The College seal adopted in 1911.

The new seal, which was formally adopted as the Seat of the College at the last meeting of the Board of Trustees, was originally designed by Miss Julia Severance for the lobby of the Men’s Building.

The medallion proved so effective that the college authorities asked Miss Severance to make a small replica fitted for a seal die. The design does not follow the lines of the old seal at all, though it is not an arbitrary departure. The Bylaws of the Trustees require the college motto and an emblem to consist of a college building and a field of grain to typify the two ideas “learning” and “labor.” Miss Severance chose to retain the old Tappan Hall as the most characteristic possible college building as well as the most emblematic of all the Oberlin buildings. The building is flanked by a mass of trees characteristic of the college new and old. The field of wheat is well in the foreground, diversified and defined by the shocks of grain to the right. The road which separates the field from the building accentuates the perspective which a field of grain makes inevitable, and gives an interesting line in the composition. The work is broad and simple and the masses are well disposed within the circle of the words. The high relief of the lettering with its quaint form and heavy angles is very effective. The die will be cut from the design at once, and it will remain the official design of Oberlin College.