NHS Seal

Original Seal, designed in 1909
by Arthur Buel, famous Tonopah
caricaturist.

The Society’s updated Seal, 2012

Understanding the meaning of the NHS Seal

In the foreground is the figure of the muse of history, Clio, with the laurel wreath on her head. In one hand she holds the book of history, in the other a pen.

Behind her loom the snow white peaks of the Sierras. The mountains and the deep canons carrying streams to the broad valley below are suggestive of the natural resources awaiting exploration and development, which are the basis of mining and agriculture, the paramount industries upon which depend the growth and welfare of the State.

On her right are the immigrant wagons indicative of our pioneer life. The tepee to the side and to the rear of these vehicles advancing with the Argonauts reminds us of the progress of civilization and the passing of the Indian, whose history should be chronicled as well as that of the white man. All around her is the desert with clumps of sagebrush and the ox-head skeleton typical of the waste of animal life and the hardships and perils on the early overland trail.

Beneath the muse’s feet is the NHS motto: Servare et Conservare, pointing on the one hand to the labors of the society as the servant of the people, on the other hand to its equally great work of preserving and conserving the records of the past and present. On the margin is the name and date of the organization.