Of course, flags are historical artifacts and also sources; history has evolved as a discipline to consider material culture as well as texts. But what about a flag with writing on it? That’s like a doubly powerful source, a testament to the era but also to the personal beliefs or acts of a particular person who lived in said era. This occurred to me when I looked (longer) at a Salem parade flag from the later nineteenth century; it was an auction lot a few years earlier, but now it’s on the market again, and suddenly it looked more interesting to me.

And here it is, at Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques, the place to go if you’re interested in antique American flags. Bridgman not only has great stock, but offers up his considerable knowledge of antique flags so you can really learn a lot by just reading his descriptions. This particular flag is described as an antique American flag with 13 stars arranged in a 6-pointed great star/star of David pattern, of a type made for the 1876 Centennial of American Independence, worn and hand-inscribed by the owner in 1896, in Salem, Massachusetts, in celebration of the victory of Republican President-elect William McKinley; illustrated in “The Stars & the Stripes: Fabric of the American Spirit” by Richard Pierce (2005). So quite a famous, published flag. And here’s the writing: Worn Nov. 6, 1896. At the Prade in Salem to celebrate the Republican Victory. Josh rode Baby (a horse I presume) in this parade. McKinley and Gold. Wolcott Governor. 

The flag was “worn,” not carried. Josh rode Baby! So personal. It occurs to me that people felt differently about flags in the past: they wore them, cut them up and made mementos, wrote on them, kept them close, saved scraps. I have a family flag from the very same year (so inscribed) which I do keep close, but I would never wear it or write on it. I drape it from a window from time to time but that’s about it. I found more inscribed flags, all very evocative of their eras. I’m including some stamped (?) campaign flag below, probabaly a whole new “medium,” but the writing seems more powerful in its personal testimony.

Freeman’s Auctions

I can’t imagine anything more poignant than this Civil War flag above,  memorializing the death of a New York soldier at Andersonville: it’s a miracle it survived, but also an indication of its value.

What could be more American than a 48-star flag referencing fireworks and a baseball game in Maine on July 4, 1903 from Bonsell Americana?

Perhaps a flag commissioned by the Grand Army of the Republic to mark the heroism of the Massachusetts 54th at the Battle of Fort Wagner on its 50th anniversary, below.

Writing on a flag was obviously a way to mark (literally) a very notable occasion, as in the cases below: Armistice or “Victory Day” in Milwaukee, November 1918, and the death of President Roosevelt in April of 1945 (and Joe West, whoever he was, in the next year). The juxtaposition of relative mundane acts and notable event is quite striking in the first one! Both scribes seem to want to express their patriotism, and in a more permanent way than taking pen to paper.

Jeff R. Bridgman American Antiques