Transcripts For CSPAN3 Discussion On Flags Of The American Revolution 20240622

Winter tor museum. Wonderful. Well it is exciting to be here today. This really grew from just an idea that lisa had to maybe just do a little talk on flag day and then we realized that in fact there were three flags being stored here and one in the collection of the museum of the American Revolution two that are the property of an anonymous, very generous owner and lender who has consented to have them on display for this afternoon. So this is an extraordinary opportunity. Im not sure there is anywhere else on the planet why you can stand in the room and be in the presence of three banners of liberty from the American Revolution. So congratulations to all of you for not going to the beach this weekend or not mowing the grass in the hot weather and choosing to come and sit in the dark with me for about np hour. I would like to start actually with an exercise to get you to think about the role that flags play and the images you have in your minds eye about the American Revolution. And so actually im going to close your eyes for a minute. Because were going to think about how poets and painters have painted the vision we have of the American Revolution. So if you use your minds eye and listen to ralph wando emerson, by the rude bridge that arch the flood, their flag to aprils breeze unferled here once the embattled farmer stood and fired the shot heard around the world. Or if i say bunker hill, or Independence Hall, the declaration of in dependence, or Washington Crossing the delaware, raise your hand if you thought a flag or saw a flag. Almost all of you must have had a flag waving somewhere in your mind. And so i wanted to start before we get to the discussion of the flags youll see today, to just reflect for a few minutes there is emersons words from the conquered hymn. And to think about the way we think about flags an the American Revolution. And we claim them as philadelphians and they were born in maryland and we dont hold them against them. James and Charles Wilson peel the painters of the revolution, and both of whom stood the test. They were not summer soldiers by any means. They struggled there many hard campaigns through the course of the revolution and recorded their impressions of the revolution in many works that have become quite people. The peel family, not just james and charles, on down the line became a dynastic of papers washington, almost all of which bear a version of a national standard. Their and you can see how the banners are being depicted. And during the fighting and the nature of the territory this was taking place often meant units had to break up into smaller units. Instead of a smaller regiment of 800 to 1,000 men with a pair of colors and can you imagine in Broken Ground and haves to cross fences, troops would have to fight in smaller units and so early on the americans began breaking down into smaller groups and assigning colors to sort of subunits of a regiment so they would use the term grand division. One of the advocates Major General charles lee who had served in the french and indian war in america and gone back and not in conflicts in europe in the 1760s and settled back in virginia in 1760s and becomed enamored of the taxation and becames a Great American patriot and becames a general with general washington early in the war. And you became familiar with barren von stoiben and was faking it when he claimed he was a barren in the period. But he owe him a great debt. And they were great tactical innovators. And they effected the kind of flags that have come down to us. Now lee was an advocate early on for having a sim pl color, different colored flags color is a sin on em for flag and have the word liberty embroidered on them. And there is a surviving flag that matched this description. This is a photograph taken at about 1860, 1862. It is actually of, at the time though it is hard to believe it a living veteran of the American Revolution, a man named nicholas vetter, he died in 1862, actually an image of the memorial erupted in his honor. He actually had a small private museum of revolutionary relics and this flag is one of the items preserved. It survived remarkably to the present day, but although as can you see this photograph taken about a century ago and this is the recent appearance, it has been rode hard put away wet as my grand father said and it is part of the schenectady museum. But it is the sole survivor of the liberty flags. It is common in 1776. There are numerous references to them of fighting around new york in the actions described in david mccullochs book 1776. In one case one act on long island, they had captured 11 colors, all with the word liberty written on them that maybe went back as trophies to england or german and they may be waiting to be discovered in europe. And von zoiben is best known for promulgating a uniform set of regulations for the discipline of the Continental Army. He joined the continent at army during the valley forth winter as Inspector General with general washington. Up to this point the state lines had used slightly different manuals. It wasnt so much they were loading and firing in different waysba if you can imagine, you are trying to get a brigade or hundreds of thousands of men to go from a column into a line facing an enemy and they all do it a different way, absolutely disastrous. So von stoiben created a uniform set to get those men to move. And this is a plate from the 1779 socalled the blue book because of the blue paste board covers just about every nco and officer would have owned a copy of this. And here with the arrows you can see where hes depicted two of what they called grand division flags. So unlike the british system of having a National Flag and a regimental flag and those were the only flag, these with the small maneuver flags and they were for a company or two Companies Working together in concert during