Elmira College is a place that you may or may not know much about before you visit, but one you'll sure know a lot more about when you leave. And you'll like what you know.

At this private, co-ed liberal arts college snuggled within the city limits of Elmira in the Finger Lakes Region of south-central New York, the memories of a proud and glorious past meet daily with the hope, excitement, and optimism of today's students. Here, stylish 20-year-olds study under the ivy-draped arches of century-old buildings, tweed jackets are as common as designer sweats, and historic buildings are nationally registered while the hockey team is nationally ranked.

It is a picture of what college life ought to be, and thanks in part to an attractive and well-planned sign program that remembers the past while celebrating the present, it is a picture that will be preserved for many generations to come.

"{President} Thomas Meier wanted people to know that Elmira College is a forward-thinking institution dedicated to answering the educational and social needs of today's students, but at the same time an institution that was proud of its history - a history that dates back to 1855 when the school was founded," said Tom Rutan, Vice-President and Executive Assistant to the President. "And one very visible way to accomplish both goals was to replace our tired and ineffective campus signs with ones that attractively blended tradition with modern design."

So five years ago Elmira College joined forces with Eastern Metal/USA-Sign, an Elmira-based sign company with 70 employees and clients throughout the United States, to begin planning what would become an on-going sign program that both identified school buildings, and memorialized alumni, professors, benefactors and distinguished friends, such as Mark Twain.

"Our college and the city of Elmira have a special attachment to Mark Twain, because he spent many summers with his wife at nearby Quarry Farm, which is now part of Elmira College," Rutan said. In 1952, the study where Twain wrote Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn was moved on campus.

"Elmira College did it right," said Jan Miller, National Sales Manager with Eastern Metal/USA-Sign. "They didn't look at their new sign program as a one-shot band-aid fix as do many institutions whose campuses are a proliferation of incompatible signs from different generations. Rather, Elmira College realized that a successful sign program needs to be taken one step at a time."

The first step was to decide what common design elements would be used to tie the plaques together. ("This clearly demonstrates to people that a sign system is well conceived, and it looks classy," Miller said.) So the College's history was researched, including looking at old yearbooks, records and logos. From this research, it was decided that all the plaques would have one or more of the following design elements: an Iris, an octagon shape, or the colors purple and gold.

"The Iris flower is important to our college because in 1850 before Elmira College was founded, Iris flowers dominated the area where Cowles Hall (the College's original building) still stands. So the Iris was adopted as our college flower and purple and gold became our school colors," Rutan said. "The octagon is significant because that is the shape of the top of Cowles Hall and was a popular architectural design shape in the mid-1850's."

In addition to choosing the design elements, Elmira College had to decide early in the planning stage what type of plaques would be used.

"There really was no question after you heard what their needs were," Miller said. "They wanted signs that were attractive, enduring and showed that the college was making a quality commitment to this project - the signs just had to be bronze."

Enter Matthews Bronze, the world's leading supplier of cast bronze and aluminum plaques and memorials, and a division of Matthews International Corporation, a company founded in 1850. After the custom design for each plaque was generated by Eastern Metal/USA-Sign and approved by Elmira College, the artwork was sent to Matthews' foundry in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where each plaque was cast using a process that has changed very little through the past decades. The plaques were then hand-tooled and finished by master craftsmen.

The first plaque to be completed can be found in the Campus Center adorning the door to the 1855 Room - a room that is a reminder of the year the school was founded. "This plaque will always be special to me," said Rutan. "It resulted from a lot of planning, and it was the beginning of many good things to come."

The good things have included more than 50 plaques to date, including the now recognizable purple-and-gold painted bronze plaques that identify the major campus buildings. For instance, the Carnegie Hall plaque marks the building that was a gift from Andrew Carnegie in 1911 and now houses the nursing program. The Hamilton Hall plaque identifies a building that was completed in 1925 and has been cited as "an outstanding example of English Collegiate Gothic architecture in America." And the Watson Fine Arts plaque marks the building that was completed in 1958 and given to the college by Thomas Watson of IBM.

But Elmira College's plaques are not limited to the outdoors. Indoor plaques identify such landmarks as MacKenzie's, the school's Old English style snack bar, and The George Waters Gallery, an art gallery named after a former professor whose landscapes and portraits were commissioned by the likes of Mark Twain, Walt Whitman and Andrew Carnegie. And when visiting the school's admissions office in Hamilton Hall, parents and students readily notice the striking Lena Gilbert Brown Ford plaque, which hangs above a fireplace in the reception area. It memorializes the alumna who was the first American woman killed in World War I and who wrote the classic war poem, "Keep the Home Fires Burning."

In addition to the bronze plaques, Elmira College's sign program includes bronze letters that identify certain college facilities such as the Post Office, and aluminum signs that are used to mark parking areas. "The cast aluminum signs are more cost effective for areas that require a lot of maintenance," Miller said. "And since we wanted a well-coordinated sign system, these panel signs are purple and gold like our bronze plaques."

According to Rutan, the success of this ongoing sign program results from all involved parties, including school administrators, architects, Eastern Metal/USA-Sign and Matthews Bronze, having the same goal - a quality product.

"Another thing that made this project a success is Elmira College's total involvement, said Miller. "Tom (Rutan) actually sat with the designer as she sketched the Iris, and planned sign locations with our installer. This type of joint effort ensures that things are done to everyone's satisfaction."

And what has been the reaction to the sign program? "The feedback has been fantastic," Rutan said, "from the residents of Elmira who appreciate us demonstrating pride in the history of the area, to the parents of our students who feel our image as a quality institution has been solidified."

Still the most gratifying feedback, according to Rutan, has been from the students and the alumni. "In the 60s and 70s, students wanted to distance themselves from the establishment and the past, but now students are interested in the history of the college and in the students that came before them," said Rutan. "Our students have said that because of the signs, they can better appreciate the College's tradition."

The alumni are also pleased, said Rutan, especially with what may be the most unique part of Elmira College's sign program. Located within the beautiful red interlocking-brick walkways that wrap their way through the scenic campus are octagon-shaped, purple-and-gold plaques which identify graduating classes that have raised funds to finance the purchase of the plaques - sort of an alumni Walk of Fame.

"Our alumni love the plaques and really appreciate the fact that they are bronze," Rutan said. "Because they now know - they will never be forgotten."