North American Vexillological Association

This article is about a vexillological organization. For other uses see Nava.

NAVA flag.

Seal of NAVA

The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is a membership organization devoted to "vexillology as the scientific study of flags." Flag researchers, designers, collectors, activists, merchants, and other enthusiasts from the United States and Canada meet annually at NAVA meetings in order to present and discuss research papers, and to honor vexillological achievement with the following awards:

• The Whitney Award, named from Whitney Smith, awarded to outstanding contributors to North American Vexillology
• The William Driver Award, awarded at each meeting for the best paper, and
• The Vexillonnaire Award, which honors a significant success in activist vexillology.

NAVA members receive two publications:

• An annual journal, Raven: A Journal of Vexillology^[1]

• A quarterly newsletter, NAVA News^[2]

Members also receive special publications, the most recent being NAVA's 2006 guide to flag design, "Good Flag, Bad Flag", which has become used extensively in flag-creation efforts at the local and state level throughout the US. They also published a book about American city flags titled American City Flags.

NAVA has attracted attention (particularly in high- or low-ranked cities or states) for publishing surveys evaluating the design quality of city and state flags. They note that NAVA members and the general public closely parallel each other on judging the quality of flags. The state flags found by NAVA to be considered of the poorest quality are those that simply have the state seal on a blue field. (See external links)

NAVA is a Charter Member of FIAV (Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques), and among the largest flag-studies organizations anywhere.

Organizational flag

The flag of NAVA consists of a large white V (an inverted chevron) separating a blue triangle above from two red triangles on either side. The length of the top side of the blue triangle is the same as the width of the flag. (Note that a flag's "width" is its vertical dimension when flying from a flagpole.) The flag proportion is 2:3.

The V represents vexillology. The colors are taken from the flags of the two countries covered by NAVA: Canada (red and white) and the United States (red, white, and blue). NAVA's description of its flag

NAVA meetings and their flags

Since 1967 the association has held annual meetings in different locations across the United States and Canada, and since 1977 has marked each of these occasions with a distinctive meeting flag.