an action. And that is a good setup for the first flag youll see today known as the mulenberg flag. It is now a fade the pink color. At the period it was constructed of a changeable silk so the wharf of the fabric were different colors so as it floded in the wind it had a salmon color. It was respondent in the day. It has in the center a white painted scroll and show you a close up in a moment. It is called the mulenberg flag because it descended in the family of John Peter Gabriel mulenberg, one of the sons of henry mulenberg, known in america as the founder of the Lutheran Church in america, this would be been in trap, up in collegeville for locals here John Peter Gabriel mulenberg was a lutheran minister at the beginning of the American Revolution when the fighting broke out. He was very involved in the early runup to the war the resistance that participated in political committees and very committed to the american resistance and ultimately the revolution. He was appointed in january of 1776 to raise a regiment of german speaking inhabitants of the Shenandoah Valley. He had taken up a calling of what is now woodstock in downstream Shenandoah Valley in Northern Virginia and his congregation consisted of german immigrants or the descendants of graerm immigrants who were still german speaking so this regiment known as the eighth virginia was from 1876. And a regiment that is debated among historians and politicians and this is a story which was known in part even during the American Revolution, there were a number of officers who referred to mulenberg as the general who had famously mounted the pulpit with his sword and his dock aid being the roset of silk ribbon, that a military man would wear in his hat. The story was not written down in hi great detail until the 1830s and 1840s and went Something Like jean Peter Gabriel mulenberg returned to woodstock and the word went out he would announce his final sermon before going off to war and wearing his clerical robes as he he mounted the pulpit, he delivered a sermon from ecclesiastes and what he started speaking about there is a time for peace and a time for war reportedly said and now is the time for war and revealed beneath his gown that he was wearing either his entire Continental Army uniform or perhaps just a sword and cockade. So he was certainly known in the period to have been a minister who went to war and there was something that happened in woodstock, and this is, of course, a 20th century painting depicting that image. Whats important about mulenberg is he kept a lot of his things and we have excellent provenance on this material. In tupper left you see the flag as it descended through the mulenberg family until very, very recently. Until 16962 it was paired with the pair of pistols you see on the right here. These are in the collection of the museum of the American Revolution. The flag and the pistols descended in the family from mulenbergs eldest son and in his will he evens refers to these as the brass barrelled pistols he carried through the American Revolution. The flag had been framed for a many year and there was a great example of the work that goes on here at the conservation lab. This is the appearance when it came out of the frame. You can imagine lisa menardi and linda and i were in the room and all we knew what was we saw through the glass. No one was sure what was behind there. Was it the center of the flag that had been cut out and framed . Could we have imagined that there, folded up behind a piece of card bardboard was an entire grand division color from the Continental Army. You can see what the conservator conservators are always concerned about, and thats the effect of light exposure and probably in half a century or so what the difference is in the fading thats taken place over that period of time. So this is the reverse of the flag. You can see a fringed edged here and this is the hoist where theres a leave for the pole of that flag. And here it is now con serbed and virginia whalen who i cant see anything because theres a light in my eye if virginia would waive shes the conservator who worked on two of the flee flags that are here. So some of you i know who are flag collectors are very interested, instead of asking me very details of z twists and y twists and this thing and i will give you a blank stare, virginia is a person who has looked at these more closely than anyone on the planet and did the work to restore this flag. Its presented next to another flag with virginia provenance as well. This is from a suite of three colors with a remarkable history. These were sold at sothebys in 2016 after descended directly in the family of ben astor tarleton. The commander who commanded the british legion which was confusingly composed largely of loyalists in the south. Served in the north as well but became very kel known as bloody tarleton for his actions in the carolinas and virginia during the American Revolution. This is a set of standards, regimental standard and two grand division colors that were captured at the battle of back saws in 1780 from the third virginia detachment. It was an amalgamated group of the remnants of several regiments that had been sent down to stop the british invasion of the southern states. Whats remarkable is they never filled in the regiments. These were clearly issued from the stores here in philadelphia and sent down. Now the next flag is known as the forster flag. Its composed of a red field. When you see it you see there are six white stripes on the one side and seven on the other all in told making 13 alternating red and white stripes. It is known as the forster flag, as these flags often are are, because of family descent or Family Tradition. So this flag was originally owned by Samuel Forster started in 1775. Its traditionally said to have been the standard carried by the a unit of the essex county militia in north of boston, northeast of boston in 1775. It descended in