"Monogram Pennant" (ca. 1910s)

The style

​In previous posts, I covered certain pennant styles that were popular during the past century: date pennants; photo pennants; burgee pennants, even 3-D pennants.  Today, we'll cover a favorite of mine: the Monogram Pennant.

Monogram pennants were quite popular around the 1910s.  At that time, only a select few pennant makers were able to screen print their pennants.  The majority that lacked access to this novel production method were forced to make their pennants the traditional way: entirely from felt.  Among the many sewed letter pennants these makers produced, the Monogram pennant was quite popular. 

Above: Johnny Cash poses outside California's Folsom Prison in 1968, the day he recorded, "At Folsom Prison."  Built in the 19th century, the prison's famous east gate is adorned with decorative masonry, complete with a four-letter monogram: C.S.P.F. (California State Prison Folsom).

In fact, monograms, in general, were very much en vogue at the turn of the century.  Indeed, back then many companies, institutions, and individuals of the day displayed their names via monograms.  Due to the space constraints on your typical felt pennant, abbreviating a lengthy school name with the aid of a monogram  made perfect sense.

​Monograms haven't completely gone out of fashion.  The thing is, today, you mostly see two letter monograms.  Three letters, at the most.  But 100 years ago, three and even four letter monograms were quite common.

Obviously, with every letter you add, the more overlap you get.  Consequently, some of these monograms require a bit of interpretation (or uninterrupted focus) before their true initials reveal themselves!  And, to make things even more interesting, the letter fonts used to make these monograms were typically among some of the more ornate options available.

A pennant commentator once said some of these monograms look more like a map of the Tokyo subway system than the initials of a school.  I couldn't agree more.  Nevertheless, they look pretty cool when sewed in felt.  Here's some of my favorites:

A few weeks ago, I received a package in the mail.  Inside, I found this:

This beautifully made Yale University monogram pennant came to me courtesy of the Tinges Family.  According to them, the pennant was purchased in New Haven, CT in the 1920s by their uncle while passing through town.  Patricia and Bob: Thank you for sharing this family treasure with me.  Your generosity has inspired me to write this post so that others can come to appreciate this forgotten pennant style of yesteryear.

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For some time now, I've been wanting to make my own monogram pennant.  Like many of my previous projects, I was hoping to make a Notre Dame monogram pennant.  For better or worse, most of the monogram pennants from my alma mater made at the turn of the century featured only a two-letter interlocking "ND."

Borrrrrrrring, right?  C'mon, Stanford, had those beautifully complex four-letter monograms.  I needed a minimum three-letter monogram to really get into this project.  So I scoured the internet for something special....

Okay, these weren't bad options:

All of the above are beautiful pennants.  No question about it.  But, none of these monograms were really anything to write home about.  So I kept looking.  And, in my online search, I came across an old letter from Knute Rockne, typed on University of Notre Dame letterhead, dated September 27, 1921.  And wouldn't you know it?  Coach's own letterhead featured this three-letter, U.N.D., monogram: 

Ah ha!  This was what I was in search of.  There had to be at least one pennant made featuring this unique three letter monogram, right?

​Turns out ... there were two!

Above: The '13 football team from the University of Notre Dame stopped in Kingston, NY for this photo, "En route to West Point," on November 1, 1913.  Later that afternoon, the team defeated Army, 35-17.  The photo depicts members of the team, as well as boosters, clutching a pair of matching three-letter monogram pennants.  Captain Knute Rockne is pictured, second face from the right.  Source: Univ. of Notre Dame Archives.

I could hardly believe my eyes when I stumbled upon this old photo!  If anything like these pennants had survived the past 108 years, they'd surely be in a museum.  Sadly, I searched Worthpoint, eBay, and every auction house website for a survivor ... but found nothing.  Even the school's archives--which do contain vintage pennants and banners--did not contain a three-letter monogram pennant like this pair.

Above: Close-ups of the left (top) and right (bottom) pennants featured in the 1913 photo, referenced earlier.

Is it possible there's no surviving pennants from this production run, today?  That's a sad thought.  But, could be.  Maybe there's one or two left, tucked away in a dusty attic somewhere, just waiting to be discovered?

Whatever the answer, I figured, why not recreate this design for myself?  From my read of the photo, the original colors utilized were navy (not sky) blue and gold; and the dimensions were a bit oversized, likely about 14" x 36," a popular dimension in the 1910s.  Additionally, the monogram featured an ornate letter font, similar to the one seen in the Yale University pennant above; and, no question about it: it featured three interlocking letters: U.N.D. (University of Notre Dame).  Finally, it was comprised of two pieces and featured a contrasting border running the length of the tail.

With these details in mind, my recreation would attempt to be as faithful to the original as possible.

​The result

It didn't look anything like the Tokyo subway system, but I think Knute Rockne would have been proud to pose with it.  To make this pennant look convincingly vintage, I washed all of the felt pieces in a fresh cup of coffee the night beforehand.  This helped dull the gold monogram and tassels, giving it the patina you would expect to find on a 100 year old felt pennant.

​It looks (and smells) great.  See for yourself.

Note: All unquoted material on these pages is © 2022 K.R. Biebesheimer & Son.  All rights reserved.  Short excerpts may be used after written permission obtained and proper credit is given.​

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