Raven: A Journal of Vexillology

Focusing on the period from 1880 to 1930, this paper examines some sixty American “flag incidents” where Canadian “vexilloclasts” strongly—sometimes violently—objected to displays of American flags in Canada and, at the same time, strengthened the development of Canadian flag culture in the form of the Union Jack and the Canadian Red Ensign.

This paper covers the ongoing debate between the author and Mr. Byron DeLear with respect to which flag flew on Prospect Hill, outside Boston, on 1 January 1776. The question of whether it was the “Continental Colors” or a pre-1801 Union Flag and DeLear’s views on the matter lead the author to examine both arguments and new or previously-research documentation to determine if any updates need to be made to his original conclusions.

Analyzing the occurrence of homes painted in the colours and designs of the United States flag, this article examines the reasons behind this trend, in particular in the months and years following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

This article examines the surprising use of Confederate flag in American popular music, particularly in the music and merchandise of Kanye West, in a period when this design is otherwise witnessing a great deal of negative attention on the national level.

Amongst the numerous individuals who have proposed alternative designs for the United States flag was Wayne Whipple. This paper looks at Whipple’s story and the impact of his efforts.

This paper illuminates the history and design process of the various President’s Flags of the United States of America between 1915 and 1959, in particular focusing on the efforts to produce such a banner for President Harry S. Truman in 1945.

This lecture discusses five flags which the Latter-Day Saints used from 1830 to 1848 in various parts of the United States to represent their early allegiances to God and to the United States. Despite the many problems in the relationship between the Latter-Day Saints and the American government at this time and in the decades to come, the Mormons clearly attempted to show that they could be loyal to both their faith and the political authority.

Recent research has questioned whether the Grand Union flag (a.k.a. “Continental Colors”) really flew at Prospect Hill, Boston, on 1 January 1776. Eye­witness accounts use the term “union flag” and a new interpretation theorizes this to have referred specifically to the British Union Jack and not the characteristic “union flag with 13 red-and-white stripes.” This paper rebuts the new interpretation and supports the conventional history through an examination of eighteenth-century linguistic standards, contextual historical trends, and additional primary and secondary sources.

Covering a little-known subject, this article catalogues the use of flags within slave uprisings in the New World in the nineteenth century. The author demonstrates how the slave banners were typically modelled on the flags of their former masters but also often incorporated African symbols in an attempt to indicate physical freedom as well as the attempt to signal the former slave groups’ equality with their former oppressors.

This Driver Award-winning paper examines the use of vexillidolatry—the reverence of flags—in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). The author demonstrates the deeply-held reverence to DPRK flags—national, political, and military—which North Koreans hold. This is not the result of political pressure, but more the result of the people’s view of the national flag as a symbol of independence and their strong and widely-displayed patriotism.

This essay conveys the story of the first mass recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in Utah. The author demonstrates how the event was intended to demonstrate to the rest of the country that Mormans in Utah were loyal Americans.

This paper uses communication theory to study the flag culture of Tennessee. The author applies concepts such as semiotics, pragmatic unity, and visual synecdoche to the examination of flags and flag-derived logos used throughout the Volunteer State.

This article provides a discussion of the Znamia Pobedy — the Soviet Banner of Victory from World War II — covering the sometimes contradictory stories behind the flag raised by Soviet soldiers over the Reichstag in Berlin. It also discusses post-war use in the U.S.S.R. and the countries of the former Soviet Union.

This article provides a discussion of the flags of the Confederacy, illustrated by historical flags of the period. The author discusses how one flag pattern gained primacy in the South during the Civil War, and how that flag is viewed in contemporary U.S. culture.