Last modified: 2015-10-18 by rob raeside
Keywords: vexillological association | north american vexillological association |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
Founded in 1967, the North American Vexillological Association (Association nord-américaine de vexillologie) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the study of flags and their cultural, historical, political, and social significance. It organizes an annual meeting in which vexillologists showcase their research and offers awards to recognize and promote excellence in vexillological scholarship. At NAVA 11, in 1977, the practice of designing special flags for these annual meetings became a tradition.
No special flags were designed for these early meetings:
| NAVA 1 | Purchase, New York (USA) | November 18, 1967 | ||
| NAVA 2 | Chillum, Maryland (USA) | October 12-13, 1968 | ||
| NAVA 4 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (USA) | October 10-11, 1970 | ||
| NAVA 5 | Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) | October 23-24, 1971 | ||
| NAVA 6 | Chicago, Illinois (USA) | October 28-29, 1972 | ||
| NAVA 7 | Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (USA) | November 2-4, 1973 | ||
| NAVA 8 | Baltimore, Maryland (USA) | October 12-14, 1974 | ||
| NAVA 9 | Cleveland, Ohio (USA) | October 12-14, 1975 | ||
| NAVA 10 | Toronto, Ontario (Canada) | October 8-10, 1976 |
Designed
by Whitney Smith
NAVA was organized on June 3, 1967, in Boston, Massachusetts. The meeting where the by-laws and constitution of NAVA were written and approved has been designated as "NAVA 0" This flag, briefly used as the first flag of NAVA, was the flag of Doctor Whitney Smith's Flag Research Center.
Designed
by Whitney Smith
This flag was used both for the ICV 3 (International Congress of Vexillology) Convention, sponsored by FIAV, and NAVA 3. It was designed by Whitney Smith.
image by Clay Moss, 29 October 2014
Designed by Steve Stringfellow
On June 10-14, 1977, both NAVA 11 and ICV 7 was held in Washington, D.C. This special flag, designed by Steve Stringfellow, shows the NAVA colors (blue, red, and white) in an emblem resembling a lowercase "N", the "77" in 1977, and the number "11".
Designed by Charles Brannon
NAVA 12 met in Montgomery, Alabama, in October 7-9, 1978 using this unusual flag Designed by Charles Brannon.
Designed by Alfred Znamierowski
NAVA 13 met in Salem, Massachusetts on October 5-8, 1979, using this flag Designed by Alfred Znamierowski. It had a field of 13 alternating red and black horizontal stripes on which is centered a witch riding a broomstick. It refers to the host city's famous witchcraft trials, and to "triskaidekaphobia", the fear of the number 13.
image by Clay Moss, 25 February 2015
Designed by Dorothy Clayborne
The NAVA 14 flag was designed by Dorothy Clayborne. The flag is the NAVA flag defaced in the bottom center by a blue fleur-de-lis within a yellow circle, a reference to the host city's flag. NAVA 14 was held October 3-6, 1980, in St. Louis, Missouri.
image from Pete Loeser, March 2015
Designed by Whitney Smith
This square flag, design for both NAVA 15 and ICV 9, was designed by Whitney Smith. The flag shows an upright chevron, similar to the NAVA chevron, but in Canadian colors (red and white). Within the chevron is the maple leaf from the Canadian flag. The convention was held on August 24-27, 1981, in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada).
image by Clay Moss, 24 February 2015
Designed by Alfred Znamierowski
NAVA 16 was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, between October 8-10 in 1982. This flag, designed by Alfred Znamierowski, featured a yellow pennant with a double circle of 16 stars on a field of black. The black and yellow are Pittsburgh's colors.
Designed by Phil Allen
NAVA 17, held in New York, New York, between October 14-16, 1983, chose a flag Designed by Phil Allen. The flag features New York City´s colors (blue, orange, and white) and an apple representing the city´s nickname, "The Big Apple". Within the apple is hidden the number 17 reminiscent of the cutout tokens used by the New York City Transit Authority in the mid-20th Century.