that family directly until 1975 when it was acquired by the Flag Research Center in massachusetts and then just two years ago, i believe, was sold at actually, it was not sold at auction, i believe it was acquired through private sale so its now in a private collection but on loan for our display today. Now, the forster flag is interesting and i hope youre able to see this in the light. If you look at the canton area in this earlier photograph you can see the darker area here. Its also visible where ive indicated where the arrows. So the canton has been altered early in the life of this flag. This is a conserveatorconservators diagram of the stitching and the pieces that compose it. So its basically composed of two full widths of silk but then its had some Monkey Business up here. This is the original set of stitching for the hoist but where it gets loorjer here its been cut and opened up and its had a replacement canton of a slightly lighter slightly different fabric and stitched up genl. These it has these white silk striebs that have been sewn to it. So to understand whats going on with this flag theres closer detail you can see again how even the red of the field has clearly been pieced together from they didnt have quite a large enough piece of this red silling to execute this alteration. You have to go back and look at the history of the use of stripes as a symbol of american union. This is one of the first images of this is certainly the First Published image of general washington published in the fall of 1775 in edgeland. And there are you look just in front of the horses breast you see a depiction of american troops firing on the british with the rebellious stripes, the flagis alternating redandwhite stripes that was already associated with the union of the rebelled colony soon to be independent states. So these flags appear in depictions of naval flags here, Commodore Hopkins this is John Paul Jones under striped flag. There is a version that has been known since the 19th century as the grand union and the period it probably was just referred to as the union flag so, again, in the canton youll rise the British Union and then the stripe and this is from an early 1776 North Carolina dollar bill. This is a flag that is known to have flown from ships, from forces and perhaps even carried is by troops in the field. Kgb be a little confusing and it was confusing for people through the 19th and much of the 20th century because when they would encounter a flag that had a British Union in the upper canton, often times the assumption was well, this must be a british flag because people didnt remember that before the declaration of independence the goal of most of the people that we think of as Founding Fathers was not independence from britain but rather a restoration or recognition of their rights as englishmen. So early flags dating to 1774 75, 76, nothing inconsistent about having that iconography in the canton of the flag. This is the case with a number of surviving flags. Now this is an interesting flag. This is located about a 5 15minute drive from here. The Delaware Historical Society purchased this flag from a captain william dansy from the 33rd regiment. He was part of the philadelphia campaign, the ones that fought here brandywine and german town and to philadelphia. And on the fifth of september, 1777 reported capturing from the colonel of a delaware militia regiment all of his baggage including several colors and he sent this flag back home to england so it was very well preserved. As you can see, 13 red and white stripes and this is the next iteration after the declaration of independence from that British Union in the canton. Another example, this is known as the Fort Washington flag to collectors now it descended in the family of philadelphia, Josiah Harmer who in 1775 joined the american cause, he served as an officer in the first pennsylvania regiment and served all the way through to 1783 and then became a general and leader in the First American regiment. So the actual first postwar United States military and fought in the indian campaigns in the old northwest until he retired after an inglorious defeat known as harmers defeat in ohio. So the harmer flag or Fort Washington flag descended in the family until the early 20th century. At first glance, it appears to be very related to the dansy flag. It has the regimental colors that weve seen and it has a device in the center here, this is an image of Fort Washington. So the Family Tradition at the time in the 1920s was that this flag had been hoisted over Fort Washington which was an American Military base essentially where cincinnati, ohio, is located today. Of course, this type of flag is not the sort of flag you hoist over not a garrison flag which is usually made of a wool bunting, not silk, a much different size and configuration. But its interesting in the central device here its closely related to symbols found in currency as well as this soldiers powder horn. In this case its a bundle of 13 arrows on the flag there tied together with a ribbon on the horn, held in a hand and this was there was a metaphor that a single arrow could be easily broken but a bundle of arrows would be very difficult to break. So this was a symbol used a lot of different ways during the revolution. It also has and you will not be able to read in the scroll ewe nighted we stand. And this is a phrase that appears back to 1774 united we stand, divided we fall. So when the conservator looked closely at that flag, they noted a similar phenomenon. So this is a sketch just like the forster flag showing the piecing that took place to reconstruct how the stripes had been composed and what they concluded in measuring, looking at old stitches and how it had been pieced is that it originally was configured this way. That it had a union, British Union in the upper conanton which presumably after the declaration of independence was taken apart, restitched, cut