Societas Heraldica Slovenica

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Membership Benefits

While some of our members have coats of arms, many do not and it is by no means a requirement for membership. Membership is open to all Slovenians interested in the study and practice of heraldry and related subjects. It is not necessary to be a Slovenian citizen residing in Slovenia as this Society is open to all Slovenians regardless of country of residence. Our members are interested in all aspects of heraldry, some being actively and professionally engaged in heraldic arts and crafts or in academic research. There are two categories of membership:

Ordinary Membership is open to all individuals interested in matters falling within the aims and objectives of the Society.
Institutional Membership is open to schools, institutions or corporations wishing to initiate or foster an interest in the Society matters among their students or staff.

The benefits of SHS membership are many, with the key benefits described below. Obviously, there are intangible benefits such as interfacing with members world wide and therefore, tapping into a vast pool of heraldic expertise, which would be unavailable to most in the public domain. However, tangible benefits offered by the SHS can be accessed with a membership ID and password. As the Society evolves and the website grows, more membership features may be added to the list below.

Slovenian Genealogy Society
Membership (both ordinary or institutional) with the SHS offers a 10% discounted membership (€ 34 (US $ 45)) with the Slovenian Genealogy Society. The affiliation of the Slovenian Genealogy Society with the Societas Heraldica Slovenica brings to the SHS membership, access to comprehensive resources offered by the SGS. Members who are pursuing their own personal arms are strongly encouraged to leverage the expertise and resources offered by the SGS in order to intelligently research into the matter of heraldry and family history.
The Armory
The Armory is the Society's newsletter published twice yearly and which covers various heraldic and societal developments and events. Each publication will include at least one article which will further one's education on the art and science of heraldry.
Petitioning for arms
Members will have access to heraldic artists who can render graphically coats of arms and then create a beautiful printed coat of arms certificate as part of the petitioning process. This benefit is limited to individuals who have SHS membership, and is available to any member wishing to have registered with the Society, a personal coat of arms. The petitioning for arms will incur a fee. The base fee will increase if the request is more complicated such as the inclusion of standards, flags, badges, and cadency arms (coats of arms differenced for their children) and therefore, more time and skill will be required by the heraldic artist. Individual members are encouraged to exploit this opportunity by submitting a petition of arms to the SHS. The SHS may create alliances with other heraldic organizations to expand the number of heraldic artists available to the SHS membership so that coats of arms can be designed and delivered in a timely manner. The arms will also be included in the SHS roll of arms. Click petitioning process for more details on this benefit.
Heraldic consultation
An integral part of the design of an armorial achievement is the design based on the language of heraldry called "blazonry". Heraldic consultants will work with heraldic artists (in some cases, heralds and heraldic artists may be the same individual) to ensure that the armorial achievement follow heraldic rules and are consistent with accepted heraldic rules and guidelines.
SHS Events
The affiliation with academic institutions offers to SHS members only, opporunities to attend special lectures on the subject of the art and science of heraldry. SHS members are notified of these lecture events and are invited to attend, given by notable experts of Slovenian heraldry and history.
SHS internal elist
This electronic benefit is available to all members of the SHS. This feature quickly dessiminates SHS notices and news to all members instantly via the internet elist feature. This list also enables members to make requests to the general SHS membership for information, assistance, consultation from members possibly distributed world-wide and being able to bear the collective expertise on heraldry to your questions.
members booklist
The booklist is a compilation of published works relevant to the art and science of heraldry in the possession of members of the SHS. This is an important and useful benefit of membership, where via the SHS internal elist, a member can pose a question regarding some matter of heraldry, pertaining to a particular publication that is in the possession of a SHS member. The SHS member can then post a response on the internal elist making reference to that material. A very powerful and useful feature benefiting the members of the SHS.
resources page
This area is a compendium of online articles, digitized manuscripts and other online resources available to the SHS members only. This area continues to evolve, accumulating more heraldic resources proving to be an invaluable resource to anyone studying the art and science of heraldry. A current example includes a digitized copy of Siegenfeld, Alfred Ritter Anthony von. Das Landeswappen der Steiremark.

Updated: Nov 9, 2005