Designed by Ralph Holberg
NAVA 18 was held in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada), on October 5-7, 1984. This flag, designed by Ralph Holberg, is a mixture of elements from the Vancouver and NAVA flags. The crossed axe and gavel in the green pentagon are taken from the Vancouver flag and form an "X" for the Roman numeral for ten. The chevron forms a "V" for the Roman numeral for five, and the wavy bars are the Roman numeral "3" to denote the 18th meeting.
Designed by Ralph Holberg
NAVA 19 held in Kansas City, Missouri (October 11-13, 1985) chose this flag designed by Ralph Holberg to represent the conference. The flag depicts the "heart" logo of Kansas City´s former flag using the colors of the Kansas City and NAVA flags. Contained within the Kansas City logo is the Roman numeral for 19.
Designed by Jim Ferrigan
NAVA 20, located in Trenton, New Jersey, started a new NAVA tradition in 1986. Held between October 10-12, the flag, designed by Jim Ferrigan, was "swallow-tailed" to indicate a decade had passed since the first meeting. Since that time each decade meeting flag has been swallow-tailed. Jim's meeting flag incorporates "V"s for Vexillology that form "XX" (Roman numeral for 20), with the NAVA flag in the canton. The blue and gold reference the municipal flag of Trenton.
Designed by James Croft, Jim Ferrigan and Whitney Smith
The NAVA 21 / ICV 12 Flag was the joint effort of James Croft, Jim Ferrigan and Dr. Whitney Smith. Held between October 12-16, 1987 in San Francisco, California the flag shows the phoenix and Mural crown that appear on the San Francisco flag. The background resembles the NAVA flag. This meeting was also the ICV 12 meeting.
Designed by Ralph Holberg
NAVA 22 (Oct. 7-9, 1988) was held in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The flag, designed by Ralph Holberg, depics white yacht sails on a light blue background. Flying from the mast is a stylization of the NAVA flag as a pennant above the international maritime signal flags for the letters P, N, and H for Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Designed by John Purcell
NAVA 23, held in Dallas, Texas, on October 20-22, 1989, featured a flag designed by John Purcell. The meeting flag colors are those of the United States, Texas, Dallas, and NAVA. The star appears on both the Texas and Dallas flags and rests on the division with two points in the blue field and three in the red, indicating the 23rd meeting.
Designed by Sandra Armstrong
Toronto, Ontario (Canada), was the site of NAVA 24 in 1990. The flag, designed by Sandra Armstrong, includes the colors of NAVA and Toronto. The Trillium is used as the official symbol of Ontario.
Designed by Kevin Harrington
The 1991 NAVA 25 meeting, held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, featured a flag designed by Kevin Harrington. The flag shows blue and white, the Minneapolis colors, and is in the famous NAVA chevron shape. The yellow star in the center of the flag represents Minnesota framed by a red ribbon that forms the number 25.
Designed by John Gámez
NAVA 26 (October 9-11, 1992) took place in San Antonio, Texas, at the Emily Morgan Hotel. For the NAVA 26 flag, the organizing committee selected a flag based on a design submitted by John Gámez of San Antonio. Horizontally divided blue over green, the dividing line is fimbriated white renders a silhouette of the Alamo, San Antonio’s most famous landmark. A red "V"” for vexillology, also fimbriated white, is superimposed over the field, and bears two white, five-pointed stars on the upper portions of each arm and a single white, six-pointed star at the base. The total number of star-points is twenty-six. The colors reflect San Antonio´s "Tex-Mex" heritage. The design was selected from 15 entries submitted by four vexillographers.
Designed by John R. B. Szala
NAVA 27 was held in Portland, Maine, on October 8-11, 1993 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay. The NAVA 27 flag was designed by John R. B. Szala of Caribou, Maine, and includes the NAVA colors of red, white and blue. White is for the purity of intent, red for the passion for research, and blue for the dedication to the principles of the organization. The red and white concentric circles express the ever expanding field of vexillology and all embracing outreach for present and future members. The blue star-points represent the earth's continents, the extended one for North America. The white pine tree is the official tree of Maine, the host state of NAVA 27.
image by Clay Moss, 26 October 2014
Designed by Donald T. Healy
In 1994, NAVA 28 was held in Portland, Oregon using a flag designed by Donald T. Healy. The flag shows the yellow beaver on the blue background, such as on the back of the Oregon flag. The NAVA chevron is depicted in the Portland flag's colors, blue, white, and green.
image by Clay Moss, 26 October 2014
The beaver in the photos I have of this flag appears to face flywards instead
of toward the hoist. [These are likely images of the reverse - ed.]