apart, restitched and reconfigured to show this new symbol. This is another unaltered flag. This is in the collection of the Monmouth County Historical Association in new jersey. And we have the privilege of examining this a year ago in person. Its in a remarkable state of reservation. It has which you willactually has the sleeve for the pole of the flag tucked underneath. So its one of the most complete flags im aware of. Its related to a group of flags that are documented as having been made in 1775. So this is a tailors bill from philadelphia. They tell me kids arent taught to read cursive anymore so in a few years i wont be able to throw this up here. It could be a challenge for those not used to reading it. But its nine and a half yards of italian silk for a standard. And then the cost. Silk for the union making and et cetera. So this is a standard here that had a union in the corner. And then two division colors. So two smaller maneuvering flags that would have accompanied this flag as well. Heres a closeup of that canton the other interesting thing you can see is the red is composed of a silk damask which you would normally expect to see as a furnishing fabric for bed hangings or curtains or such. But presumably with imports stopped with the british navy patrolling american waters they were getting their hands on whatever materials ss they could to construct these flags. Another flag thats also related and also shares in common in this case the field thats composed of similar red damask is known as the fort bedford flag. This is in the collection of the city of bedford, pennsylvania, out in central pennsylvania, bedford county. Also has an unaltered union canton, again plain red field. Its quite large sort of a regimental standard size. It also, like many of these colors, the monmouth color had passed down through descendents of another pennsylvania officer but by the time it was donated to the association, the assumption was that its got this union canton so it must have been come from the british so there was a story that this has been captured at the battle of monmouth. In this case the fort bedford flag, to explain its appearance it was believed perhaps it had been given by the duke of bedford the citizens of bedford to hoist over the fort bedford built during the french and indian war. It seems much more plausible that these are simply early revolutionary war flags probably for militia regiments that were tucked away and never altered and are merely reflecting that early period of symbolism. Finally, this is another pennsylvania standard i do not have a good image of the original. Its known as the proctor flag, after the commander john tractor of the First Battalion of the Westmoreland County militia that marched east from Westmoreland County in the winter of 1776 and reinforced washingtons army. It also has a canton. Has the filmous rattlesnake and dont tread on me imagery painted on it. Another sort of Rosetta Stone piece that helps to prove this case that were seeing with these pieced flags like the forster flag that you see today that they are alterations after the dligs of independence is the flag of the first troop of city cavalry. Or the first city troop. This can be seen by appointment. The original flag has has a device in the center. It has lh for light horse over it and at first glance a familiar striped canton. But if you look really closely, can you see the shadow of the red cross of st. George and the diagonal . Its actually been painted twice in the canton. So this is its original appearance here. And remarkably, the original receipts have survived for the when it was made in september of 1775. I wont even offer a cookie to anybody who can read these but this is for john fullwell who was paid for designing the standard, the devices that would be on it and this is to james clay pole for the painting and guilding and he notes in here it had a union on it. So, again, helping to solidify that case for the way this was originally configured and after the declaration of independence substituting the red and white stripes, in this case blue and white stripes for the union. Now, the imagery if you think back to that proctor flag with the dont tread on me and the rattlesnake, there were also many flags that had similar bombs in the center like that Fort Washington or harmers flag. And many symbols were taken from continental currency. This is currency designed by benjamin franklin. He reportedly had a book of ancient symbols published in the early 18th century that he brought out for the committee that was designing the continental currency so youll see if you think back to the standard with the tarleton flags, this is the beaver chewing on the palmetto tree, thats the symbol thats painted in the center there. And of course the design for the continental third of a dollar and the chain of states. American congress, we are one. Youre going to love my next slide, actually. It was painted on a the regimental standard of the second New Hampshire regiment. So this is a pair of flags captured in july of 1777. So its great when we have a real documented point before which they must have been made and they, again, have sort of a slightly funky version of the British Union. But here in the center of the regimental standard the sorry the, the continental standard this is representing the continent, they have replicate it had dollar. They have eliminated congress i notice here though and just said we are one. I dont know if theres a message for us here in the present day. Now i hope that youre able to see this with the lighting because ive often felt that its not a great leap to imagine that once Congress Passes the flag resolution in 1777 that the standard of the United States will be a field of alternating red and white stripes and a canton that is a blue field with 13 white stars representing a new constellation that perhaps this very familiar circle of chains may have