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Portland Flag Association 1 ISSN 2474-1787 Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 61 December 2016 INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Whitney Smith 1940–2016 Whitney Smith 1940–2016 1 Whitney Smith, the visionary who For decades Whitney was likely November 2016 Flutterings 2 organized and named vexillology, the only person to make a living as Flag Change in Columbia, SC 4 died 17 November in Boston. a flag expert. Still, he proved con- Roundup 5 sistently generous with his time and The Fleur-de-Lis 6 Anyone with an interest in flags expertise to the old and young. The First World Vexillology Day 8 not only knows of Whitney, but Michael Orelove’s Burgees 10 owes him a huge debt. He gave His master work, Flags Through the The Flag Quiz 11 the flag-studies field its name (as Ages and Across the World (1975), Portland Flag Miscellany 12 a 17-year-old enthusiast in 1957). brought the study of flags to many Next Meeting 12 people. In a 1999 survey, NAVA In the early 1960s he launched members listed up to five of their www.portlandflag.org the Flag Research Center and the favorite flag books—4/5 of the Flag Bulletin, and in the mid-60s he respondents listed that book, usual- brought together the flag scholars ly in first place. It was one of over of the US and Canada to start 25 books Whitney wrote, plus 233 NAVA—the North American numbers of the Flag Bulletin over 50 Vexillological Association, and years and many other publications. those of the world to organize We salute the memory of a great FIAV—the International Federa- friend and scholar. tion of Vexillological Associations. We meet the second Thursday of odd-numbered months. Please mark your 2017 calendars for PFA meetings at 7:00 PM at the following dates/locations: 1/12/17 Jessie Spillers 3/9/17 Patrick Genna 5/11/17 John Schilke 7/13/17 Ted Kaye Whitney Smith gives congratulations 9/14/17 Scott Mainwaring and his book to Mason Kaye, long- 11/9/17 David Ferriday Flags are a universal time PFA member, on the occasion of characteristic of human Mason’s Driver-Award-winning talk at Thank you to our generous hosts civilization. NAVA 33/ICV 18 in Victoria, BC, in 1999 (with 6 PFA members attending). for their hospitality to the PFA! —Dr. Whitney Smith, Flags Through the Ages If you wish to compliment the editor, or to contribute in the future, contact Ted Kaye and Across the World at 503-223-4660 or [email protected]. If you wish to complain, call your mother. 2 The Vexilloid Tabloid November 2016 Flutterings You Need to Know In our November meeting, hosted by Fred Paltridge and his fiancée Willow Washburn in their new home, 11 PFA members enjoyed a lively 3+hour evening of flags. In the usual role of the host, Fred moderated the discussion. Fred compared the red and white checks of arms of the royal families of Croatia (past) and Monaco. Ted Kaye passed around newspa- per clippings with flags as photo subjects, Željko Heimer’s new book (see p. 5) which he’d edited, and Portland city flag pins, recently Host Fred Paltridge (with Willow) moderates the discussion. arrived from the vendor. William Gifford arranges 48 historic flags sold by Von’s stores during 1976. He also posed the most recent flag David Koski anticipated the up- quiz to the members, described a coming “Civil War” football game William Gifford brought a 1976 visit to Columbia, S.C. (see p. 4), between the University of Oregon bicentennial flag set with 48 histor- and shared some full-size flags (Ducks) and Oregon State Univer- ic flags and an explanatory booklet, from his collection, including those sity (Beavers), wondering how to marketed by Von’s and created by of the Saami nation, Ukraine (a gift create a “flag for ambivalent peo- the Golden State Display Mfg. Co. from the Antarctic base command- ple” who support both or neither in N. Hollywood. He’d bought it er), Western Ukraine (a gift from side—perhaps using a platypus? recently from an antique shop after business colleagues), and a hospi- it was left out in the rain. tality flag used by European hotels John Schilke reflected on his recent (comprising 16 country flags). office cleaning, where he mostly Michael Orelove described how he just moved items around and gave gave away his burgee collection to away a few things...but kept his flag the local Sea Scouts (see p. 10). books! Michael Orelove shows the one burgee David Koski wonders if Roman Mars John Schilke reflects on office clean-up he retained in his collection—from the has a personal flag... challenges. Royal