Clay Moss, 26 October 2015
Designed by Secundino Fernandez
NAVA 29 (October 6-8, 1995) was held in Covington, Kentucky, at the Quality Hotel Riverview. The NAVA 29 flag was designed by Secundino Fernandez. The NAVA chevron appears in red with the letter "C" above. Both the waving blue lines and "C" appear on the flag of Cincinnati, the principal city of the region where the convention was held.
Designed by Richard A. Kenny and James J. Ferrigan III
NAVA 30 took place in Sacramento, California, in 1996 using a flag Designed by Richard A. Kenny and James J. Ferrigan III. The flag is divided in half horizontally. The top half is white with the California bear and star in red taken from the California flag. The lower half is red with the Roman numeral for 30 in yellow, with a blue shadow on the flag. The flag was "swallow-tailed" to indicate a decennial meeting of the Association.
Designed by John M. Purcell
NAVA 31 Meeting to place in the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, using a flag Designed by John M. Purcell (October 10-12, 1997). The flag is the Chicago flag design bent in the shape of the NAVA chevron. The stars are grouped 3-1 to denote the 31st meeting.
Designed by Jim Croft
Jim Croft designed the flag for the NAVA 32 Meeting (October 2-12, 1998) taking place at the Lowe´s Le Concorde Hotel in Québec City, Québec, Canada. The flag shows the fleur-de-lis on the Québec flag. The NAVA chevron appears as a crenellated line, which appears as a border of the Québec City flag, and represents the walls of the old city.
Designed by Truman G. Pope
The NAVA 33 Meeting and the 18th International Congress of Vexillology both took place at the Laurel Point Inn in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, on July 28 through August 2, 1999. The flag was designed by Truman G. Pope. The flag shows a red, white, and blue NAVA chevron dividing the field. The area outside the chevron is dark blue with yellow waves, similar to the ones on the British Columbia flag. The field inside the chevron is divided in half vertically and colored red and white. On the field is a counterchanged maple leaf.
Designed by John M. Purcell
Taking place at both the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center and Michigan State University, the NAVA 34 Meeting (October 6-8, 2000), used a flag designed by John M. Purcell. The flag shows two large letter "M" one in red and another in white, denoting the Roman numeral for 2000, the year of the meeting. Hidden in the middle of the "M" is the NAVA chevron. The background of the flag is blue, like the Michigan flag.
Designed by Secundino Fernandez
NAVA 35 (October 5-7, 2001) was held in Norfolk, Virginia, at the James Madison Hotel. The NAVA 35 flag was designed by Secundino Fernandez. The "V" in Virginia and the NAVA chevron are put into one, and are located in the canton area of the flag. The background is blue, like the Virginia flag, and the flag incorporates elements of the flag of Hampton Roads.
image by Clay Moss, 21 November 2014
Designed by Secundino Fernandez and David B. Martucci
NAVA 36, held between August 30 and September 1, 2002, at the Denver Airport Marriott in Gateway Park, Aurora, Colorado, used a flag designed by the team of Secundino Fernandez and David B. Martucci. The flag resembles the Denver flag, with enhancements to make the bottom part of the flag to look like the NAVA flag.
Designed by Morgan Milner
NAVA 37 was held in the Midtown Holiday Inn in Montréal, Québec, Canada (October 10-12, 2003). The NAVA 38 flag was designed by Morgan Milner. The flag has a cross, like the Montréal flag and the Québec flag. In the canton, the NAVA flag appears with a white fleur-de-lis in the chevron area, such as the ones on the Montréal and Québec flags.
