NAVA – Portland Flag Association

NAVA (Still) Needs Your Support

[This is an update to a 2015 posting about NAVA.]

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 flag dealers on the continent.”

NAVA has probably had its greatest impact by publishing in 2006 Good Flag, Bad Flag (GFBF), a booklet of practical advice to flag designers. Drawing upon the writings of over a dozen vexillologists,† Ted Kaye distilled five basic design principles and illustrated these with positive and negative examples. GFBF has been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, and formed the basis for Roman Mars’ 2015 TED Talk that has garnered close to three million views! (Inexplicably, NAVA removed GFBF from its website in 2014; we’re happy to report that it’s back, though somewhat buried.)

If you are interested in flags, NAVA needs your support.

The most important support you can give is your participation — by attending, presenting at, or voting at the annual meeting (this year’s is in Boston, October 13-15), submitting to Raven or FRQ, or becoming a NAVA member to receive its publications (and access to its Digital Library).

Your financial support is also critical, as NAVA is a non-profit, donation-supported organization. Annual, tax-deductable memberships cost only $40 for individuals ($20 for students) and entitle you to vote, in person, at the business meeting held at the annual meeting. Organizational memberships cost $60 annually and also receive voting privileges, including the ability to designate a representative to vote at the business meeting (individual members cannot designate such proxies) — provided you designate a representative in writing at least 15 days prior to the annual meeting. (This restriction on organizational members voting was announced for the first time by the Board at the 2016 business meeting, which unfortunately resulted in a number of organizational members being disenfranchised, so caveat emptor!)

If you are already a NAVA member and wish to renew, the easiest way to start is to enter your Customer Number on this page: service.qfie.com/pdc/clsPDCLookup.asp You can find this number on the mailing label of NAVA publications you receive, above your name. If you have difficulty locating your number, e-mail Ted Kaye of the membership committee (kandsons@aol.com), who can provide it to you.

Notes

† Philippe Bondurand, Frederick Brownell, William Crampton, Michael Faul, Jim Ferrigan, Richard Gideon, Kevin Harrington, Lee Herold, Ralph Kelly, Rich Kenny, David Martucci, Clay Moss, Peter Orenski, Whitney Smith, Steve Tyson, Henry Untermeyer, and Alfred Znamierowski.

Register Now for NAVA 50

The annual meetings of NAVA, the North American Vexillological Association, are fantastic events for anyone interested in flags, attracting all flavors of vexillologists — historians, activists, collectors, vendors, designers, and general enthusiasts — from the US, Canada, and beyond. 2016 is a milestone year for NAVA, as it celebrates a half-century of these meetings.

NAVA 50 takes place from Friday, 14 October through Sunday, 16 October at the DoubleTree Hotel in Campbell, California (six miles from downtown San Jose, in the Bay Area). For complete details, see the NAVA 50 webpage.

To get the early registration rate of $195 ($170 for first-time attendees or students) you need to register by the end of this month (Tuesday, 31 May). Hotel rooms at the NAV group rate are $129/night (though you might be able to do better — check the DoubleTree Campbell – Pruneyard Plaza website), and there are many flights into nearby San Jose airport (SJC). The hotel has a free shuttle to the airport, and is a 10 minute walk from the Hamilton stop on San Jose’s light rail system.

Here are other dates to keep in mind:

30 June – paper/display titles and abstracts due

14 July – last day to request invitation letter if you require a visa to enter the US

31 August – last date to register at the “regular” rate; full papers in publishable form due

Whitney Smith's original design for the NAVA seal, showing the goddess America — Conference attire is casual, though attendees are advised to practice their armadillo riding.

NAVA Needs Your Support

NAVA has probably had its greatest impact by publishing in 2006 Good Flag, Bad Flag (GFBF), a booklet of practical advice to flag designers. Drawing upon the writings of over a dozen vexillologists,† Ted Kaye distilled five basic design principles and illustrated these with positive and negative examples. GFBF has been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish, and formed the basis for Roman Mars’ TED Talk this year that has garnered over one million views! (Inexplicably, NAVA removed GFBF from its website last year; we’re happy to report that it’s back, though somewhat buried.)

If you are interested in flags, NAVA needs your support.

The most important support you can give is your participation — by presenting at or attending the annual meeting (this year’s is in Ottawa, 16-18 Oct), submitting to Raven or FRQ (or even to the design contest to create the annual meeting’s flag‡), or becoming a NAVA member to receive its publications (and access to its Digital Library).

