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WILMETTE INSTITUTE LOGO
The Wilmette Institute's logo features a calligraphic "W" and "est. 1995" a reference to the founding date of the Institute. It was designed by Susan Peterson, an art director and a long-time friend of the Institute. The logo is used on stationery, envelopes, mailing labels, name tags, and other items associated with the Institute.
WILMETTE INSTITUTE SEAL
The Wilmette Institute's seal features the quotation "a lamp of Thy knowledge among Thy creatures." It is from a sentence in a prayer `Abdu'l-Bahá revealed to Thornton Chase, the first American Bahá'í, in 1899 and may be found in Bahá'í Prayers, page 57: "With great humbleness and entire devotion I pray to Thee to make me a minaret of Thy love in Thy land, a lamp of Thy knowledge among Thy creatures, and a banner of Thy divine bounty in Thy dominion." All these qualities–humility, devotion, the desire to be a source of divine love, knowledge, and bounty (service) to all–reflect goals of the Wilmette Institute.
At the center of the seal is a lamp inspired by the lamp in the room in which the Báb first declared His mission in May 1844. It symbolizes the divine knowledge referred to in ‘Abdu'l-Bahá's prayer. The image of the lamp appears many times in the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, the Báb, ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi. Lamps symbolize many things; individuals are lamps: ("thou art my lamp and My light is in thee"), as are Manifestations. There is the lamp "of the spirit," "of religion," "of divine civilization," "of God," "of the utterance of God," "of the Cause," "of Salvation," "of His Faith," "of guidance," "of the Covenant," "of everlasting dominion," "of search," "of Divine glory," "of the Supreme Concourse," "of conscience," "of revelation," "of Thy love," "of the love of God," "of Thy names," "of His grace," "of the oneness of the human world."
Surrounding the lamp is a nine-pointed star symbolizing the Bahá'í Faith, with a second nine-pointed star under it. Beyond the star are nineteen rays symbolizing vahíd (Arabic for unity; the letters’ numerical values add up to nineteen). The five-pointed stars on either side of the words "Wilmette Institute" symbolize the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh, as they do on the ringstone symbol. Five-pointed stars were chosen because the numerical values of the letters in báb add up to five. The outside of the seal is a circle signifying unity and completeness.
The seal was designed by Trey Yancy, of the Tsavo West Bahá'í Institute, in collaboration with the Wilmette Institute Board.