Logo Nostalgia

Introducing Brooklyn Friends School's new visual identity is exciting, yet it also makes us fondly recall logos from our past. Let's take a look back at what can be considered our main logos through the years, beginning with today's and ending with our earliest-known visual identity.

"The Inner Light," 2014

In our new visual identity, the banner represents academic excellence, a core value of Brooklyn Friends School, while the eight-pointed star signifies the inner light of every BFS student. The star also reflects our Quaker heritage: an eight-pointed star was first used by British Quaker relief workers in the Franco-Prussian War and later adopted by the American Friends Service Committee in its own logo.

"Windows into BFS" 2006 to 2014. Over 20 different images provide glimpses into the BFS community, ranging from student artwork to BFS scenes; a few are below. "Windows" also saw BFS begin using the phrase "Inspiring minds and hearts since 1867."

 "Schoolhouse" ca. 1995 to 2005. Designed by long-time BFS employee Anne Garland, this logo referenced early 1990s artwork by BFS students which had previously been adopted for occasional school print materials.

"Friendship" ca. 1975 to 1994. Designed by BFS alum parents Leo and Diane Dillon, noted artists and illustrators. This image was, at times, modified by students to reflect both our school's and our student body's commitment to equity and social justice.

"School Seal" earlier than 1926 to 1975. Our school seal's earliest known print usage is on a 1926 literary magazine, though it was likely around long before. The school seal was incorporated into the Class of 1927's graduation gift to BFS, an artistic rendering of the Brooklyn Meeting House, still found on bookplates in some of our library's oldest books.

"Gift of the Class of 1927"

Printed materials at BFS did not always incorporate our school's visual identities. BFS letterhead apparently did not include images of any kind until 1975. Additionally, images were not used consistently in school letterhead during the 1990s. During this school year, BFS looks forward to fully incorporating its new visual identity into daily life of the school. 

Do you remember May Day at BFS?

The First May Day, 1928

Some readers may recall BFS May Day celebrations held at Friends Field and perhaps at Pearl Street. May Day was a huge lower school event that began in 1928. Each year had its own unique theme such as early U.S. settlers, nations around the world, the circus, toys, candy, and 1945's theme of international peace and friendship. Each lower school class worked diligently on their individual class performances and costumes, there was dancing around the May Pole, king and queen of the May from the organizing-it-all 6th grade class, a picnic lunch, and the lower school was divided into school-color teams for the afternoon's sporting events. Taking the entire lower school, kindergartners to 6th graders, to the Field required buses, so the gasoline rationing of World War II apparently kept the festivities at Schermerhorn for at least 1944 and 1945.

For many reasons, including the uncertainty of the weather, May Day was not always held on May 1. And, as happened in 1929, the rain sometimes forced BFS to call an early end to the festivities, only to have the sun come out once all were back on Schermerhorn Street.

This May Day Cartoon from page 43 of the 1929 BFS Yearbook provides an early example
of the work of the late Aldren Watson '35, artist, author, and much more.  

Your friendly historian does not know when the last May Day was held and could use alumni help to figure it out, but does recall very vague early lower school memories of a May Pole at Pearl Street and thinking of dancing around one while looking at a coat rack in the 7th floor music room, all memories ca. 1973-1978. Perhaps memory is off and it was really the Art Festival found on page 7 of The Life, May, 1974.

The May Day Court, 1936

Facing Truth in BFS History

1928-1936 BFS Lower School Scrapbook,
news clipping of the first May Day, 1928
"Emulating the May Day Celebration of the Early Settlers..."

Sometimes history reveals a past that is not always what we want it to be, even at BFS. A few months back, I wrote about our school's path to enrolling students of color, particularly to enrolling African American students. Honesty in researching, interpreting and presenting history frees us from the fallacy of unintentional reinvention while it gives us greater understanding of ourselves. My historical work at BFS often reminds me of the West African Akan word "Sankofa" which means, "We must go back and reclaim our past so we can move forward; so we understand why and how we came to be who we are today." I first came to know and appreciate the concept behind Sankofa when I worked as a historical researcher for the African Burial Ground Office of Public Information and Interpretation many years ago.

Great moments in BFS Basketball, 1925 and today

1925, BFS Boys Basketball Team,
with the Friends School League
Championship Trophy

It's a great basketball season for BFS teams, so today let's look back 89 years ago to February of 1925, when BFS won the Friends Schools national title in boys basketball by defeating Wilmington Friends. The BFS Digital Archives has this photo of our 1925 boys basketball team, with the Friends School trophy, which rests just outside our lower gym at Pearl Street today.

BFS Yearbooks - know all words are faint

These days BFS yearbooks are hard-bound volumes, about 200 pages in length, often have color photos, and provide an overview of the year for the entire school. The earliest known BFS Yearbooks, from 1927 to 1932, differ in many aspects from today's norm.

The 1927 BFS Yearbook was the Commencement Edition of The Life, which then was a quarterly magazine (an earlier blog post delved a bit into the history of The Life). The yearbook's focus in 1927 was on the senior class, with portraits of each graduate on individual pages, with their high school activities and a poetic quote for each. Other features of this yearbook also celebrated the graduating class and were yearbook traditions for several years: the valedictory, a class history, the class's last will and testament, and the class prophecy. Also included were an overview of the year in sports, the latest news at BFS, and, finally, charming advertisements from businesses of the day which were much needed as our students not only wrote all publications, but were charged also with raising funds to cover the costs of their publications through advertising, magazine sales and subscriptions.

Miss Woodward, innovator at BFS and beyond from 1900 to 1951

Examining the history of Brooklyn Friends School means also examining the history of education in Brooklyn and New York City. Brooklyn Friends School has a long history of educational innovations, but it also has a long history of allowing innovative educators to implement their ideas at BFS.

E. Frances Woodward
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 1951,
accessible courtesy of fultonhistory.com

Ella Frances Woodward exemplifies our long-standing commitment to educational innovation and to supporting innovative teachers.

BFS Playground on Grace Court, 1914 to 1923

In 1914, Friends School - as it was then called - was expanding at all levels, with its young high school program being one of them.  Our athletic program had only just gotten off the ground and it was soon clear that the school needed athletic facilities to go further.  Our second athletic director, Mr. Guy C. Carr, was also a co-head of the high school program and taught mathematics.  The school, then located on Schermerhorn, did have play-yards on either side of the school buildings - one for girls and one for boys and, in later years, one for older students and one for younger - but its true gymnasium would not be built until 1917. On top of that, "outdoor" education was the height of fashion: BFS built outdoor classrooms on the roof of the Schermerhorn school building. Even more, the public playground movement had hit Brooklyn, and, in 1908, there were only five public playgrounds in all of Brooklyn.

To meet the school's need, in 1916 apparently, the school rented a small plot of land at the foot of Grace Court, near Furman Street. However, it was decided that the BFS playground could help meet the needs of the public as well.

Our School Songs, Part 2

The second school song written for BFS is The BFS Alma Mater.  The lyrics were written by noted sci-fi author and BFS alum Edgar Pangborn '24 and the music was composed by BFS music teacher J. Trevor Garmey during the 1920s. Read also Our School Songs, Part 1.