represented one of the configurations that you see the circle of 13 stars but, of course, there was no standardization in these early flags for the way the stars would be depicted in the blue field. It was left up to the makers to decide how they would be done. So this is another example, perhaps one of the earliest surviving we believe standards with 13 stars on a blue field. This is known as washingtons headquarter standard or the commanderinchief standard. This is from the collection of the museum of the American Revolution that is on display here today. It requires a little bit of a story to talk about how it came down to us the present day and how we know what we know and what we still dont know who. It traces back we have to understand the composition of washingtons family. This standard was not known in the public world till probably the end of the 19th century. It remained in family hands. And it came about because of this boy right here, George Washington park cus us the who was the adopt grandson of George Washington, Martha Washington and her natural grandson by her first husband daniel park cus us the. George Washington Park cus us the upon Martha Washingtons death in 1802 inherited family relics, he purchased many things when there was a private sale of the contents of mount vernon, those things that had not been specifically given to members of the family and he build arlington house which, of course, will be familiar to all of you as adjacent to the site of the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington cemetery. Arlington house was very much conceived as a place to show off washingtons washy as he was known in the family, washys connection to his illustrious grandfather, a place for him to display relicsmount vernon and that include the campaign tents he used during the American Revolution. He would take these things out. This is a news article from a washington painer where he would have them displayed in the fields outside of arlington house were sheep shearings and other patriotic celebrations and would give oratory beneath the venerable canvas. He returned to the tent, sleeping and office innocent the museum of the American Revolution as the preor the yum of liberty. So heres the line of descent. This is a much older George Washington park custus on the eve of the civil war. The custody of those tents passed to his daughter mary ann that randolph custus lee. Every possible surname you could group together who married a dashing young robert e. Lee. Their daughter, mary custus lee in 1960 in an 061906 announced she was interested in selling one or both of the campaign tents that she had inherited from that line of descent from her grandfather to the patriotic citizens of philadelphia in order to endow give money to the fen fed rat con fed red widows home. She even said here she was hoping that the miss lee thinks Independence Hall in philadelphia is the proper place for them. So were excited that were two blocks from Independence Hall and will be displaying those tents. She as a result of this interview was put in contact with this diminutive episcopal minister here reverend w Herbert Burke who at the time was beginning to build the washington memorial kmap pell that chapel which stands in what is now Valley Forge Historical national park. So burke gotten a option to purchase this marquee for 5,000 from mary custus lee and employed many of the techniques we use as fundraisers today. He wrote appeal letters he put it on display in the washington Memorial Chapel he charged admission, ten cents that would go toward the purchase of the washington marquee and in the course of about two years was able to pay the note off. So the tent remained in the collection of the Valley Forge Historical society, which is our predecessor organization and its come down to us to the present day and will be displayed in the museum in philadelphia when we open. Now, burke placed that marquee on display at the end of the summer in 1909 and within a couple of weeks of it being put on display someone going on a tour with him mentioned she had just seen the flag that used to fly over the marquee. So he was a guy who never shirked from acquiring objects so he got on the case and soon learned of the existence of this standard. This is an image from about 1910. One of his fundraising techniques at the time was to make postcards of things like the marquee or the flag and sell those as a way to raise money. So this is from a postcard of about 1910 of the flag in the condition that it was at the time he first became aware of it. And you can see he reissued that postcard and photoshopped or whatever the 1910 version of photo shop was put the flag up there. Now we know now weve had a chance to forensically examine the marquee. We know that it certainly was not flown this way. Theres no any sign in the canvas or in the poles or anything of a way to suspend the marquee this way. But there is some interesting information thats come about because of the research. So this is a somewhat complicated genealogical chart to show the connection to George Washington. If this is washington this is his sister betty washington who married fielding lewis. And, of course they resided in the wonderful home that still exists and you can still visit called ken mortar in fredericksburg. So their youngest son was the common ancestor of the two cousins who believed they owned the flag. I wanted to mention the connections of these three sons because theyre all sort of probable associations with washington. George washington lewis was the namesake of his favorite uncle and he was a favorite nephew of George Washington. He was born in 1757 so he was named after washington when he was colonel George Washington during the french and indian war. George lewis served in washingtons commander in chiefs guard so he was an officer in the guard closely associated with washington that was responsible for putting hiss tent and