From Lord Jeff to the Mammoth: A Mascot's Journey at Amherst College
The history of the Amherst College mascot is a complex and evolving narrative, reflecting changing attitudes and values over time. From its unofficial beginnings with Lord Jeffery Amherst to the adoption of the Mammoth, the mascot's story mirrors the institution's own journey of self-discovery and commitment to inclusivity.
The Genesis of "Lord Jeff"
The question of whether Lord Jeffery Amherst (1717-1797) is an appropriate mascot for Amherst College has been a topic of great interest for many students, alumni, and faculty. Amherst College, a private liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, was founded in 1821. The institution was named after the town, which in turn had been named after Jeffery, Lord Amherst, Commander-in-Chief of British forces of North America during the French and Indian War.
How did Lord Jeffery Amherst, one time Governor-General of British North America, become "Lord Jeff," the mascot of a small liberal arts college?
In the early decades of the twentieth century, the college embraced Lord Jeffery Amherst in several ways. Good feelings between England and the United States that developed during the course of the first World War resulted in a wave of anglophilia in popular culture in the 1920s.
One key element in the mascot's development was the song written by J. S. Hamilton. In addition to the original manuscript from 1905, there is a letter from 1934 in which Hamilton explains how he wrote the song. He wanted to write something the Glee Club could sing to open their concerts, “…rather vaguely I wanted something a bit gay, like “Here’s to Johnny Harvard” and the song about Eph Williams “who founded a school in Billville”. No such thing existed for Amherst. Hamilton explains that his information and inspiration about Lord Amherst came from some verses published in the Amherst Literary Monthly in February 1903. This issue also includes a short biographical sketch of Lord Amherst that begins by asking “How many of us, for instance, ever stopped to inquire about the portrait of Lord Amherst which hangs before our eyes every morning that we attend chapel? Who was Lord Amherst, anyway? How did this fair college town ever receive his name? And where did this portrait come from?” (277). The portrait, now part of the collections of the Mead Art Museum, was presented to the college by Herbert B. Hamilton himself was not particularly pleased with the song he wrote, but his classmates liked it and helped finish the last couple of lines. Hamilton says “The whole thing had been frivolously conceived and carelessly done, without any reference to historical justification or fact and even with Jeffery’s name mis-spelled. The song was first published in 1906 in the anthology Amherst College Songs, which includes a total of 14 songs either composed or arranged by J. S. Hamilton. In 1926 Hamilton generously donated copyright in the song to Amherst College, and it has been reprinted many times since. One mark of its rising status at the college is that it is the first song in the 1926 edition of Amherst College Songs (it was on page 82 in the first edition). Also notable is that someone took the time to correct the spelling of Lord Amherst’s name.
Read also: Comprehensive Guide to Amherst
The first issue of the student humor magazine Lord Jeff appeared in June 1920 to coincide with college Commencement. While Amherst College had many student publications come and go over the years, Lord Jeff was the first to take full advantage of color printing and the ability to publish photographs. This cover from May 1921 portrays Lord Jeffery Amherst as a laughable character with a very Betty Boop-ish prom date, not as a noble, sober soldier for the King. “Mutt & Jeff” was one of the first daily newspaper comic strips, created by “Bud” Fisher in 1907. Once you see the 1920s “Lord Jeff” next to his namesake, it’s difficult to deny the similarity.
The Lord Jeffery Inn also opened for business in 1926 - the same year Hamilton’s song was given such a prominent position in the new edition of Amherst College Songs.
During the second World War, publication of The Amherst Student was suspended. The Jeff was a far cry from the humor magazine of the 1920s. This 4-page paper was the result of war time shortages of both paper and manpower. The cartoonish Lord Jeff of the magazine seems to disappear completely after the magazine stopped publishing, but the figure of Lord Jeffery remains a constant presence.
