The Red Flag is, among other things, a traditional symbol of workers' power, dating back at least to the Merthyr Rising of 1831 when Welsh rioters used calf's blood to stain their flag red. In the United States, however, you won't see many red flags on Labor Day. Judging from photographs online, flag flying on Labor… Continue reading Red Flags and Labor Day
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Portland’s Flag Turns 13
Happy Portland Flag Day! (Not yet an official holiday.) On 4 September 2002, after lobbying by flag designer Douglas Lynch (1913-2009) and the Portland Flag Association, the Portland City Council adopted ordinance 176874, revising the flag to its current (and originally intended) design. (For more on the redesign effort, see our History page.) Over the course… Continue reading Portland’s Flag Turns 13
Our Global Reach
We would like to take a moment and thank everyone in the audience for this website and blog. We can't recognize all of you, but we can recognize the top 10 countries you come from according to this year's server statistics. United States (16,367 views; share* 100) Fiji (1,898 views; share 13,523) Australia (1,591 views; share 174) United Kingdom (1,391 views; share 57)… Continue reading Our Global Reach
Zaricor Flag Collection
The Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC) is the result of decades of flag collecting by wealthy California businessman Ben Zaricor. Its curator, the vexillologist and former flag merchant Jim Ferrigan, writes: The [ZFC], as the noted flag historian, the late Howard Madaus stated, is the largest most important representation of U.S. and American flags in the world.… Continue reading Zaricor Flag Collection
September Plans
A couple notes on goings-on next month (September 2015): First: Ted Kaye and Max Liberman will be heading Down Under to represent the PFA at this year's 26th International Congress of Vexillology, aka the Sydney Flag Conference hosted by Flags Australia and organized by FIAV. FIAV is the International Federation of Vexillological Associations, and holds this international meeting in… Continue reading September Plans
The Cuban Flag’s Descendents
As a symbol of independence from Spain, the Cuban flag has inspired a number of others, including those of Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Catalan separatists. Cuba's flag was originally designed in 1849 in New York City by Venezuelan-Cuban General Narciso López and Cuban poet Miguel Teurbe Tolón to symbolize the effort to have the US annex… Continue reading The Cuban Flag’s Descendents
What’s that Flag? (From VexTab #53)
The Vexilloid Tabloid is the newsletter of the Portland Flag Association.
Flags in Cuba – A Trip Report
by Ted Kaye, Vexilloid Tabloid #45 (April 2014) I recently visited Cuba and saw a profusion of national flag use—often as an instrument of political messaging. Here’s a sampling.
Flags and Emancipation in Cuba
Esther Allen has an excellent piece in NYR Daily about the history of US-Cuba relations, including this fascinating story about the Cuban flag: For its part, the US government had had an eye on Cuba at least since the beginning of the nineteenth century, when Thomas Jefferson tried without success to buy the colony from… Continue reading Flags and Emancipation in Cuba
NAVA Needs Your Support
NAVA is the North American Vexillological Association, the world's oldest organization devoted to vexillology, the study of flags. It publishes the peer-reviewed journal Raven, as well as a newsletter and the periodical Flag Research Quarterly (FRQ); and holds an annual meeting, the "largest conference of vexillologists (flag scholars),vexillographers (flag designers), vexillophiles (flag collectors and hobbyists), flag conservators, and… Continue reading NAVA Needs Your Support
Portland Flag Association 