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The official website of the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA). Includes information about the association, NAVA meetings, activities sponsored by NAVA, and full text of NAVA publications in the NAVA Digital Library.

Stained glass windows make an impression by pictorial and symbolic means and communicate many things to many people. These windows—first used in churches to teach the gospel story to laypeople—have evolved from a solely religious form of devotion into the secular world. Memorial windows have been commissioned in colleges, libraries, state capitols, museums, and memorials to convey the spirit of their time period. These “tapestries of colored lights”, which use images of flags, coats of arms, and other symbols, tell a story—speaking to all generations—maintaining present the history of the past.

The American writer Washington Irving is well-known for his Knickerbocker’s History of New York, published in 1809. His claim was that this material was derived from ancient Dutch manuscripts dealing with the history of the colony of New Netherlands, 1623–1664, and its capital, New Amsterdam, now New York City. Scholars have debated this claim ever since and none of the manuscripts he cites as sources have ever been discovered to exist.

The presentation begins with the (accepted) date of 1199, the death of King Richard I, the first king known to have used the three gold lions on red. It continues to show how King Edward III added the French Royal Arms, consequent to his claim to the French throne. There is then the change from “France Ancient” to “France Modern” by King Henry IV in 1405, which set the pattern of the arms and the standard for the next 198 years. The story then proceeds to show how, over the ensuing 234 years, there were no fewer than six versions of the standard until the adoption of the present pattern in 1837. The presentation includes pictures of all the designs, noting that, in the early stages, the arms appeared more often as a surcoat than a flag. There is also some anecdotal information regarding the various patterns.

According to historians, twelve American astronauts explored the surface of the Moon between 1969 and 1972. During their time on the lunar surface each Apollo crew deployed a special flag pole, leaving a total of six American flags on the surface of the Moon. Or did they? Since the 1970s conspiracy theories have emerged which claim that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) faked the moon landings. Much of the evidence used by the conspiracy theorists consists of photographs and films released by NASA during the Apollo Program. Not surprisingly, the flags have played a major role in the argument that the moon landings were an elaborate hoax. This paper will examine the claims of the conspiracy theorists, especially those related to flags, and will provide explanations in support of the historical reality of the Apollo missions.

On certain days of the year the Dutch celebrate their royal family, the House of Orange, by flying an orange pennant above their national flag. The Netherlands is the only country in the world which extends its flag with such an added stripe. It is a reminder of the unsolved question; what is the correct colour of the top stripe of the national flag—red or orange? Orange was the original 16th-century colour, to represent Willem of Orange. About fifty years later the top stripe changed to red—and ever since, the Dutch have been divided on this question. The orange pennant, in Dutch a ‘wimpel’, came into use after the Netherlands regained independence in 1815. The ‘old’ republican red, white, and blue flag was reinstated by the newly formed Kingdom of the Netherlands. Half a century later, it became fashionable to show allegiance to the royal family by adding an orange stripe as a pennant attached to the flag. The orange pennant started a new Dutch flag tradition, as nowadays other things fly with the flag as well.

Over one hundred municipal flags have been recorded from the four Atlantic provinces of eastern Canada. Recognising that not all communities in the Atlantic Provinces “face the sea”, an analysis was undertaken to determine the significance of the major categories of local enterprise, and from that the effect of these enterprises in the design of the flags. The analysis included elements from the arms or municipal seal commonly displayed on the flags. The analysis of these flags and the communities they represent reveals that the flags reflect the industries that dominate the economy of the municipalities, especially those that are coastal communities, chief among which are maritime enterprises.

As we head to Boston in October 2017, we mark a significant historic occasion for our Association—the fiftieth annual meeting. It takes on even greater importance, however, as it is also the first formal gathering of the group since the passing of the Association’s Founder, Whitney Smith, on November 16, 2016, at the age of 76. This year in particular we should all pause to realize the extraordinary magnitude of Dr. Smith’s accomplishment. We should honor his memory by being diligent and thoughtful vexillologists.

Inventory of the flags for each of NAVA's annual meetings. Includes a color photograph of each flag and details about symbolism.

Inventory of flags in NAVA's collection. Includes color photographs of the flags.

Inventory of the officer flags of the North American Vexillological Association, and the personal flag of Whitney Smith. Includes color photographs of the flags and explanations of the symbolism.

this 1967 article by Dr. Smith addresses the difference between the flag as designed (the ideal flag) and the flag as manufactured (the real flag). It was originally printed in The Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Vexillology: Recueil du IIe Congrès International de Vexillologie Zurich 1967 (Zurich: Société Suisse de Vexillologie, 1968). The copyright notice for that volume of the Proceedings is: © 1968 reserved for all the authors by the SOCIÉTÉ SUISSE DE VEXILLOLOGIE Zurich (Switzerland). To capture the spirit of Dr. Smith’s article, the original formatting has been retained.

An article by Dr. Smith (from 1967) addresses the difference between the flag as designed (the ideal flag) and the flag as manufactured (the real flag). It was originally printed in The Proceedings of the Second International Congress of Vexillology: Recueil du IIe Congrès International de Vexillologie Zurich 1967 (Zurich: Société Suisse de Vexillologie, 1968). The copyright notice for that volume of the Proceedings is: © 1968 reserved for all the authors by the SOCIÉTÉ SUISSE DE VEXILLOLOGIE Zurich (Switzerland). To capture the spirit of Dr. Smith’s article, the original formatting has been retained.

Introductary essay about NAVA's flag collection. Expalins the need for NAVA membership to examine the flags of the organization. Details the steps taken to photograph and document the flags in order to create the catalog.

American Sāmoa, a territory of the United States, officially flies the Stars and Stripes of the U.S. as well as its own territorial flag, which features an American bald eagle along with some uniquely Sāmoan symbols and a red, white, and blue color scheme. More recently, an additional, unofficial flag has been flown in the Manu‘a archipelago—a district of American Sāmoa—that features a chicken, which has a deeply historical, regional, and symbolic significance, and that employs a red, green, and yellow color scheme reflective of other Manu‘a-specific material culture. This article charts the author’s experiences living and working in American Sāmoa and his efforts to understand the history and cultural significance of the territory’s many flags, as well as the ways in which these flags are interpreted and contested between and within islands and districts. Analysis of these flags is an opportunity for further discussions of colonialism and indigenous symbolism.

“Soiuz” in Russian means “union”—a key word in the formal name of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Once the world’s largest state, the Soviet Union comprised 15 republics and more than 100 distinct ethnic groups. The country celebrated its diversity while at the same time emphasizing the unity of all Soviet peoples. Throughout the 1922–1991 history of the USSR a highly-developed system of symbolic representations was used to portray the strength of the union. This paper examines the many ways in which the concepts of union and unity were symbolically portrayed in Soviet society including the use of flags, emblems, imagery, and slogans. It demonstrates the importance of the concept of “soiuz” in the Soviet Union. Finally, it shows how unity symbols were central to Soviet messaging both domestically and internationally.

The world’s foremost vexillologist compares the sciences of heraldry and vexillology, through a review of civic symbolism in the United States and its manifestation on flags. He distinguishes it from European heraldry, and challenges heraldists to apply the same scientific principles as vexillology.