowing who you are and where you came from." - Kate Cordes The Milstein Division collects materials documenting American History on the national, state and local level, Genealogy, Heraldry, Personal and Family Names, and Flags. Its holdings and research services are used each year by thousands of scholars, students, family historians, city planners, television and film producers, novelists and playwrights, visual artists and anyone interested in history. Learn more at www.nypl.org/milstein