In 1972 the Smithsonian Institution published this book by former NAVA president Grace Rogers Cooper, Thirteen-Star Flags: Keys to Identification. It contains a wealth of information on the early history of US flags and surviving examples, and how to detect impostors. And the public domain full text is available online! You can read it on… Continue reading Grace Rogers Cooper & 13-Star US Flags
By Michael Hale Owner Emeritus, Elmer’s Flag & Banner The line began forming even before our store opened on the morning of 11 September 2001. We were still stunned by what we’d seen on TV—the twin towers collapsing, the thousands of people who died. But we had to proceed. We had begun sending massive orders… Continue reading Memories from a Flag Store on the Morning of 9/11
Japanese band World Order is, in their words, "a group creating a unique genre of performing arts through its original musical and physical expression". (The group's leader, Genki Sudo, has characterized World Order as "a new-world-order-conspiracy-theory parody group".) Of their 2013 single Imperialism -- from their album Have a Nice Day -- they say: The new single… Continue reading World Order: Imperialism
How has the American institution Google observed the holiday? Here are some of its more vexillographic "doodles":
You might think that multinational patriotism would involve pledging allegiance to Barclays, but Onjena Yo's project, the Multinational Patriot Flag & Blog Series, seeks to re-imagine conventional notions of patriotism in more inclusive, multi-national ways. This series grows from the desire to see American icons used in a way that represents the United States as the melting… Continue reading Multinational Patriotism
Every student of the US flag knows that it was officially adopted on 14 June 1777 when the Second Continental Congress passed what is now known as the First Flag Act: Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in… Continue reading Happy National Flag Week
The latest issue of the PFA newsletter is here: The Vexilloid Tabloid #58 (June 2016). Featuring: Introduction: NZ, VT, and Albany (Ted Kaye) A U.S. Canton Honoring Alaska (Michael Orelove) A Flag for the Other Portland (Ted Kaye) Czech Municipal Flags (interview with Petr Exner by Scott Mainwaring) Redesigning the U.S. Flag (Scott Mainwaring) New Flags for Australia's… Continue reading Vexilloid Tabloid #58
We announced a provocative design exercise in Vexilloid Tabloid #57, namely: Ignoring the political near-impossibility of change...simply from a DESIGN perspective, how could the US flag be improved? We reported earlier on two proposals emailed to us, but there have been some other ideas presented since then, on our Facebook page, in the Flags and Vexillology discussion group, and at our meeting… Continue reading More US Flag Improvements
In the most recent Vexilloid Tabloid, we announced a design challenge: Ignoring the political near-impossibility of change...simply from a DESIGN perspective, how could the US flag be improved? Readers were (and still are!) encouraged to send proposals to editor@portlandflag.org, to be discussed at our next meeting. Here are two proposals readers have sent in so… Continue reading Improving the Design of the US Flag
[Above photo of the Burns High gym by Thomas Boyd, Oregonian Staff] The 41-day standoff between law enforcement and armed out-of-state militants who took over and vandalized the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon has finally ended, but the hurt done to the communities of surrounding Harney County has only begun to heal. The… Continue reading Teen Hopes Flags Will Help Heal Eastern Oregon Community
Portland Flag Association 