Yacht Club, Suffolk, UK. December 2016 Portland Flag Association 3 Ken Dale describes Clackamas County’s only Medal of Honor winner. Ken Dale described the rededica- tion of the memorial to Larry Ted Kaye stumps the crowd with the flag of Western Ukraine (a long-ago gift from Dahl, a Medal of Honor winner software development vendor colleagues in Lviv) as Joyce Gifford looks on. from Clackamas County, just be- fore Veterans Day, and related the described the most recent Big Bang Erick Watkins, inspired by the flag experiences of his aunt, a nurse Theory “Fun with Flags” episode. of Cyprus, jokingly proposed a new during WW2. flag for Portland, with its map sil- David Ferriday showed some houette and two “green stags”. Joyce Gifford related how when recent acquisitions, including a the San Francisco Zoo needed folk art U.S. flag with 8 stars and Our next meeting will be at the 5,000 4”x6” California state flags 9 stripes, a Betsy Ross House print home of Jessie Spillers on Jan. 12. for the opening of its bear exhibit which he gave to Fred & Willow, Jessie took the Portland Flag Asso- on extremely short notice, the and an Irish city flag. ciation flag home with him—the Giffords’ Chinese source ran its customary task of the next host. factory day and night for two days to complete the order on time. Jessie Spillers presented his recent learnings about the history and flags of Newfoundland, and David Ferriday unveils the flag of the Jessie Spillers describes the history of Irish town of Loch Garman (Wexford), Erick Watkins shows what a Cyprus- Newfoundland and its flags. in County Wexford’s colors. inspired Portland flag might look like. 4 The Vexilloid Tabloid Flag Change in Columbia, South Carolina By Ted Kaye Columbia, the capital city of South Carolina, could really use a change of topic when it comes to flags. As the focal point for display of the Confederate Battle Flag in the South, the city hosted a turning point in the fractious debate, with the removal of the flag from the The South Carolina State House and Confederate Monument in front of Confederate Monument, 2009: Flagpole and fencing in place. the capitol, in July 2015, by order of Governor Nikki Haley. Calls for the flag’s removal had intensified since the murder of Activist Bree Newsome capturing the nine people in the Charleston Confederate flag on the SC state house church shooting the month before. grounds, as interpreted by Rebecca Cohen. [Museum May/June 2016] The flag had flown from a pole next to the monument, surrounded by a concrete deck and a small Columbia’s flag has served the fence. Within a day of the decision city for more than a century, but it The South Carolina State House and to remove it, all of that was gone represents a bygone era (corn and Confederate Monument, 2016: Flagpole and fencing removed. and sod was being laid in its place. cotton) with an outdated, ineffec- tive design (a seal on a bedsheet). The most visible event associated Perhaps this new flag topic will with the flag was its lowering two Local leaders have begun an effort bring positive attention to Colum- weeks before as an act of civil dis- to consider updating the flag as bia. It may well show how flags obedience by a young African- part of reclaiming civic pride and are far more than designs on bits American filmmaker, Brittany Ann improving the branding of the city. of cloth, and can serve a communi- “Bree” Newsome, whose pole- A large group came together at the ty as a unifying symbol. climb went viral and won praise Columbia Museum of Art for a from Democratic presidential can- workshop to learn about flag de- didate Hillary Clinton. sign and discuss ideas for change. I visited Columbia in 2009 in conjunction with NAVA 43 (Charleston), and then again this year. That provided an opportuni- ty to see the monument before (with flag) and after (without flag). The Columbia Design League and the local arts-commission equiva- Columbia’s media relations staff show lent had invited me in September the flag in the city council chambers. A light-blue version of the Columbia to speak about flag design and how Adopted in 1912, it features the city city flag flies below the state and the city flag might be improved. seal and stalks of corn and cotton. national flags outside City Hall. December 2016 Portland Flag Association 5 Roundup Protesting in downtown Portland John Niggley’s mother celebrated in support of the Malheur occupiers. her 76th birthday on 18 Sept. 2016; John honored the event with the The surfer-pirate flag in Catlin Gabel Portland hosted the trial of the Bennington Flag.