Controversy and Change
However, through some recent revisionist history it came to light that Lord Jeffery Amherst, the commander of British forces in North America during the French and Indian War, may have supported the idea of dispensing blankets laced with the smallpox virus to Indians-an early example of biological warfare. This paper analyses how and why Amherst College changed its historic, unofficial institutional symbol - the scope and pitfalls of the process; the highly controversial nature of the undertaking; the diligent work of alumni, students, faculty and staff and the ultimate success of the project.
As scholars started to raise new questions about the American colonial past, some of Lord Jeffery Amherst’s actions at the time of the French and Indian War gained new attention, and critics of his mascot status at the college began to emerge. Over time, the Amherst community became divided on this issue.
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Given this information, Amherst College decided to drop their longtime unofficial mascot, “The Lord Jeffs” or just “The Jeffs”.
The school receives many complaints about the mascot. Students and faculty at the college have debated for years whether to stop using a mascot known as the Lord Jeff for sports teams and other business. English professor Barry O'Connell took part in a unanimous faculty vote in November to abandon the mascot. And while he says the college has made significant progress recruiting students of color…O'CONNELL: Symbols aren't just empty, but they actually mean something, especially when they're taken for granted.BROWN: Removal of the mascot was a key demand in a three-day student sit-in for better diversity policies last fall. And a November poll found 83 percent of students wanted the mascot gone. This week, the college trustees publicly agreed. In a long letter to the campus community, Chairman Cullen Murphy wrote that the mascot is driving people apart, so the college will not use the Lord Jeff in any official communications. Sophomore Sydney Tate says it's about time.SYDNEY TATE: I feel like the mascot itself and the name does more harm than good for this school. That's why I think it's important that we make this a more inclusive environment.BROWN: Not everyone considers the mascot a pressing issue. Student Corry Wang says he's fine with the change, but…CORRY WANG: Even before this happened, you really didn't see the, you know, mascot on campus anywhere except maybe in the context of student athletics.BROWN: Some college alumni have come out against abandoning the Lord Jeff name, claiming the historical record on the general is complex and the mascot represents a long tradition.
Figures from history must be treated within the context of their time and circumstances. Yes, the mascot refers to Jeffery Amherst, and no one denies the fact that he treated Native Americans as enemies, which to Amherst is exactly what they were. It was during Pontiac’s Rebellion when Amherst used biological warfare against the Native Americans by way of blankets infected with smallpox. This is a fact, but we must take it with the proper perspective. Weapons of mass destruction were used by both sides in both World Wars, but we must recognize and understand that the generals in these wars were operating in a situation that had no morally correct solution. Context is important. This is true for famous figures of history, but it is also true for every single student here. Don’t we want future generations to keep context in mind when forming their opinions of us? If the mascot must be changed because it is offensive to the Native American community for us to be called the Lord Jeffs, then the name of the college must be changed as well if we are to have any semblance of ideological consistency. Why stop at the mascot? This seems like a pathetic and superficial response. We are called Amherst College because of Jeffery Amherst. Changing the mascot doesn’t rid us of the association with Lord Jeff, which a few people think is a problem. Far more meaningful activities are things like the Admissions Office inviting Native Americans to the Diversity Open House and spending extra time with them, in an effort to increase the amount of Native American applications sent to the college.
The mascot is a caricature of Lord Jeffery Amherst, an English general who proposed giving blankets from smallpox patients to Native Americans.
In January 2016, the chair of Amherst’s board of trustees announced that the college would no longer use Lord Jeff in an official capacity and suggested an alumni/student committee to consider next steps.
Read also: Getting into Amherst: Scores
Embracing the Mammoth
After a lengthy nomination process and a campus-wide vote the college adopted the prehistoric, and very extinct, mammoth as its new official mascot. “The Mammoths” beat out finalists “The Hamsters,” an anagram of the word Amherst, and “The Poets,” a reference to the famous American poet Emily Dickinson who was born in the town of Amherst and studied at the Amherst Academy (precursor to Amherst College). The winning mascot name, “Amherst Mammoths,” was inspired by a nearly perfect, skeletal specimen of a Columbian Mammoth, the second largest in the world, housed at Amherst’s renowned Beneski Museum of Natural History. Supporters of the new mammoth moniker also liked the fact that the Columbian Mammoth was an herbivore and thought to have been sociable, traveling with their families in herds, and rather docile in temperament. And the beast looks good in purple.
