The medal's obverse bears female figure, facing right, lightly resting arm on back of doe while holding down tree branch so doe can reach it. Around, THE · MASSACHUSETTS · SOCIETY · FOR · THE · PREVENTION · OF · CRUELTY · TO · ANIMALS; at left, KINDNESS / IS THE GREAT / VIRTUE · ;to right, · TO LOVE / BEAUTY IS TO / DRAW · NEAR / TO GOD · ; in exergue, MEDAL · OF · AWARD; signed at lower right, RAYMOND / PORTER
The reverse bears lit torch at top and laurel wreath around. Engraved in center field to HOLMES C. HURLL / APRIL 1928
The Massachusetts Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, or MSPCA for short, was founded in 1868. Boston Brahmin lawyer George Thorndike Angell began a high-profile protest of animal cruelty, after reading about two horses being raced to death by carrying two riders each over forty miles of rough roads. He joined with Emily Appleton, a Boston socialite and animal lover who provided financial support. They and 1,200 others formed the MSPCA. Among distinguished locals on the first board of directors were John Quincy Adams II, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Saltonstall, and William Gordon Weld.
The circular medal measures 76mm in diameter and was struck in bronze by the Whitehead & Hoag Company of Newark, New Jersey. No mintage is reported.