Designed by James A. Croft
NAVA 38 held at the Radisson Hotel City Centre, in Indianapolis, Indiana (October 8-10, 2004). The NAVA 38 flag was designed by James A. Croft of Northampton, Massachusetts. The flag shows the NAVA chevron on a background of black and white checks, representing the checkered flag used in auto racing, representing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Within the chevron, a black-and-white version of the Indianapolis flag appears.
Designed by James W. Ritchie
NAVA 39 took place at the Downtown Sheraton in Nashville, Tennessee, on October 7-9, 2005. The NAVA 39 flag was designed by James W. Ritchie of Elizabethton, Tennessee. The flag shows the NAVA chevron appearing as the blue bar on the right of the Tennessee flag. The circle and stars of the Tennessee flag appear within the chevron.
image by Clay Moss, 23 February 2015
Designed by Sophie Rault
NAVA 40 was held in Reno, Nevada, at the Siena Hotel on October 13-15, 2006. The NAVA 40 flag was designed by Sophie Rault of Rostrenen, France, and is swallow-tailed to denote a decennial meeting of the Association. The blue field, the silver star in the canton, and the golden-yellow stripe recall the Nevada state flag. The three blue-white-red stripes represent the Association; the four stripes together represent the Association's 40th anniversary and are V-shaped for vexillology. The proportions are 5:8.
Designed by Dean Thomas
On October 12-14, 2007, NAVA 41 took place in Glastonbury, Connecticut. The NAVA 41 flag was designed by Dean Thomas of Downey, California. The three grapevines are from the state arms of Connecticut, and the blue and white colors recall the Connecticut state flag. The "V" motif symbolizes vexillology. The proportions are 3:5. The vector art was prepared by Michael Raney.
image by Clay Moss, 6 December 2014
Designed by Peter Krag
NAVA 42 was held in Austin, Texas, on October 10-12 in 2008. For the NAVA 42 flag, the Organizing Committee selected a historical design originally drawn by Peter Krag. The flag is a rectangular variant of the Texas revenue service flag, which is a square naval auxiliary flag authorized by the 1839 act that established the Lone Star Flag as the national flag of the Republic of Texas. Krag drew the official art for both the Lone Star Flag and the auxiliary naval flags.
Designed by Hugh L. Brady, Dr. John Purcell, Charles A. Spain, Jr. and Ronald Strachan
NAVA 43 was held at The Old Citadel (Embassy Suites—Historic Charleston) in Charleston, South Carolina, on October 9-11, 2009. The design of the NAVA 43 flag reflects the rich history of Charleston and South Carolina. When Carolina was a colony governed by the Lords Proprietors, local gentry were authorized to wear a purple ribbon and have their coats of arms displayed on a sun in splendor. The "valleys" formed by the rays of the sun in splendor evoke the letter "V" for vexillology. Finally, the decrescent resembles a "C" for both Charleston and Charles II, the town°s namesake. The colors are PMS 254 U and 143 U. The proportions are 2:3.
image by Clay Moss, 1 March 2015
Designed by William M. Belanich, Jr.
William M. Belanich, Jr., of Hamilton, Ohio, designed the flag for NAVA 44, inspired by the flag of Los Angeles, the host city. The stylized device used on the
design was adapted from a design submitted by John C. Karp, Jr., of Minden, Nevada. The NAVA 44 meeting took place in Arcadia (Los Angeles), California, at the Hilton Garden Inn–Arcadia/Pasadena on October 8-10, 2010.
The fly of the flag is red and the hoist green, separated by a serrated gold trupe recalling the "v" for vexillology. The colors on the Los Angeles city flag are red for vineyards, golden-yellow for orange groves, and green for olive trees; they come from the flags of Spain and Mexico.) In the hoist are two stylized and mirrored "4"s rendered in the AR Destine font that not only denote the 44th meeting of the Association, but suggest angels´ wings, recalling the city´s name.
Designed by Tony Burton
NAVA 45 and ICV 24 took place in Alexandria, Virginia, at the George Washington Masonic Memorial on August 1-5, 2011. The Congress flag has white stars on blue and the red stars on white that represent, respectively, the host nation and city, the United States of America, and Washington D.C. There are 24 stars in all, echoing the number of the Congress. The blue-and-white and the quartered design also recall, respectively, the state flags of Virginia and Maryland, the two states adjacent to the District of Columbia. The design was submitted by Tony Burton of Australia.
image by Clay Moss, 29 October 2014
Designed by William M. Belanich, Jr.
