In the May, 1920 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, there is a brief announcement concerning the submission of designs for a Seal. A Seal Committee, consisting of C.F. Brooks (Secretary) and C.F Marvin (a member of the governing Council) formulated the requirements that "the Seal should show the two Americas, that it should show something meteorological, and that the manifold applications of meteorology should be indicated." A design by Lieut. C.N. Keyser was approved by the Seal Committee and put to a vote before the attendees at the Annual Meeting in 1920. Though there is no record in the Bulletin of a favorable vote, the Seal design seems to have gone into use immediately.

Another idea considered by the Seal Committee was membership identification buttons. The Committee discarded the notion of buttons as too costly and of dubious need. With the approval of the Seal design, the Seal Committee disbanded.

Lieut. C.N. Keyser, U.S.N., the designer of the Seal, was one of the original members of the AMS. In addition, he was in the first group of Fellows elected by the Society and served on the first Council. Lieut. Keyser also served on the Membership and Aeronautical Meteorology Committees.