Effort Underway to Make Consistent Braintree's Town Seal

A quick look probably won't do it. But if a Braintree resident were to take a longer glance at a few versions of their town seal, discrepancies would likely arise.

The seal was adopted in the late 19th century by Town Meeting and represents Braintree much like the presidential seal on the carpet in the Oval Office represents the executive office of the United States Government and the multi-colored fruit basket now represents .

But since that vote on Nov. 5, 1887, the seal selected by former Town Clerk Asa French has not always remained consistent. Official town documents are stamped with the correct image – one bent arm aiming a sword downward and around toward the year 1640, above it a rippling banner bearing the word Incorporated, surrounded by the town's name – but in many other instances, the seal appears, well, a bit too straight.

Town Councilor Sean Powers is preparing to do something about the discrepancies after a resident brought them to his attention earlier this summer. Powers said he will file an ordinance with the on Aug. 10 seeking to put Joe Powers in charge of signing off on all further representations of the seal.

"Some people might think it's small potatoes," Powers said, "but it's easy to clean up."

The councilor said he does not think it necessary to start tearing down seals across Braintree, but instead would like to make sure the images are consistent from now on.

"It's not meant to blame anyone," Powers said, "but going forward we have a town seal and that's it."

The most obvious problem with some images of the seal is the banner above the arm and sword. When it was created, and on official stamps, the seal shows a flying banner, not a straight one.

"It's meant to invoke motion," Town Clerk Joe Powers said, as in a standard on a ship.

"I think it fits in the centuries-old personality of Braintree," he said. "Simple, yet powerful, unadorned yet effective."

The center of the seal comes from the Massachusetts seal, which is more detailed but also contains the arm and sword above the depiction of an Algonquian Native American.

In the correct Braintree version, the sword is somewhat distant from the mass that the arm pokes out from, whereas other versions, such as the one on the podium in the auditorium at , have the sword almost touching that surface.

Braintree's seal was also meant to be black and white, the clerk said. Back in the late 19th century adding color was fairly widespread, and therefore the decision to make it black and white was purposeful. He also suggested making it a project of eventual replacement rather than a wholesale and immediate fix.

"If we consider the seal to be our logo, it is our identity," Joe Powers said. "It is meant to be consistent."