The last issue of The Flag Bulletin (Number 233, July 2008-October 2011) is titled Celebrating 50 Years of Vexillology and commemorates the launch of the Bulletin--the first flag studies journal--on 1 October 1961. More specifically, it is a celebration of the life of Whitney Smith, upon his retirement, through a long series of personal recollections of… Continue reading Whitney Smith’s Flag of Guyana
Jeopardy challenge: Flags for 1000, Alex. A: This man coined the word vexillology and helped organize flag studies into an global research community of that name. Q: Who is Dr. Whitney Smith? Correct! Today is Whitney Smith's 76th birthday. He was born 26 February 1940 in Arlington, Massachusetts to a family of teachers and became fascinated as a child of… Continue reading Happy Birthday, Whitney Smith!
Yesterday we asked: Who designed the Gadsden Flag? And just as we can't be certain of the designer, neither do we know what the original flag actually looked like. Nevertheless, the flag marketplace, and cyberspace, has converged on, basically, a single design. (This suggests a common origin, but we couldn't pin it down to an artist, enterprise,… Continue reading What Does a Gadsden Flag Look Like?
It was 57 years ago this month that the word vexillology first appeared in print, in an article by the founder of flag studies, Whitney Smith, in the now discontinued journal The Arab World. Here is a transcription of the article. FLAGS of the ARAB WORLD By WHITNEY SMITH, Jr. One of the most interesting phases… Continue reading Whitney Smith: Flags of the Arab World, 1958
Portland Flag Association 