Name	Location & Dates	Meeting Flag	Designer(s)	Meeting Flag Description
NAVA 0	Boston, Massachusetts, June 3, 1967	none	n/a	The flag of "The Flag Institute" was used for this meeting
NAVA 1	Purchase, New York, November 18, 1967	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 2	Chillum, Maryland, October 12, 1968 – October 13, 1968	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 3	Boston, Massachusetts, September 6, 1969 – September 7, 1969	none	n/a	Was the site for ICV 3, so their meeting flag was used.
NAVA 4	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1970 – October 11, 1970	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 5	Ottawa, Ontario, October 23, 1971 – October 24, 1971	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 6	Chicago, Illinois, October 28, 1972– October 29, 1972	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 7	near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 2, 1973– November 4, 1973	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 8	Baltimore, Maryland, October 12, 1974– October 14, 1974	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 9	Cleveland, Ohio, October 12, 1975– October 14, 1975	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 10	Toronto, Ontario, October 8, 1976– October 10, 1976	none	n/a	n/a
NAVA 11	Washington, D.C., June 10, 1977– June 14, 1977		Steve Stringfellow	The flag shows the NAVA colors (blue, red, and white) in an emblem resembling a lowercase N, the 77 in 1977, and the number 11.
NAVA 12	Montgomery, Alabama, October 7, 1978– October 9, 1978		Charles Brannon
NAVA 13	Salem, Massachusetts, October 5, 1979– October 8, 1979		Alfred Znamierowski	A field of 13 alternating red and black horizontal stripes on which is centered a witch riding a broomstick. Refers to the host city's famous witchcraft trials, and to triskaidekaphobia, fear of the number 13.
NAVA 14	St. Louis, Missouri, October 3, 1980– October 6, 1980		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 15	Ottawa, Ontario, August 24, 1981– August 27, 1981		Whitney Smith	The flag shows an upright chevron, similar to the NAVA chevron, but in Canadian colors (red and white). Inside the chevron is the maple leaf emblem from the Canadian flag.
NAVA 16	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 8, 1982– October 10, 1982		Alfred Znamierowski	A yellow pennant with a double circle of 16 stars on a field of black; black and yellow are Pittsburgh's colors.
NAVA 17	New York City, New York, October 14, 1983– October 16, 1983		Phil Allen	The flag feature's New York City's colors (blue, orange, and white) and an apple emblem representing the city's nickname, The Big Apple. In the apple is hidden the number 17.
NAVA 18	Vancouver, British Columbia, October 5, 1984– October 7, 1984		Ralph Holberg	The flag is a mixture of Vancouver's flag and NAVA's flag.
NAVA 19	Kansas City, Missouri, October 11, 1985– October 13, 1985		Ralph Holberg	The flag resembles Kansas City's former flag, as well as the NAVA flag. Inside the former Kansas City logo, there is a Roman numeral number 19.
NAVA 20	Trenton, New Jersey, October 10, 1986– October 12, 1986		Jim Ferrigan	The meeting flag incorporates Vs for "Vexillology" that form XX (Roman numeral 20), with the NAVA flag in the canton. The use of blue and gold in the background references the municipal flag of Trenton.
NAVA 21	San Francisco, California, October 12, 1987– October 16, 1987		James Croft, Jim Ferrigan, and Whitney Smith	The flag shows the eagle and crown that is on the San Francisco flag. The background resembles the NAVA flag. This meeting was also the ICV 12 meeting.
NAVA 22	Portsmouth, New Hampshire, October 7, 1988– October 9, 1988		Ralph Holberg	The flag includes the International maritime signal flags for the letters P (Portsmouth), N (New), and H (Hampshire). A parody of the NAVA flag is shown at the top as a pennant.
NAVA 23	Dallas, Texas, October 20, 1989– October 22, 1989		John Purcell	The meeting flag colors are those of the United States, Texas, Dallas, and NAVA. The star also represents Texas and Dallas.
NAVA 24	Toronto, Ontario, 1990		Sandra Armstrong	The flag includes the colors of NAVA and of Toronto.
NAVA 25	Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1991		Kevin Harrington	The flag shows blue and white, the Minneapolis colors, and is in the famous NAVA chevron shape. There is a yellow star in the center of the flag, which represents Minnesota. There is a red ribbon in the center of the flag which is in the shape of the number 25.
NAVA 26	San Antonio, Texas, 1992		John H. Gámez	The NAVA chevron appears in red on the meeting flag, with five white stars. The number of the points on all of the stars is 26. A silhouette of the Alamo is located in the background.
NAVA 27	Portland, Maine, 1993		John R. B. Szala	The flag shows the NAVA colors.
NAVA 28	Portland, Oregon, 1994		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.
NAVA 29	Covington, Kentucky, 1995		Secundino Fernandez	The NAVA chevron appears in red with the letter C above it. Both the waving blue lines and C appear on the flag of Cincinnati, the principal city of the region where the convention was held.
NAVA 30	Sacramento, California, 1996		Richard A. Kenny and James J. Ferrigan III	The flag shows the California bear and star that appears on the California flag. A Roman numeral 30 in yellow with a blue shadow also appears on the flag.
NAVA 31	Chicago, Illinois, October 10, 1997– October 12, 1997		John M. Purcell	The flag is the Chicago flag design bent in the shape of the NAVA chevron.
NAVA 32	Québec City, Québec, October 9, 1998–October 12, 1998		Jim Croft	The flag shows the fleur-de-lis that appears on the Québec flag. The NAVA chevron appears as blue and white rectangles going inside and outside, which is the border of the Québec City flag.
NAVA 33	Victoria, British Columbia, July 28, 1999–August 2, 1999		Truman G. Pope	The flag shows a red, white, and blue NAVA chevron with the Canadian red maple leaf on top and yellow and blue waves, similar to the ones on the British Columbian flag.
NAVA 34	East Lansing, Michigan, October 6, 2000–October 8, 2000		John M. Purcell	The flag shows a letter M in the United States colors. Hidden in the middle of the M is the NAVA chevron. The background of the flag is blue, like the Michigan flag.
NAVA 35	Norfolk, Virginia, October 5, 2001–October 7, 2001		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.
NAVA 36	Aurora, Colorado, August 30, 2002 – September 1, 2002		Secundino Fernandez and David Martucci	The flag resembles the Denver flag, with enhancements to make the bottom part of the flag to look like the NAVA flag.
NAVA 37	Montréal, Québec, October 10, 2003 – October 12, 2003		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 flag and Québec flag.
NAVA 38	Indianapolis, Indiana, October 8, 2004 – October 10, 2004		Jim Croft	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. In the chevron area of the flag, a black-and-white version of the Indianapolis flag appears.
NAVA 39	Nashville, Tennessee, October 7, 2005 – October 9, 2005		James W. Ritchie	The flag shows the NAVA chevron appearing as the blue bar on the right of the Tennessee flag. The circle and stars on the Tennessee flag appears in the chevron area of the flag.
NAVA 40	Reno, Nevada, October 13, 2006 – October 15, 2006		Sophie Rault	The proportions of the flag are 5:8, it is swallow-tailed (as for NAVA 20 and NAVA 30). The blue field, the silver star in the canton and the golden-yellow strip remind of the Nevada State Flag. The 3 blue-white-red strips remind of NAVA. There are 4 strips to celebrate 40 years of NAVA. The strips are V-shaped for Vexillology.
NAVA 41	Glastonbury, Connecticut, October 12, 2007 – October 14, 2007		Dean Thomas	The three grape vines 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.
NAVA 42	Austin, Texas, October 10, 2008 – October 12, 2008		Peter Krag (1839)	Rectangle variant of the Texas revenue service flag, originally adopted in 1839.
NAVA 43	Charleston, South Carolina, October 9, 2009 – October 11, 2009		John Purcell, Charles Spain, Ron Strachan, and Hugh Brady	A purple C-shaped decrescent (for Charleston and Charles II) on a golden "sun in splendor" on a purple field, in 3:5 proportion. The "valleys" between the sun's rays are meant to evoke "v" for vexillology.
NAVA 44	Los Angeles, California, October 8, 2010 – October 10, 2010		William M. Belanich, Jr	The three colors of the flag of Los Angeles (Green, Yellow and Red) with the "44" in yellow located in the green area of the flag The red and green is separated by a yellow zig-zag resembling the "v" for Vexillology.
NAVA 45	Washington, DC, August 1, 2011 – August 5, 2011	100px	Peggy Rose	The IVC 24 Congress flag was used.

References

1. ^ Raven: A Journal of Vexillology. 15. 2008. http://www.nava.org/NAVA%20Publications/Raven/Index.php. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ NAVA News. 200. December 2008. http://www.nava.org/NAVA%20Publications/NAVANews/Index.php. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• NAVA website
  • City flag survey
  • State flag survey