NAVA 50

NAVA 50, as the 50th annual meeting of NAVA, was cause for great celebration for the participants, looking back over their 50 years of growth and flag scholarship.  For details and additional photos of NAVA 50, see:

• NAVA News no. 229 (December 2016)
• NAVA 50 Program
• NAVA 50 Photo Gallery

The NAVA 50 Flag: The white canton and red star and red chevron symbolize the state of California using elements from the state flag.  The red and gold chevrons at the fly represent the Spanish heritage of San José.  The blue/white/red combinations at the top and bottom recall the NAVA flag and symbolize NAVA’s role in documenting the continuity between past and present as part of its vexillological mission.  It is based on a design by Tony Burton, chosen from among 52 proposals.


 

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


• Fifty Years of NAVA Meeting Flags 1969–2016 – Special NAVA 50 handout.
  

Organizing Committee: Peter A. Loeser (chair), Peter A. Ansoff, James J. Ferrigan III, Edward B. Kaye, and William J. Trinkle.

The George Henry Preble Lecture

Dr. Tamara Venit-Shelton, Associate Professor of History, Claremont McKenna College, presented “The 1861 Settlers’ War” in the auditorium of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library on the campus of San José State University (SJSU), which also serves as a branch of the San José Public Library.

– Her address is summarized in NAVA News no. 229 (Dec. 2016)

– Download a 12 page PDF copy of Dr. Venit-Shelton’s presentation notes with illustrations

The Presentations

• The Global Legacy of the Estrella Solitaria, Cuba’s Lone Star Flag – Hipolito Rafael Chacón, Ph.D., Montana.
• Flag of Remembrance 1865 – Rodney D. Deal, Michigan.
• Branding the Nations – Michael Green, Texas.
• The Flag of the NSDAP and the Third Reich: The Impact of a Well Designed Flag – John M. Hartvigsen, Utah.
• Show Me the Race of the Nation Without a Flag, and I Will Show You a Race of People Without Any Pride: Flags of Black Nationalist Organization – Steven A. Knowlton, M.L.I.S., M.A., New Jersey.
• The Intersectionality of Flags, Religion, and the Gay Pride Movement – Amy J. Langston, North Carolina.
• Which Way Forward? Directionality in Flag Perception and Design – Scott D. Mainwaring, Ph.D., Oregon.
• Geographies of Vexillology: Learning Geography Through Flags – Carlos A. Morales-Ramirez, M.S., M.A., Singapore.
• An Introduction to Comparative Civil Religion: The United States and the Soviet Union – Anne M. Platoff, M.S., M.A. & Scot M. Guenter, Ph.D., California.

Special Activity

The NAVA 50 special activity, the "Tour of the Collections", proved a very popular and enjoyable activity on Saturday afternoon.  NAVA 50 participants had the opportunity to view and photograph an amazing display of treasured flags from the private collections of Peter Ansoff, Bill Trinkle, Annie Platoff, Jim Ferrigan, and Phil Allen.  The owners of the collections explained their history, provenance, value, and importance.

Ben Zaricor and his daughter, Tanya Veninga-Zaricor, brought four rarely-seen early flags from the famed Zaricor Flag Collection, including a 1780 thirteen-star flag with single ring and center star, a mid-Federal period U.S. merchant ship ensign, a 1876 Centennial patriotic U.S. flag, and a 1896 SemiCentennial Bear Flag originally from the collection of Judge John Ball of San José.

Fiscal Sponsors:

President’s Reception: CRW Flags
Preble Lecture: Colonial Flag Co.
Driver Award: The Flag Research Center
Harrington Award: The Middlesex Institute