NAVA O (1967)

Image    Photo

NAVA O: Boston, Massachusetts
Boston University
June 3–4, 1967

Note: This meeting has been referred to as NAVA O (the Letter “O” for “organizational”) and it also has been referred to as “NAVA 0” (the number Zero), but at the time of the meeting it was referred to as simply the “organizational meeting” or “organizational conference”. According to the Flag Research Quarterly 11: The Flags of NAVA (page 40), the use of NAVA 0 (number zero) “has sometimes been misinterpreted as a renumbering to correct a mistake.” Since the actual first annual meeting occurred when the initial NAVA Bylaws were adopted on November 18, 1967 (NAVA 1), there was really no mistake in the numbering of the annual meetings simply because the organizational meeting was not an annual meeting. However, to eliminate confusion, the organizational meeting will henceforth be referred to as NAVA O (the letter O) on our NAVA website.

The NAVA O Banner:

This square banner of the Flag Research Center was never actually a special meeting flag for NAVA. The original was square, with a silver fringe on the bottom, and was designed to be hung vertically rather than flown as a flag. It was the banner of the FRC at the time of NAVA O, and since NAVA was organized by the Flag Research Center, some believe it may have been present at the time of that first meeting. According to vexillologist Kin Spain, “It is not known if the FRC banner was used at the organizational meeting, but NAVA uses the banner for NAVA O as a tribute to Dr. Smith.”

The Flag Research Center banner emblem was designed by vexillologist-artist Louis Loynes of London. It is a heraldic zephyr consisting of a ship in the form of a swan, a reminder that at a very early date flags flew from ships. Significantly, the ship’s ensign blows forward, whereas the head of the swan looks backward to suggest that to progress in the study of flags, one must examine the past.

The original banner is now part of the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History’s Whitney Smith Flag Research Center Collection at The University of Texas at Austin. In 2014 Dixie Flag Manufacturing Co. made two replicas of the banner for The Flag Research Center. In 2016, The Flag Research Center donated one to NAVA; it is shown above.

Meeting flag description from Flag Research Quarterly 11: The Flags of NAVA

The NAVA O Flag (Swallow-tailed Variant):

Occasionally this Flag Research Center variant flag is shown as the NAVA O Flag, but it is not historically correct and was never used at any NAVA function. The description on Flags Of The World says that it’s “A blue flag, with a tongued swallowtail at the fly, with an image of a flagged Viking ship in white.”

According to vexillologist David Martucci, Whitney Smith had two versions of the FRC Flag, one as a flag and one as a banner. Both had three points, the banner on the bottom and the flag on the fly end. Both were 1:2. The Zephyr emblem designed by Louis Loynes appears upright in each case. (An example of the vertical design can be seen on the Origins of NAVA page)

NAVA O Organizing Committee: Whitney Smith and Pierre C. Lux-Wurm

Significant Events:

• This was the organizational meeting of the North American Vexillological Association under the sponsorship of the Flag Research Center.
  • Whitney Smith acted as Secretary for this planning conference and made the following description of events in the Flag Bulletin volume 6, number 3.
  • Also attached to this extract is the questionnaire inserted into the Flag Bulletin – It is of special interest to flag scholars because it gives insights into the thinking of NAVA’s founders.
• NAVA would hold its first annual meeting later in the year at the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart in Purchase, (White Plains), New York, November 18–19, 1967, calling it NAVA 1.

See The Origins of the North American Vexillological Association written by Whitney Smith for further information.

• See the Handwritten notes by Whitney Smith associated with this picture.

NAVA O Attendees: (17)

 Flag images drawn by Clay Moss – Flag photos from Flag Research Quarterly 11: The Flags of NAVA