Fraternity and Sorority Crests

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This article is in the process of being merged with fraternities and sororities, and may be outdated.
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Fraternity and Sorority Crests of known varieties are displayed below.

Fraternities and Sorories have created crests in order to represent the familial aspect of brotherhood and sisterhood. The greatest representation of fraternal crests are found in yearbooks and chapter publications from 1890 to 1925. Engravings were made of crests and tipped into the yearbooks, often later removed and framed. Sizes range from a square inch to a full page layout. Many of these engravings were signed, creating a period art form.

Fraternal crest engravings were typically made by cutting lines in metal or wood for the purpose of printing reproduction. The earliest known engravings printed on paper in this fashion date back to the 16th century. Much of the engravings done in the 1800s were metal engravings where the image was carved into a piece of steel or iron. In the early 1900s, it became more common to use photo-engraving, or photogravure to print the crests.