Dedicated to Study: Looking for Athena in the Academy

Delicately gripping their pencils, Seminary students Emma and Pearl examined their subject across the Art Studio. The morning light was perfect, creating playful shadows on the wings of the plaster model while highlighting parts of her garment. In the centre of the room stood the Winged Victory, about two feet tall. The large art class encircled the statue, enthralled by her authoritative beauty. Fred sketched carefully to capture the essence of the model, hoping his work would be highlighted in the Seminary’s annual art exhibition.

[fictional story written by the article’s author based on archival evidence of studio art students]

Fred S. Goucher, from St. Stephen, N.B., was a special student at the Seminary in 1907/1908. His work of the “Winged Victory” was featured in the June 1908 issue of the student newspaper. Ref: *Acadia Athenaeum*, June 1908, 295, available online here https://digital-archives.acadiau.ca/node/12278. Image may have been altered during the digitization process at CRKN.

When doing my research into the history of Acadia, I often found a traditionally male name interspersed with the lists of traditionally female names at the Acadia Ladies’ Seminary. I asked myself, ‘What is going on here?’ Eventually a pattern formed into an answer. Students from the University and from the Academy took art classes at Seminary. (This was also the case with music. But that’s a story for another day.) So, the borders between the three institutions were somewhat ‘blurry’ at times.

Art courses were always part of the Seminary’s curriculum. These courses are described in the Seminary course calendars, online here https://digital-archives.acadiau.ca/node/9395. Drawing courses occurred in all four years of the Collegiate course (but not the general courses), each year building on the previous one. For two periods a week, the art courses focused on construction, representation, and decoration. I found lots of evidence that their art was made public, including this note: “Work of [the] pupils must remain in the school until after the annual art exhibition”, which happened in June. (Seminary Calendar 1907/1908, 42) Special classes for students not wanting or unable to take regular classes were also available. The Primary Art Classes were offered on Saturday mornings, studying form, picture drawing, colour, and nature. The cost for taking Collegiate drawing courses was $7.00 for the entire year in 1907/1908. Courses in Art Drawing cost $24.00 that year with a Studio Charge of $1.10. Despite the cost, drawing classes were popular. The calendar indicates that 36 pupils took Freehand Drawing that year under the instruction of Miss Edna Bisbee and Miss Minnie Chipman.

Seminary’s Art Studio is described in the 1902/1903 calendar as “amply, lighted from the north, and is abundantly supplied with models, casts and necessary equipment for still-life study.” (32) Picture Ref: Seminary Calendar 1905/1906, opp 25, available online here https://digital-archives.acadiau.ca/node/9705. Image unaltered. Amongst the many models crowding the space stands the Winged Victory, can you see it?

None of this information was known when the statue came to the Archives over a decade ago. It was found in University Hall. Her wings were missing and she arrived at our door without context, so there was some speculation in the Archives that the statue was Athena rather than the Winged Victory.

Model of Winged Victory in the Acadia Archives research room. — Model of Winged Victory in the research room, 2025. Image taken by Catherine Fancy. The statue is now preserved in the Archives. It was in poor condition when it arrived at the Archives over a decade ago.

Why would we connect the statue to Athena? Excellent question. You might think it because of the Athenaeum, and that would not only be a great guess, but it would also be well-founded. I mean, you can see the goddess’ name embedded in the word and the early student newspaper was born of a literary society. Moreover, connecting the statue to Athena had more to do with the Acadia seal. No, not the one with the axes that we are all used to seeing nowadays. The original seal that we don’t use anymore.

The Acadia University seal depicting Athena with a shield bearing the head of Medusa, first College Hall, a spade, and a plow with sheaves of wheat. Ref: *Acadia Athenaeum*, March 1938, 14. I pulled this image from an article, but variations of it appear on almost everything from the University’s first 150 years.

For the University’s 100th anniversary, Millar MacLure, Class of 1939, wrote an essay called ‘The Decline and Fall of the Acadia Seal,’ which was published in the Acadia Athenaeum of March 1938. MacLure pointed out the errors on the seal as it changed over the years. He is especially critical of the depiction of Athena as she became more feminine during the Victorian era and then less feminine after the First World War (not the label he uses). At the end of his article, MacLure includes a proposed and more fitting seal for the future (which I have included as the image above).

Finding the Winged Victory without any wings or contextual information for her existence allowed for the fanciful conclusion that the statue might be a version of Athena. Fortunately, we not only discovered the model’s identity and use but we found Athena’s place in the academy.

Postscript

While visiting Halifax’s Dingle Park in July, I chanced upon the old Acadia seal inside the tower on the bottom floor, next to the tower’s dedication plaque. Why is it here? Yet another mystery to solve!

Acadia University seal at the Dingle Park in Halifax, NS. It is located inside the tower on the bottom floor, next to the tower's dedication plaque.

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