equipment up and take it down and defending his person. He served in a continental light dragoon unit which provided by an escort and guard for washington during the war. Robert lewis served as washingtons private secretary. Howell lewis also lived with the washingtons briefly during the presidency and also served as estate manager in mount vernon and was also a very beloved nephew of George Washington. So any one of these you can imagine this association could have originally gotten hold of the standard. It then passed down to Betty Washington Lewis and these two sons at the time that washington the washington flag first came out of the woodwork it was in the possession of this woman francis, Fanny Bering Lovell who was living in philadelphia, in germantown, shes the won who bought the flag, put it on sloan, when she died in 1924 it was donated to the society and published in an updated guide to valley forge park. Well, way down in marietta, georgia, Ellen Patrick lovell crosby fanny lovells cousin, read about this flag which had been donated to some church up in valley forge and wrote a very cross letter to reverend burke saying i dont know how this flag could have been given to you because this is my familys flag and claimed that howell lewis had borrowed the flag from her father and would never return it because wed ask for it and hed say we want to show it to somebody else and eventually the generations died so we had two fairly cross cousins who eventually before her death in 1942 cop sented to make it a joint donation so thats how it ended up in our possession. I found a wonderful picture of mrs. Crosby and ive been reading her letterers and they have a role tone to name is absolutely captured in that photograph. [ laughter ] you can sees that very familiar kind of image. Theres her illustrious collateral ancestor George Washington. This is a portrait of herself. She was born in 1851 so presumably thats early 1850s. It immediately brought to mind the image that you all have here of grantwoods famous painting daughters of the revolution. Its almost as if she posed for it. [ laughter ] now, of course, it brings up an important point. One perhaps slightly critical and one more serious and this is to think about the role of women in the world of flag both their preservation but also the original makers of many of these flags. Wood actually painted this. He called this his only satirical work though most art historians say everything he painted was satirical, but it was in responses to a specific incident. He had been commissioned in the early 1920s to do a stained glass window in cedar rapids, iowa, that was a memorial for veterans of the first world war. He searched all through the United States to try to find really good stained glass and it wasnt being made in the quality he was looking for. So he went to dusseldorf, spent close to a year going through and carefully selecting his glass and designing this beautiful stained glass and heres an image of it in the Veterans Memorial and curiously it has a revolutionary war soldier all the way through to world war i. But the daughters of the American Revolution in cedar rapids ayiowa, would not allow it to be unveiled until 1955 because they felt that using german glass was not appropriate. So the suggest that is that actually wood was being really clever here because, of course, emmanuel lit a was a german immigrant trying to inspire revolutions in germany. So on many Different Levels its a wonderful piece. But its also important to remember that many of these objects have come down to us because of people like mrs. Crosby and fanny lovell who took a particular interest in remembering their ancestors and preserving these objects and bringing them down to the present day. Its also important again to go back i wasnt going to talk about betsy today and i wont talk too much about betsy but if you havent read it the wonderful biography of betsy ross by my good friend marla miller which was the basis of a great exhibit that was done a couple years ago that marla and lynn doinda eton cocure rated that examined the myth and history of betsy ross was wonderful in bringing back to the surface all of the women, most of whom had been faceless and nameless since the 18th century who were fovled in flag production. Plunkett fleeson, an upholsterer, made a set of marquees for general washington. He advertised that he made drums and colors and he was as an upholsterer and flag maker was employing many women in the area. Probably even betsy ross and others like Rebecca Young here who later in the war set up on her own and advertised as a maker of colors for flags, for the army and navy. She also delivered colors into the continental store so this is a philadelphia receipt from continental quartermaster records in 1782 where shes acknowledging payment for a large garrison standard. So many of the flags weve seen pictures of could have been the work of Rebecca Young or one of those women here in philadelphia. Now, the standard was placed on display and, like many of these flags, suffered a number of indignities, not the least is having to pose with this fellow with the helmet on but this is an image of the way fanny lovell originally framed this in 1909 when she placed it on display and at that time the original grommets on the linen heading for lacing it to the flagpole were still in place. However later wellintentioned efforts were made, it was taken out of that frame and framed for tightly it appears to have been glued down to be razor bladed out. So it had loss along the edges. Thanks to the pennsylvania of sons of the revolution, its color guard, which is a patriot patriotic Heritage Organization with an Educational Mission here in philadelphia part of the general society of the sons of the revolution, we received a very generous grant a few years ago to undertake the restoration and conservation preparation of that flag for display. So this is how it looks