Your financial support is also critical, as NAVA is a non-profit, donation-supported organization. Annual, tax-deductable memberships cost only $40 ($20 for students). Registration for NAVA 49 (through 15 Sept) is $200, $175 for first-time attendees, and $25 as a non-attending supporter (you’ll get swag). And if you would like to donate additional money, contact the treasurer.

Notes

‡ For NAVA’s 50th annual meeting (San José, CA, 14-16 Oct 2016), the deadline for submissions to the flag design contest is the end of this month, 31 August 2015.

Come to Ontario this October for North America’s Flag Conference

We’d like to pass along this invitation from NAVA’s Ken Reynolds. (And please note that early-bird registration ends in less than a month.)

Hello everyone,

I hope that each of you will consider attending NAVA‘s 49th annual meeting from October 16-18, 2015. It’s been a dozen years since the Association held its annual meeting in Canada (NAVA 37, Montréal, 2003) and, as you likely already know, Ottawa has been chosen as the site for NAVA 49. I’m very excited to be able to act as the local host organizer for NAVA 49 and to be able to welcome you to my adopted hometown and to our nation’s capital. It is a particularly special year, vexillologically-speaking, for Canada in that 2015 is the 50th anniversary year of the maple leaf national flag adopted in 1965, a fact that will be reflected in the location, site visits, and some of the presentations delivered.

This year’s meeting will be located at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel, in the downtown core, close to Parliament Hill, the National Gallery of Canada, the National War Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as well as other interesting sites, and a wide variety of shopping venues. In addition to a selection of strong and interesting papers on vexillology, we also have other exciting things planned for NAVA 49. Dr. Claire Boudreau, the Chief Herald of Canada, as well as some of her staff, will deliver the Preble Lecture on the subject of the “Flag Creation Process” as part of the Canadian Heraldic Authority’s granting of arms to municipalities, individuals, etc. This will be followed by the Presidents’ Reception at the Sussex Salon on the 27th floor of the Ottawa Marriott Hotel. A site visit has been arranged to the Canadian Museum of History (formerly the Canadian Museum of Civilization) where guests will be able to explore more on the background of the Canadian national flag as well as other flag-related material. The Whitney Smith Dinner will be held in the beautiful Summit Room on the 29th floor of the Ottawa Marriott Hotel with its 360-degree view of the National Capital Region. Robert Labonté, a federal public servant, will be the dinner speaker and will discuss his role as the individual who raises, lowers, and replaces the Canadian flags atop the Peace Tower on the Parliament Building on a daily basis.

Registration for NAVA 49 is well underway, with early-bird registration rates running through August 4, before the rates begin to increase. Please remember, if you’re American, that you require a US passport card, US passport, or NEXUS card to enter Canada (which one depends upon the means of arrival)–but Americans don’t need a visa. Citizens of other nations can find out about their entry requirements on the relevant website of the Canadian government. This, and further details on NAVA 49–including how to register–can be found on the meeting’s webpage on the NAVA website. And, you can email me at nava49@nava.org as well.

I hope to see you here in Ottawa this October!

Cheers,

Ken

Ken Reynolds, PhD
Member | Membre
Program Committee | Comité de programme
North American Vexillological Association | Association nord-américaine de vexillologie
nava49@nava.org

NAVA’s 49th Annual Meeting (NAVA 49, conference flag pictured) will take place in Ottawa, Ontario, 16–18 October. See: nava.org/all-annual-meetings/nava-49-2015

Annie Platoff on the air

Flag scholar and NAVA vice president Annie Platoff was on the Pacifica radio network yesterday discussing vexillology, the Confederate flag, roots of people’s attachment to flags, the Apollo flags on the moon, and Russian and Ukrainian flags. She was a guest on Brad Friedman’s “BradCast” at bradblog.com/?p=11241. (Skip 8:40 into the broadcast to hear the flag segment.)

Vexillologists in New Orleans

NAVA, the North American Vexillological Association, held its 48th annual meeting last October in New Orleans. <clickbait>What happened there will restore you faith in humanity!</clickbait> Well, perhaps not, but NAVA’s latest newsletter will give you a good sense (with many photos by Ted Kaye) of what happens when 51 vexillologists and vexillophiles, some from as far away as China, meet to talk flags.