3. The Dalton Seal
Based on a sketch by Dalton teacher Elizabeth Seeger done in the 1920’s, the Dalton seal remains a link to Helen Parkhurst’s early vision for the school.
“When [former Dalton teacher] Elizabeth Seeger was an art student in Paris, an idea of what an ideal school was came to her and she represented it with a sketch of a mother with her children. In 1922, Miss Seeger arrived at the Children’s University School to teach and she had found the school that she dreamed of. She took the sketch to Miss Parkhurst, who had expressed a desire for something to be used as a school seal. This graphic school seal has been used in the school catalogue and is now being made in bronze and gold; bronze for the members of the eighth grade and gold for members of the Senior Class upon graduation. The die for the seal was ordered made by the Dalton Parent-Teachers’ Association. The motto on the back of each seal is “Go Forth Unafraid.”
—Unsigned memorandum, May 24, 1926
—Unsigned memorandum, May 24, 1926
“I am an alum with a long family history—John Seeger is my father; Elizabeth Seeger was my great aunt; my mother, Ellie, taught at Dalton; my brother Tony attended and many family friends were on the faculty. When I attended a reunion…in the mid-90s, and was talking with people who had the Dalton seal on the name badge, someone told me that my great aunt (Elsie, we called her), had drawn/designed it. I was thrilled and kept that name badge for years as a token of her….I asked my father what he remembered. He said he didn’t know, but it sounded like something she would have done.”
—Kate Seeger ’73 (as published in Connections: Fall 2007)
