— Grace A. Fendler, New Truths About Columbus
     L.N. Fowler & Co., London, 1934, 66 pp.
     [Stanford Auxilary Library 973.15.C726f]

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA SEAL: The statue on the pedestal is of George Washington. The female figure is of Justice blinded with a wreath in her right hand and a tablet in her left, on which is written 'Constitution'. To her right is an eagle, a sheaf of wheat, and agricultural produce. In the background is the Virginia shore with the Potamac river flowing between Virginia and the city of Washington. To the left is the rising sun and to the right the Capitol of the United States. The seal was adopted in 1871 as shown in the wreath with the motto 'Justitia Omnibus'— 'Justice for all'. (p. 57)
    The American beauty rose was adopted by the District of Columbia in 1916, but there is some doubt whether this flower is indigenous to the country as stated in the enactment, for it may have been introduced from China by way of England. (p. 303)
    The woodthrush (Hylocichla mustelina) is regarded unofficially as the emblematic bird of the District of Columbia, having been selected by the District Federation of Women's Clubs. (p. 351) — Arnold Whittick, Symbols: Signs and their Meaning and Uses in Design

LADY COLUMBIA
Columbia is a poetic and the first popular name for the United States of America. It was also the origin of the name District of Columbia. The moniker dates from before the American Revolution in 1776 but fell out of use in the early 20th Century. Exceptions to this trend include the song Columbia, Gem of the Ocean, still occasionally sung, and the song Hail, Columbia, an early anthem of the United States now used as the anthem of the Vice President of the United States. It is still featured as CBS's name, the Columbia Broadcasting System, Columbia University in New York and Columbia Pictures.
    Advocates for naming the United States "Columbia" continued to press for the name even after the United States Constitution made the name "United States of America" official. According to George R. Stewart, the name "United States" was criticized for being too long, inaccurate, and unpoetic, and that the Constitutional Convention of 1787 would have been the ideal time to change it. The two people most likely to have argued for a better name, according to Stewart, were Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. But Jefferson was in France at the time and Franklin was old and "no longer vigorous." Thus the nation remained the "United States," but popular support for "Columbia" remained and the name was given to many counties, towns, townships, and "a great river." Just before the Constitutional Convention, in 1786, South Carolina gave the name "Columbia" to their new capital city. The proper noun "Columbia" is a name widely used in English derived from that of Christopher Columbus. Therefore, it was used in a broader sense to refer to the Americas. The term "Pre-Columbian" refers to the time before the arrival in the Americas of Columbus and other European explorers.
    Columbia was also a female national personification of America, similar to the male Uncle Sam, the British female Britannia and male John Bull, the Italian Italia Turrita and the French Marianne, often seen in political cartoons through the early 20th Century (see illustration from a Columbia Records phonograph cylinder package); the character is still used by Columbia Pictures, though the current incarnation looks very different. The term Columbian was used to mean "from the USA" and there have been suggestions that it should be used again as an alternative word for "American", but has not re-entered general use. The establishment of the nation of Colombia in 1819 resulted in the name "no longer being available as a national name" for the United States. (George R. Stewart, Names on the Land, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1967, p. 173).

COLUMBIA'S UNIVERSITY: ALMA MATER STATUE This refers to the statue of the Goddess Minerva (Athena) that has been sitting on the steps in front of Low Library since 1904, and of which the university possesses three back-up versions in case of unforeseen rioting or some terrorist attack. The statue's sculptor is Daniel Chester French who also made the statue of John Harvard in Harvard Yard. He is said to have been an avid taxidermist who hid an owl in many of his works. Indeed there is an owl hidden in the folds of Alma Mater's cloak and college superstition has it that the first member of the incoming class to find the owl will become class valedictorian.

SAINT COLUMBA / COLUMCILLE (c. 521-597)
He was born in Donegal of the royal Ui Neill line and was trained as a monk under Saint Finnian of Moville. He borrowed a copy of Jerome's new translations of the Psalms from the Magh Bile monastery in order to copy it. The original owners judged that the copy should remain with them since 'every cow has its calf'. The resulting battle at Cooldrebhne saw Columba as an opponent in arms, rather than in Christian temperance, and he sent himself into exile from Ireland, in remorse. He converted many of the Irish settlers in Scotland, as well as King Brude of the Picts. He founded his monastery on Iona which became in time the burial place and assembly of Scottish kings. Many monastic settlements sprang from the influence of Iona. Columba, although he swore never to see Ireland again, returned to champion the social obligations of the Irish in Scotland to the Irish High Kings. He also arbitrated between the Church and the bards, whose position was seriously endangered: Irish poets had become feared and hated due to their practice of satirizing ungenerous patrons (considered in its magical light, since satires could cause physical effects) and because of their extortionate retainers. Columba was himself a poet and his arbitration ensured that Irish poets should be allowed to exercise their ancient function. He is remembered on 9 June [His Feast Day].
— John & Caitlín Matthews, British & Irish Mythology
     Diamond Books, London, UK, 1995, pp. 48-49

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