[Ansteorra] The Academy of Saint Gabriel is now actively seeking new members!

[Christie Ward]

The Academy of Saint Gabriel is now actively seeking new members!

The Academy of Saint Gabriel is a group of volunteers who research medieval 
names and armory. The Academy's primary purpose is to help members of the 
SCA and other medieval re-enactment groups choose and use names and coats of 
arms that are historically accurate for the cultures they wish to re-create. 
The Academy corresponds (via e-mail) with people who are looking for 
authentic names or devices. It also maintains the Medieval Names Archive 
(http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/), an extensive collection of articles on 
medieval names.

This is a perfect opportunity for folks who like to do historical research.  
The Academy needs people who can dig out information about various cultures 
- one or many, any help is useful.  But we also need volunteers who take 
that research and write it up as reports which are presented to clients, and 
people to proofread reports as they are written and also to read them for 
clarity and accuracy.  Not to mention artistic folk who can help design 
armory and create JPGs of blazons that are developed for a client.

The Academy of Saint Gabriel is not just for heralds!  It's a great fun 
occupation for me as a research geek, because I get to do cool research and 
learn a lot of interesting things about various cultures and the development 
of medieval languages.  It's a great service opportunity as well - primarily 
the Academy helps SCA members... we help them develop authentic, 
well-researched names and armory, and Academy of St. Gabriel research can be 
used when the member goes to submit these items to the heralds for 
registration.

Information about joining the Academy is available at 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/faq/heraldsfaq.html#join -- you can choose to get 
emails individually, by digest, and it's even possible to read Academy email 
via the web.

I joined because I wanted to learn more about Old Norse names and language, 
and it's been challenging, interesting, and fun.  I hope you'll check it 
out, too!

::GUNNVOR::