Pentagram was commissioned to design the new Amherst mammoth icon and to revamp the athletic and institutional identity systems for the college. Two versions of the mammoth mark were created, a full-figure version depicting the massive creature lumbering forward-determined but not too aggressive, and a version featuring just the mammoth’s head with its distinctive, supersized tusks.
In addition to the new mammoth marks, the Pentagram team created several alternate icons including a redesign of the college’s nearly 200 year-old academic seal that was affixed to the diplomas awarded to the graduates at Amherst College’s first commencement in the summer of 1825. The seal, which has been tweaked multiple times over the last two centuries, is composed in a double circle and features a sun radiating above the college’s Latin motto “Terras Irradient” (Let them enlighten the Lands). An open book, symbolizing learning and knowledge, completes the composition. Pentagram’s designers simplified the seal, originally complex and frilly-consistent with the style of heraldry when it was created, so it functions better in today’s small-use digital applications, but maintains the attractiveness and integrity of the historic academic crest. The words “Sigill. Coll. Amherst. Mass. Nov. Ang. MDCCCXXV” which translates to “Seal of Amherst College, Massachusetts, New England, 1825.” is set in all-caps around the perimeter of the circular crest. The dated-looking Trajan, derided as “The Movie Poster Typeface” in typography circles, is updated with the identity system’s new primary typeface Tiempos, a contemporary Roman typeface designed by the Klim Type Foundry based in New Zealand, and the motto is set in the system’s new san serif typeface Setimo. In addition to Tiempos and Setimo, typefaces primarily used for the revamped academic identity system, the Pentagram team introduced Soho, a sporty slab-serif used in all-caps, for athletics and spirit applications. Multiple logotypes and a variety of logo lockups keep the new identity system organized and easy to use but also flexible.Two revised versions of the Amherst “A” (The Monogram) also set in Tiempos, a sunburst graphic element, an updated color palette, and new logos for Amherst’s four giving societies complete the identity tool kit.
Athletics and Identity
Amherst College has the oldest athletic program in the nation, dating back to a compulsory physical fitness regimen that was put in place for all students in 1860. The new Amherst Mammoth proudly takes its place alongside other NCAA Division 3, New England Small College Athletic Conference (NESCAC) mascots including the Bowdoin College Polar Bear, the Tufts College Elephant, the Connecticut College Camel, the Trinity College Rooster, the Middlebury College Panther, the Colby College Mule and the Williams College Purple Cow.
As with the Lord Jeff magazine, many athletics programs feature a caricature of Lord Jeff but the majority of them do not. Many questions about Lord Jeff as the Amherst College mascot remain. Who made the giant head and when? Who was the first student to dress up like Lord Jeff for a sporting event? A survey of back issues of The Olio might help answer that question, as would a careful study of back issues of The Amherst Student. The selection process for an official mascot began on Oct.
Amherst participates in the NCAA's Division III, the Eastern College Athletic Conference, and the New England Small College Athletic Conference, which includes Bates, Bowdoin, Colby, Connecticut College, Hamilton, Middlebury, Trinity, Tufts, Wesleyan, and Williams. Amherst is also one of the "Little Three", along with Williams and Wesleyan. Amherst's growing athletics program has been the subject of controversy in recent years due to dramatic contrasts between the racial and socioeconomic makeup of its student athletes and the rest of its student body, the clustering of athletes in particular academic departments, and a perceived "divide" on campus between varsity athletes and other students. Amherst fields several club athletic teams, including ultimate, soccer, crew, rugby union, water polo, equestrian, mountain biking, fencing, sailing and skiing.
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