The Augustan Society

 
steven harris
 
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steven harris
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04 October 2012 16:06
 

Does anyone have experience with the Augustan Society (headquartered in Orlando FL)?  http://www.augustansociety.org/

I have wandered over to their website a number of times over the past few years, and have been tempted to join, but $146 is a bit more than I generally carry around with me.

 

I’m curious what it is that the Augustan Society actually does.  I know that they record arms in the United States.  How active are they?  Are there meetings? a forum? etc?

 

Any insight that could be offered would be very much appreciated,

Steven

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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07 October 2012 04:22
 

No recent contact, but in the past (decades back) they published (monthly? quarterly?—anyway, periodically) soft-cover journals with some pretty good artwork (Carl von Volborth was their principal artist for awhile) & would occasionally publish hard-copy printed Rolls of arms they had registered.  After CvV moved on, the level of artwork suffered somewhat, at least IMO—I didn’t know him but was & am a fan of his work—but the illustrations (limited) on the website noted above do look pretty good, don’t know who’s doing their artwork now.

Didn’t know they had moved to Florida.

 
david
 
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david
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07 October 2012 12:20
 

I contacted them years ago, when I was on a learning curve re heraldry. I received a nice note and samples of their Journal, The Augustan from Sir Rodney Hartwell. At the time, the Society and its extensive library was located in California, but they later move to Orlando. They are a very credible non profit learned society founded in 1957 by folks who were invested in chivalric orders or who have strong interests in history chivalry, heraldry and genealogy.  As I recall, they had a number of affiliated "orders" focused on things like descendents of Charlemagne, for those interested in a narrower scope of inquiry. No phony claims for these affinity groups, of course.

The Society also established a registry of arms and published armorials as was mentioned.

 
Charles E. Drake
 
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Charles E. Drake
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07 October 2012 13:07
 

I currently serve as president of The Augustan Society.

I think the website <http://www.augustansociety.org/> explains the society and what it does very well. However, if there are questions, I would be happy to try to answer them.

 

Some of the principal activities of the Society are publishing its scholarly journal, _The Omnibus_, and running three "review" committees, in addition to other activities/committees. The three review committees are chivalry, heraldry, and royalty & nobility.

 

The Society will send a complimentary issue of _The Omnibus_ to anyone on request. Subscriptions to the Omnibus are available at $30/four issues.

 

The society registers arms and publishes these in a series of physically printed books (Vols 1-3 are in print, and Vol 4 is in preparation). There is currently effort underway to put the arms we have registered on-line, but that is hampered by lack of manpower (mainly needed to blazon the arms published in the books and journals). As opposed to other registering bodies in the US, the Society will register additaments such as coronets and supporters for those deemed to have a valid right to them.

 

In order to have these additaments heraldically represented, the claim to noble or royal status must be approved by the R & N Committee.

 

The Chivalry Committee recognizes chivalric orders and organizations of a chivalric nature and also recognizes the membership of Augustan members in those orders. Those persons with a recognized (by the Society) right to a noble title or chivalric membership are referred to with those titles and afforded the appropriate postnominals in Society publications and correspondence.

 

There are numerous other study groups and committees of more or less activity, depending on the interest and participation of the members. Most of the members have a strong interest in genealogy.

 

In contradistinction to what was written in response to this post on another forum, none of the Society subgroups are chivalric bodies or pseudo-chivalric bodies. There are a number of lineage societies pendant to the Society which qualified persons may join. These are not orders, and the current insignia consist of lapel pins for each. These groups are similar to the hundreds of other lineage societies to which one might belong.

 

There are three other subgroups: an honor society for those who have done service to the Society of an extraordinary nature (The OAE), a society of members of knightly bodies (the NCR), and a society of registered armigers who are allowed to designate a successor (The HOAA). None of these are chivalric orders, though two of them contain the word "order" in their names.

 

It is true that The Augustan Society has a strong bent to a royalist outlook, whereas this society (the AHS) has a more republican outlook. A royalist bent may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but The Augustan Society is there for those who share such an outlook. De gustibus.

 
Jeffrey Boyd Garrison
 
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Jeffrey Boyd Garrison
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07 October 2012 18:14
 

Thanks for shedding light on the particulars of the Augustan Society for us Charles.

 
Kenneth Mansfield
 
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Kenneth Mansfield
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07 October 2012 23:13
 

Are we too republican, Charles? I notice the AHS is not included in the "Heraldry" links on the Augustan Society’s website.

 
 
Robert Blackard
 
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Robert Blackard
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08 October 2012 00:59
 

"The Society will send a complimentary issue of _The Omnibus_ to anyone on request. Subscriptions to the Omnibus are available at $30/four issues."

Yes please. I’ve been interested for some time and would like to have something to look at. What how would we go about it?

 
Charles E. Drake
 
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Charles E. Drake
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08 October 2012 01:17
 

Kenneth Mansfield;96007 wrote:

Are we too republican, Charles? I notice the AHS is not included in the "Heraldry" links on the Augustan Society’s website.


Not at all. That is probably an oversight. As I recall, when the current (new) website was launched, the committee chairs were asked to suggest links for their respective areas of interest. As the then chair of the Chivalry Committee, I proposed a few chivalry links, but left the heraldry to someone else, probably someone unfamiliar with the AHS.

 

I will propose to the webmaster that the AHS be added.

 
Charles E. Drake
 
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Charles E. Drake
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08 October 2012 01:20
 

Robert Blackard;96009 wrote:

"The Society will send a complimentary issue of _The Omnibus_ to anyone on request. Subscriptions to the Omnibus are available at $30/four issues."

Yes please. I’ve been interested for some time and would like to have something to look at. What how would we go about it?


If you, or anyone else who is interested, will send me your name and mailing address as a PM or email, I will forward to our Executive Director, and he will send out the journal.

 
Charles E. Drake
 
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Charles E. Drake
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11 October 2012 01:04
 

The AHS has been added to the list of links on the Augustan Society web site. In fact, the webmaster told me that the avatar (the society arms) was already in the image files, suggesting that it was an oversight that the listing was not completed.

 
Michael F. McCartney
 
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Michael F. McCartney
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12 October 2012 17:09
 

Between the two groups, I suppose the "Whigs & Tories" of American heraldic thought & practice.  smile

 
ninest123
 
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ninest123
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09 October 2018 23:34