today and how youll see it in the rotunda here in just a little while. Now, there have been some i often say as freud never said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. There are some who claim to see actually a shadow of that old union British Union in the arrangement of the stars here and im not certain whether that was intentional or not. But a quick review of iconography of these standards from various depictions. This is a painting of the battle of princeton by james peal so one of our soldier artist brothers. It depicts the battle of princeton. This was painted in the early 1780s. 1781 82 of an incident that took place in early 1777. But here you see a large blue field with a scattering of white scars. S stars. Here is a painting done in 1782 depicting the surrender of cornwallis Cornwallis Army marching out of yorktown between a line of French Forces and the Continental Army and here buried in the detail is another depiction of a large now, thats about the size of your pinky nail so we cant get too fastidious about the exact number and arrangement of the stars but generally speaking you start to see depictions of these blue field flags with white stars that seem to be related to the commander in chief standard. They are buried in the back of a james peal painting of washington that hangs in the house here at wintour, painted in 1805. Youll see another small blue flag similar in appearance. This is from an irish literary publication publication, short lived just published in 1799 1800 but memorializing washingtons recent death sand including something that looks surprisingly like that commanderinchief standard, a small standard in this case with applied fringe with a field of stars. So im going to let the soldiers march off under their banner of liberty here. Id like to in conclusion say what a great pleasure it has been for us as a new institution to work with our colleagues at wintour. You would absolutely not vtd the opportunity to ceci these flags on display had it not been for the tremendous Staff Resources and knowledge and general rotty of the staff here at wintour. And i know member of you are members and supporters and it is absolutely tremendous the support weve received as we are building the new museum in philadelphia that will open in a couple of years. And i just wanted to point out a couple people in the audience that youll want to catch and talk to about various things. So virginia has already waved once. Virginias the conserveator who can answer technical questions about the flags. Linda, where are you . Linda eton . Way in the back. You can only see her hand. Linda is the senior curator of textiles here at wintour and has forgotten more than ill ever know so ask her first and ill direct you to linda. Also some of my colleagues, neal hearst who is raise your hand, neal. Not only is he ten years as a tailor at Colonial Williamsburg just graduated from the program with his masters and so has a great great wintour connection here and joined us aas assistant curator. As if all of that wasnt great, thats him carrying the flag there. [ laughter ] on a tenmile march that we all did together a couple of years ago up the brandywine to commemorate the battle of brandywine. So hes also a great resource. So well all be around and able to answer questions and lisa who introduced me, lisa menardi, there she is all i can see is a light right now. Lisa is certainly the worlds foremost authority on the mulenburg family and germans in colonial america and so well be in rotunda to answer questions that you have. But just being in the presence of these wonderful flags will be enough. So my final message to you because youre all here on a sunday supporting these two great organizations is you clearly know what our ancestors knew which was that united we stand, divided we fall. So thank you for your support and look forward to speaking all of you in greater detail. Thank you. [ applause ] here are just a few of our featured programs for the threeday Holiday Weekend on the cspan networks. On cspan tonight at 8 00 eastern, radio personalities and executives at the annual talkers magazine conversation in new york. Saturday night at 8 00, an interview with New York Times chairman and publisher arthur salzberger, jr. , and executive editor dean advantage kay on the future of the times. Sunday night at 9 30, former Vice President Walter Mondale and former senator gary hart on their Ground Breaking efforts to reform the intelligence community. On book tv on cspan 2, tonight at 10 00 eastern, author martin ford on how the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence could make good jobs obsolete. Saturday night at 10 00, Baruch University history professor caroller be kin on why the bill of rights was created. And sunday live at noon on indepth join our threehour conversation with best selling author and Government Accountability Institute President st. Peter schweizer. Hes written clinton cash extortion and throw them all out. And on American History tv on cspan 3, today at 6 30 the 70th anniversary of the United Nations with keynote speakers california governor jerry brown minoritity leader nancy pelosi and u. S. Secretary general ban kimoon. At 8 00, hear a brooklyn classroom lecture on the revolutionary wars on how individual personalities supplies and timing influenced the outcome of major battles and sunday afternoon at 4 00 on real america a look back at a 1960 film featuring actor and performer joe brown about a nationwide search for old circus wagons and the circus world museums efforts to restore them in time for a july 4 parade in milwaukee. Get our complete schedule at cspan. Org. Announcer in june, 1945, world war ii was still being naught the pacific, although the allied powers had declared victory in europe. 50 countries, including the United States, france, United Kingdom and soviet union gathered in San Francisco to sign the United Nations charter. Up