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Raspravlja se o grbu i zastavi Hrvatskog grboslovnog i zastavoslovnog društva. Discusses the coat of arms and flag of the Croatian Heraldic and Vexillological Association.

We can learn a lot about flags from the markings that appear on their headers. Diagrams and tables exist that have been created by the military that help to categorize flags by their sizes. Mare Island Naval Shipyard produced thousands of flags over a period of 150 years. Its World War Two flags include distinctive markings that appear on many of the flags in my collection. I have devised a way to calculate a flag’s RIF (Remnant Indicator Formula) which will be shared during this presentation. Information will also be shared about the two flags raised over Iwo Jima that were both made at Mare Island.

This essay explores the creation and rise in popularity of a British comedy website called Worldface, which parodied the Facebook phenomenon while providing an opportunity to celebrate or castigate national identities and traditions through interactive engagement and the use of flags. Begun in November 2009, the site soon drew fans and users from around the world. Its popularity grew faster than a support system to sustain it, and the quality of the site was also affected by what originator Phil Cooper labeled “idiot” postings. Worldface often provided sophisticated commentary on politics, history, and international relations before it shut down in July 2010, its demise due in part to the rise of an anime subculture. Its creators, Team Fishcake, also did clever satires called “Alternative World Cup” flags, and other Facebook parody websites have appropriated flag use to good effect, often while teaching history or geography.

This paper details and documents the issues, efforts and outcomes ensuing from the adoption of Utah House Concurrent Resolution 2 and Utah House Bill 490 and analyzing their effects. In 2011 the 59th General Session of the Utah State Legislature met during a time of budgetary challenges and intense political controversy. Despite dealing with a heavy legislative schedule, the House and Senate considered and passed two measures concerning the Utah State Flag—House Concurrent Resolution 2, which urged that newly manufactured flags accurately reflect the statutory description, and House Bill 490, which provided for the annual commemoration of Utah State Flag Day. The North American Vexillological Association has participated in efforts to redesign the state flags in Utah and Oregon. However, neither attempt resulted in legislative adoption. Nonetheless, the experience gained in Utah does provide valuable insights that could be useful in obtaining adoption of new flag designs. Issues were raised that should be considered in order to make adoption of flag-related legislation possible. Plans, procedures, and strategies were employed that could be useful in other venues. Additionally, there were other benefits gained that support vexillology as a scholarly discipline and raised its exposure.

Published in Chicago in 1861, “Down with the Traitors’ Serpent Flag” is one of thousands of political parlor songs from the American Civil War. Many of these songs are unremarkable musically and were preserved in homes, archives, and museum collections largely for their vibrant illustrations. In my presentation I examine this song’s lithographic cover illustration—a Union soldier grinding a Confederate flag into the dust—within a broader discourse of Civil War flag imagery taken from songs, political cartoons, and cartes-de-visite. Compelling secrets exist within this colorful image that may not first meet the eye; to uncover these meanings along with the ways in which they operated for 19th-century audiences, I address how citizens used flags as material objects and signs in a wider social context. I argue that this defiled flag can be seen as a symbol of nation and state, as a reminder of the female presence in war, and as a surrogate for the wounded or even deceased human body. By utilizing flag culture to interrogate objects in an art historical or visual culture context, this presentation argues that vexillology should be accepted by the larger scholarly community not only as an independent discipline but as a theoretical approach to the allied fields of art history, material culture, and cultural studies.

I have questions about flags. Looking for answers, I went not to vexillological papers, but to scientific publications in other scientific fields. What follows is a taste of what I found.

The Confederate commerce raider CSS Shenandoah visited Melbourne in 1865 for repairs and provisions, the only port-visit on its around-the-world mission: a journey that became famous for the Shenandoah being the ship that fired the last shot of the American Civil War. The paper focuses on its Australian visit and the Shenandoah’s use of the Stainless Banner and the naval use of other Confederate flags. The paper is sourced from extensive contemporary local newspaper articles and illustrations, archives, memoirs and several books. The visit created a considerable impact in Australia that indirectly led to the development of the Victorian colonial navy, which required a navy ensign. The Victorian flag evolved to become the current Australian national flag.

Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, is presented by means of geographic data and an historic overview. The history of the symbols of this territory began in 1502 when Spanish monarchs King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella granted the coat of arms of Gibraltar. Further development of the coat of arms is then described until the present day. The first flag used in Gibraltar, in 1870, was the colonial flag of the Government. Other flags from later periods are described down to the present. Other symbols used in Gibraltar, such as police emblem and flags of the Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club, are also described. There is also further demonstration of the use of various symbols in practice, such as on coins, banknotes, and stamps, and in houses, gardens, and public places.

In 1947 the Japanese Mandate on the South Islands became the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands until the Trust Territory was dissolved on 10 July 1987. On 22 December 1990 the U.N. Security Council ratified the termination of trusteeship, the last step toward independence of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and the Republic of Palau. During that era three flags flew in the Islands: the United Nations, USA and later TTPI flags. The Trust Territory adopted its own flag in 1962, a light blue flag with six white stars representing the six districts. From the end of the 1970s each district organized its own way to the future, in association with the USA or full independence. In this lecture I will speak mainly on the Federated States of Micronesia. The flag of the Federation is similar to the TTPI flag but with 4 stars. Each of the four states—Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap—have adopted their own flags using local symbols. Laws were promulgated about the protocol and the use of these flags. Some municipalities have adopted a flag but it was impossible to find information about their symbolism.