Monday, August 7, 2017

ICV 27 Speaker 4: Kevin Harrington


Kevin Harrington's paper was entitled Flags and the Anniversaries of 2017: Myths, Mistakes, Misconceptions.  Harrington spoke briefly about flags that were changed due to the Socialist Red Scare, namely of the old red Oklahoma flag and a few others.  Harrington also gave an enchanting retelling of his youthful excitement in 1965 when the current Canadian flag was adopted, which he instantly loved. 

Harrington proposed that the some Canadian flags with the red and blue ensign may have never existed, and only came into existence due to assumptions and errors.   Essentially the Admiralty was making mistakes and assumptions, based upon the hypotheticals.  As of yet there is no direct evidence that some flags existed.  Perhaps the flags were proposed, but none were created to fly on a flag pole? 

Much of flag history comes about though the official publications of government issued Naval Communications and Flag Authority books.  In this case, the Admiralty of the UK were responsible for organizing, cataloging and charting proper use of flags for use at sea.  They were never intended to be a target of vexillological or academic use, but they have become trustworthy sources for researching flags. 

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