In the spring of 1924, faculty member René Chéruy sketched designs for the Loomis French Club pin. Having worked as secretary to well-known sculptor Auguste Rodin, he was no stranger to the process of transforming drawings into three-dimensional objects. But it was collaboration with two professional artists — his wife, Paris-trained costume designer Germaine Rouget Chéruy, and acclaimed sculptor Evelyn Longman, wife of Loomis Headmaster Nathaniel Batchelder — that would bring what The Log described as an “off-hand” sketch to its final iteration as a dime-sized gold pin used as the club’s insignia and worn by students in the club.

Loomis boys selected one of René’s drawings, and Germaine modeled it as a large-size plaster maquette. This design was reduced to three-quarters of an inch wide before pins were produced. Evelyn Longman advised on the project, already having gained experience in her own career for creating commissioned medallions, including overseeing the reworking of full-size models into elegant miniatures and preparation for casting. In April 1925, The Log announced the arrival of the club’s pins with a detailed description: “Its subject is the gallic Rooster, the emblem of France, which with wings extended is represented uttering his cry of liberty. A band bearing the inscription, ‘Cercle Français,’ is placed across the breast of the rooster, while an escutcheon inscribed, ‘Loomis,’ is under his claws.” The original model was cast in bronze, painted green, and possibly hung in the club room.

A few years earlier, Evelyn Longman worked with students on another project. Mr. Batchelder wrote to the Medallic Art Company in 1921 that she had “helped the boys with the design for a little charm to be worn on the watch chain. There is a plaster model in triangular form, nine inches on a side; it is desired to reduce this to one inch on a side. The design is simple, a pelican, letter L and date only, in a flat relief.” Mr. B emphasized that “it is desired to produce these as economically as can be done.” While charms bearing this design remain elusive, then-senior David Grainger published his drawing of the object in the June 9, 1928, issue of The Log. 

A number of club pins and charms reside in the school’s Archives. Their details are all the more remarkable given the objects’ diminutive size. The largest charm of the group is 1 1/2 inches tall.

 

1910s

Loomis Musical Clubs Charm

During the early years of the school, one charm design was used by all musical groups. It featured depictions of vocal and instrumental music-making in an idyllic landscape. James Wise received this sterling silver charm in 1918; engraving on the back identifies his membership in the Orchestra. The incised maker’s mark of N.G. Wood and Sons of Boston also appears on the back. Wood and Sons advertised in the 1918 Loomiscellany, identifying its silversmithing firm as “Makers of Prizes for Loomis.”
 

1920s

French Club Pin

Designed by René Chéruy, modeled by Germaine Chéruy, and produced in consultation with Evelyn Longman, the French Club’s insignia pins arrived on campus in April 1925. Club members wore the gold pins on their lapels. 
 

Darwin Club Charm

Neither a pelican nor a swan, a moose head curiously decorates this Darwin Club charm owned by Robert Watrous Russell, Class of 1925. The club’s focus on natural history, the outdoors, photography, and other activities made it extremely popular with most of the student body during Loomis’ early years. In 1923, the Darwin Club moved to a room in the newly constructed Warham Hall designed to accommodate many of the club’s interests. Sandy Russell ’50, donated his father’s charm.
 

Loomis Agricultural Society Charm

Engraving on the back of this 10-karat gold charm identifies Walter J. Williams, Class of 1928 and president of the Agricultural Society, as its original owner. The front design includes generalized symbols of agriculture, including field crops and forestry. Walter also might have enjoyed an added figure of something more specific to his own experiences, perhaps the horse-drawn two-wheeled open carriage that he drove from his home in White Plains, New York, to campus at the start of his freshman year. 
 

1930s

Chaffee Student Council Pin

Although The Chaffee School’s mascot was a greyhound, the pelican appeared on the Chaffee Student Council’s bar-style pins, perhaps as a measure of economy or an expression of its association within The Loomis Institute. The first Chaffee Student Council members were elected by their peers in 1927, the school’s opening year, and less than a decade after women had received the right to vote in America. Anne King ’39 owned this pin, and her daughter, Ellen Kennedy ’72, donated it to the Archives. 
 

1940s

Glee Club Charm 

This Loomis Glee Club charm, owned by Glover Howe ’48, features the image of Apollo, depicted as the god of music, wearing a laurel wreath and accompanied by a lyre. The strong visual connection to allegorical figures sculpted by Evelyn Longman throughout her decades-long art career affirms Glover’s handwritten note that she had designed the object, as do Evelyn’s initials incised into the back of the charm. This charm is just over half an inch tall. 
 

Loomis Student Council Pin

The 1916–17 Loomis Student Council recorded its discussion about a design for a lapel pin. The pin would be “a round dish of gold with part of the school seal (the swan plucking its breast) and the letters LSC raised upon it.” Council guidelines advised that “the pin would be worn only during the term of office of the wearer.” The lapel pins, just half an inch in diameter, arrived in time for members to wear them to their final meeting in June 1917, and the design — is it a pelican or a swan? — was used for at least three decades. Glover Howe ’48, who served as Student Council president, owned this pin.
 

1940s–50s

Chaffee Greyhound Pin

When The Chaffee School for girls opened in 1927 as part of The Loomis Institute, it adopted Loomis’ mascot, the pelican. Shortly after, students conducting research discovered two Loomis family coats of arms. One bore a pelican, the other a greyhound. The greyhound became Chaffee’s official mascot in 1929. Two years later, the student-run Chaffee Athletic Association divided the school into two teams for competition: the Pelicans and the Greyhounds. This tradition continued for decades. Evelyn Smith ’50, owned this pin signifying her membership on the Greyhound team during her four years as a Chaffee student.