University of Pennsylvania is a researching institution, located in Philadelphia, United States. This is the flagship university in the higher education structure of the state of Pennsylvania. The university’s organization consists of 4 undergraduate schools and 12 postgraduate schools. Around 4800 teachers and professors explore numerous educational programs, specializing in many branches of natural and humanitarian disciplines, such as astronomy, jurisprudence, business, philosophy, history, et cetera.
The institution was formed in 1740 by Benjamin Franklin. That time, it was a huge homiletic hall for preachers. It was supposed to be a philanthropic school too, but the shortage of money disrupted these drafts and soon the school building operations ceased. However, the plans to turn the hall into an educational facility didn’t disappear. In 1750, the hall was transformed into an Academy and Charitable School in the Province of Pennsylvania.
From 1755 to 1779, the foundation bore the name of ‘College of Philadelphia’. In 1757, the first seal was made as the primary insignia of the organization. In 1779, the revolutionary government of Pennsylvania formed the University of the State of Pennsylvania, and based it in Philadelphia. It happened on the background of a disagreement between William Smith, the loyalist leader of the College of Philadelphia, and the revolutionaries. At the end, Smith resumed to manage the limited variant of the College. In 1791, the government had joined the two facilities into the overall University of Pennsylvania.
What is University of Pennsylvania?
University of Pennsylvania is one of the oldest educational organizations in the United States. The headquarters of the university are located in Philadelphia, United States. Being a researching university, UPenn provides its students with the most modern knowledge in various branches of demanded sciences in the fields of business, engineering, IT, biology, chemistry, and others. More than 4700 teachers and professors explore numerous academic programs, designed on the model of continuous researching and development.
The seal of the Academy seal depicted the pyramid consisting of many books. Each book was named after its branch of science: theology, astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, logic, rhetoric, and grammatics. The pyramid was placed on something like a table or a plate. Above the books, we can see the part of the university’s original motto ‘Sine Morribus Vanae’, which means ‘Without Morals are Useless’. In this quote, the authors spoke that laws without morals were useless. The whole seal had a frame with the name of the Academy on it.
The following seal was prepared for the University of Pennsylvania in 1782. The insignia had been composed of an outer frame featuring ‘Sigillum Universitatis Pennsylvaniensis’ inscription. The frame was contoured from the two sides by ornaments consisting of many beads joined to one another. At the center of the seal, they had drawn a box with something like a set of clocks. Above the box, there was a shining star. Below the box, we can see a small area with the year of the adoption of this seal.
The 1847 version of the university seal represents the familiar pyramid of books, but it was a bit smaller than in the 1757 variant of the seal. Above it, there was the unchanging motto of the university. The area in which the pyramid was located was bordered by a triple contour composed of wavy lines. There was the second outline just a thin circular line. The next area featured the institution’s name written in Latin. The external zone of the sigil consisted of multiple lines and patterns, standing as an ornament.
The next seal of the university represented the books, featured from a different angle than in the previous logotypes. At the perimeter of the pyramid, we can see three paper-styled lines showing us the fresh variant of the motto ‘Literae Sine Morribus Vanae’, meaning ‘Letters without morals are useless’. Under the books, we can find a shield. In its central part, there was a line with three circles. The outer part of the shield showed the ‘Sigillum Universitatis Pennsylvaniensis Curatorum’ inscription. It had a narrowed typeface with sharp tips of the letters.
The 1933 edition of the seal demonstrates the similar elements as the 1757 seal, but from another angle. For example, the pyramid is placed on a plate, as in the initial seal, but both the plate and the pyramid are larger than in 1757. The fresh ‘Leges (Laws) Sine Moribus Vanae’ slogan is split into two halves, placed on opposite sides of the pyramid. The outer zone of the sigil displays the university’s name in Latin.
The official logotype of the University features the large ‘Penn’ word, placed above a small nameplate. To the left side from the inscriptions, we can see the coat of arms of the university. It features a shield with a triangle on it. On the triangle, there are also three circles. In the upper part of the shield, there is a stripe. It displays a dolphin, surrounded by two books.
Throughout the history of the University, the designers have used various scripts to write the inscriptions in the marks. For the name in the 1933 insignia, they’ve used a bold font with capitalized sans-serif letters. There are small gaps in between. The other inscriptions, such as the slogan and the inscriptions on the books, use the similar typeface. In the logotype, we can see the large ‘Penn’ word with typical serif characters. Below it, they wrote a small name of the university. All the letters are capitals, but the first ones are enlarged. The central ‘Of’ word is drawn in a handwritten font.
Traditionally, the UPenn sigils were represented in a black and white color palette. The lines, ornaments and inscriptions were painted black, while the background was white. The logotype displays a blue lettering, whereas the ‘Penn’ word is bolder than the institution’s name. On the white shield, there is a blue triangle with white circles. At the top, they’ve drawn a red stripe with dolphins and books colored white and having some blue shades.