During the presidential term of Barbara W. Newell, 1972-1980, Wellesley College celebrated its centennial.

Non Ministrari sed Ministrare

Not to be ministered unto, but to minister.
Wellesley College motto.

The grief over the death of their only son was the emotional incentive for Henry Fowle Durant and his wife Pauline to commit themselves to provide Christian education of young American women by establishing Wellesley College, and turning their plush summer residence into a seminar for women, which opened in September of 1875. The intentions were to design the public relations material for the full-year celebration of the one-hundred year existence with the dignity it deserved.

The main theme was built on the original Wellesley seal, which had two icons of “water”, each on the other side of a centered graphic image of a cross on top, over an opened book with the Wellesley’s motto. The water items became the major focus to evolve the centennial identity, which was generously applied to all official college publications.

For Wellesley College, an educational institution, the focus on the concept of water was very appropriate for many reasons, because water, one of the four classical elements along with fire, earth and air, was regarded as a primordial fuel supporting the Big Bang theory and with it the scientific fact of evolution and at the same time the Christian concept of creation. It lent itself well to underscore the history of the western world, in which water was considered as a symbol for the foundations of thought as early as Greek history.

Water as symbol standing in for purity and cleanliness had been in use for many millennia, in the long-time traditions of purification, during which persons were immersed in water during baptismal ceremonies, perceived as a sacrament by Christians as well as believers in other mainstream religions, including Islam and Judaism. In many religions, a ritual bath or cleaning of the body of a diseased member of the congregation is part of this tradition. In Islam, the five daily prayers are performed after washing. In Shinto, water is used in almost all rituals to cleanse a person.

Through most native cultures, water is standing in as an accepted symbol for femininity, representing the flow of life and fertility, as water is essential for existence; it is life giving  and life sustaining. It has the ability to change and metamorphose infinitively from vapor to ice to liquid; from fog to mist to rain.

In view of the still existing cultural barriers to women’s ability to achieve at highest levels, water seems an ideal metaphor for a woman’s college. The perceptions are, that water does not stand still. It has the innate ability to adjust to every form, taking on all shapes of vessels and basins. Nearly always in motion, it turns from the smallest droplet into a trickle to emerge as the deepest river in its search to the sea, its heaven and primary goal. In its search for its own way, water is able to move swiftly around any obstacle and sometimes directly through, over and under them. Water comes in a multitude of configurations, from gently caressing life to aggressively challenging anything put into its way.

For the Wellesley community, the concepts of water and its source, the self-replenishing and refreshing well, seemed very appropriate, with this additional message, that Wellesley College’s goal is providing sustenance to a group of women for life and alumni returning to this vital source, thereby fulfilling the water cycle.

The symbol was presented to a small group of Wellesley administrators. I was never asked to present my concepts and solution to a larger group or members of the centennial committee, even. About half a year later, when the symbol was applied to many publications, banners, architectural signage, and lots of money had been already invested, I understand that a member of the centennial committee, who was not present at the introduction of the centennial seal, innocently looked at the design and burst out, I was told, with: “That looks just like intercourse”. That was the end of the symbol. The symbol was immediately scrapped and I was banned for life.

There may have been some other reasons. I had designed two course catalogues in a four and one quarter by eleven inch format, which doubled the number of pages and made the books bulkier, with the purpose of having them stand out from the common presentations of other competing and recruiting schools. The introductory catalogue was printed on newsprint, but because of the shape, this rather cheap and pulpy paper took on an aura of expensive craft paper. The follow-up and expanded version held lots of graphics. So far so good. In retrospect, it did not matter that the design received awards, because the message came back from guidance councilors, whom I did not consult, that the Wellesley Catalogue, when put on a bookshelf with other catalogues, was too heavy for its vertical shape. Inadvertently it would slip and fall behind all other catalogues and was therefore ignored, proving that form does not always improve function nor that awards are truly a recognition of design fidelity.

Still, many of the Wellesley publications, which I designed, I still very much like.

 

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