The NAVA 46 flag was designed by William M. Belanich, Jr., of Hamilton, Ohio. NAVA 46 was held in Columbus, Ohio (Oct 5-7, 2012) at the Renaissance Columbus Downtown Hotel. The flags design reflects the location of the 2012 annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio. The white arc which separates blue from red is taken from the state flag of Ohio on which a red disc is surrounded by a white letter "O", all resting on a triangular blue field. The arc forms the letter "C" representing the host city of Columbus. The colors of the flag are those of the flags of the Association, Ohio, and the United States of America.
Designed by John Hartvigsen
NAVA 47 was held at the Plaza Hotel at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 11-13, 2013.·Reminiscent of the Association’s flag, the design by John Hartvigsen in blue and white features a golden beehive for Utah, the Beehive State. The large star below the beehive signifies the "Rising Star of Deseret" shown on many early flags of Utah history.
Designed by Tony Burton and Zachary Harden
The NAVA 48 Annual Meeting took place at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, in New Orleans, Louisiana, on October 3-5, 2014.
The NAVA 48 flag is based on designs submitted by Tony Burton and
Zachary Harden and was drawn by Jeremy Keith Hammond, of Bath, Maine. It is a
heraldic flag, described as Per fess dancetty Or and Purpure, each point ending
in a fleur-de-lis, a crescent overall counter-changed.
As is well known,
New Orleans's nickname is the Crescent City, owing to the way the Mississippi
River bends its way through the city. The crescent design appears in many
places, including the manhole covers used by the city. An early Allen & Ginter
tobacco card shows a gold crescent on the city flag. It echoes the "o" used by
Tony.
The fess dancetty floretty uses the fleur-de-lis from the current
city flag, and the fess is basically a "v" line evoking a "v" for vexillology,
borrowing from Zach's use of both the fleur-de-lis and the inverted chevron.
The gold comes from the gold fleur-de-lis in the current city flag, used by
both Tony and Zach, while the purple comes from the Mardi Gras colors as noted
by Tony.
Source:
http://nava.org/nava-meetings/meetings/48
Pete Loeser, 27
September 2014
image by Jeremy Hammond, 23 April 2015
Design by Reid Reynolds, Ken Reynolds, and John Hartvigsen
NAVA 49 was the annual meeting of the North American Vexillological Association held on October 16-18, 2015, at the Ottawa Marriott Hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. This is the third time the Association has met in Canada's national capital, chosen this time to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Canada's Maple Leaf flag.
The NAVA 49 conference flag was designed by Reid Reynolds and her father, Ken Reynolds, with input from John Hartvigsen. A simple and minimal design, the flag is restricted to red and white, the national colors of Canada. The white field also signifies snow and winter, the latter being the predominant season for most of the country on February 15, the actual anniversary of the Canadian flag. The silhouette next to the hoist depicts the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill, the well-known building that most represents Ottawa to the country and the world. The maple leaf in the upper fly represents the nation as a whole and is Canada's most well-known symbol. As in most cases, an indoors ceremonial variant of the flag was used with a gold fringe for opening and closing ceremonies.
Pete Loeser, 18 October 2015
image by Clay Moss, 17 October 2015
Design by Tony Burton
The winning flag design for the NAVA 50 Annual Meeting, which will be held in San Jose, California, on 14-16 October 2016, was announced at NAVA 49 meeting in Ottawa, Canada, on Saturday, 17 October 2015. The winning design was based on a contest entry submitted by Tony Burton.
The flag design was explained as follows: "The white canton with the red star and red chevron symbolize the state of California using elements of the state flag. The red and gold chevrons at the fly represent the Spanish heritage of San Jose. 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."
Two changes were made by the judges and the selection committee: the canton was changed from gold to white, and the star was reoriented with the point facing the hoist. The orientation of the star was a practical decision in view of the fact that the flag will most often be displayed vertically at future NAVA meetings.
Pete Loeser, 18 October 2015