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The 208

Idaho's state seal is the only one designed by a woman

Emma Edwards Green entered a contest in 1890 and her design won.

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BOISE, Idaho — Most people have probably never given the Great Seal of the State of Idaho a second thought. And, you probably don't even know what it looks like or what it's used for.

For one, it's part of our state flag.

The governor and Legislature also use it for their official business.

But did you know Idaho's state seal was designed by a woman?

We're the only state in the nation to have its state seal designed by a woman.

Her name was Emma Edwards Green, and back in 1890 she entered a contest.

Idaho had recently become a state and the Legislature wanted a state seal.

“They kind of put it out there like a competition,” said state historian HannaLore Hein.  “It was definitely something they were soliciting, not just from residents of Idaho or regular citizens, but from art houses all over the country."

Emma's original painting of the winning design is stored at the Idaho State Museum. It is too delicate to display in public.

“What I think is really fantastic about this whole design is the fact that she placed man and women, men and women on equal footing and equal stature within the design,” said Hein.  “So to put this all into context, in 1891, which is when she was working on the design itself, conversations about suffrage were happening all over the West."

Emma later wrote the woman in the painting signifies justice - by holding the scales, liberty - as denoted by the liberty cap on the end of her spear, and equality with man standing by her side.

“And so by putting a woman on equal stature with a man on the state seal, she was kind of, solidifying that women had a place in Idaho in 1890, but also that they would have a place moving forward as well," said Hein.

The pick and shovel held by the miner, the ledge of rock beside him, along with the pieces of ore scattered around his feet, represent the chief occupation of the state at the time.

“The other industries that she wanted to make sure were present in the seal included the prominent industries of the times,” said Hein.  “So, we have agriculture, we have mining, we have timber.  We also see the other resources of the state.  The river on display is supposedly the Snake River, the largest and biggest river in Idaho, one of them."

At the time, elk and moose were protected, which is why Emma painted the elk's head rising above the shield.

She painted the state flower, the wild syringa, growing at the woman's feet... and the star, she later wrote, signified a new light in the galaxy of states.

The only state seal in the country to be designed by a woman.

"She was a trailblazer from the day she arrived, I would say," said Hein.
Emma Edwards Green won $50 for her winning design.

She died in 1942 in Boise. Her obituary said she was 84 years old.

The great seal of Idaho you see today still looks similar to Emma's original design. But the colors and imagery were slightly adjusted in the 1950s.

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