Whitney Smith Jr. (February 26, 1940 – November 17, 2016) was a professional

vexillologist Vexillology ( ) is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.Smith, Whitney. ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Print. The word is a synth ...

and scholar of flags. He originated the term ''

vexillology Vexillology ( ) is the study of the history, symbolism and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general.Smith, Whitney. ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World'' New York: McGraw-Hill, 1975. Print. The word is a synthe ...

'', which refers to the scholarly analysis of all aspects of flags. He was a founder of several vexillology organizations. Smith was a Laureate and a Fellow of the

International Federation of Vexillological Associations The International Federation of Vexillological Associations (FIAV, French language, French acronym: ''Fédération internationale des associations vexillologiques'') is an international federation of 53 regional, national, and multinational assoc ...

Early life

Whitney Smith Jr. was born on February 26, 1940 to Mildred and Whitney Smith. As a youth, he lived in Lexington and

Winchester, Massachusetts Winchester is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, located 8.2 miles (13.2 km) north of downtown Boston as part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. It is also one of the List of Massachusetts locations by per capita income, wealt ...

. With

Patriots' Day Patriots' Day (Patriot's Day in Maine) is an annual event, formalized as a legal holiday or a special observance day in six states, commemorating the battles of Lexington, Concord, and Menotomy, some of the first battles of the American Revo ...

memories and a 1946 gift of ''The Golden Encyclopedia'', Smith's interest in flags was started. At Harvard, he studied political science and received a bachelor's degree in the field in 1961. During his time at Harvard, Smith designed the

flag of Guyana The flag of Guyana, known as The Golden Arrowhead, has been the national flag of Guyana since May 1966 when the country became independent from the United Kingdom. It was designed by Whitney Smith, an American vexillologist (though origina ...

. He received his doctorate in political science at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

in 1964. Political symbolism was the subject of his dissertation.

Career

Smith had his first article published at age 18. By 1960, he was consulting with the ''

Encyclopaedia Britannica An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

''. In 1961, Smith and colleague Gerhard Grahl co-founded
The Flag Bulletin
' (), the world's first journal about flags. The following year, Smith establishe
The Flag Research Center
at his home and was its director. Smith worked with Klaes Sierksma to organize the First International Congress of Vexillology (

Muiderberg Muiderberg () is a village in the municipality of Gooise Meren in the Netherlands. It lies about 6 km north of Bussum and 2 km west of Naarden, adjacent to the Naarderbos. Geography Muiderberg is in the east of the municipality of ...

, Netherlands) in 1965. They joined Louis Mühlemann in founding the International League of Vexillologists and were members of its Governing Board on September 5, 1965, and operated until September 3, 1967. The league was replaced by the

(known by its French acronym FIAV) with Smith as vice-president of the Provisional Council as of September 3, 1967. In 1969, Smith moved from being FIAV Provisional Council vice-president to being the first Secretary-General of FIAV. Smith was also responsible for founding the

North American Vexillological Association The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) is a membership organization devoted to vexillology, the scientific and scholarly study of flags. It was founded in 1967 by American vexillologist Whitney Smith (1940–2016), and others. It ...

(NAVA) and th
Flag Heritage Foundation
On August 28, 1981, he was elected the second Secretary-General for Congresses, ending his multiple terms as FIAV Secretary-General. Smith served in that office until he returned to the FIAV Secretary-General position on September 29, 1983. Smith quit his full-time professorship at Boston University in 1970. By 1985, he had written 19 books. On July 5, 1991, Smith was named by the FIAV a Laureate of the Federation and left the office of FIAV Secretary-General. He was given the honor of Fellow of the Federation on July 27, 2001. In 2006 he was the joint author of '' The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord & Conflict'' In 2013 he transferred The Flag Research Center's library and archives to The

Dolph Briscoe Center for American History The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History is an organized research unit and public service component of the University of Texas at Austin named for Dolph Briscoe, the 41st governor of Texas. The center collects and preserves documents and a ...

. On November 17, 2016, Smith died from complications of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

at the age of 76.

Bibliography

Smith wrote 27 books on the subject of flags, notably ''Flags Through the Ages and Across the World,'' ''The Flag Book of the United States,'' and ''Flag Lore of all Nations.'' He was the designer of the national

, 21

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

n navy flags and served as a vexillographer (flag designer) to a number of governments and organizations. In 1981, Smith was part of a committee that developed the

flag of Bonaire The flag of Bonaire, adopted in 1981, represents a Dutch island in the Caribbean Netherlands. Bonaire commemorates Flag Day on September 6 annually, the traditional date Europeans first arrived on the island. The professional vexillologist Whit ...

and assisted in the design of the

flag of Aruba Aruba's national flag was adopted on 18 March 1976. The design consists of a field of light blue (called " United Nations Blue"), two narrow parallel horizontal yellow ("Bunting Yellow") stripes in the bottom half, and a four-pointed white-fimbr ...

. Smith also wrote over 250 articles for the ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. *

References

External links

A Guide
to the Dr. Whitney Smith Flag Research Center Collection at Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

The Flag Bulletin #234
In Memoriam: Whitney Smith {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Whitney 1940 births 2016 deaths Boston University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Boston University faculty Harvard University alumni People from Arlington, Massachusetts People from Winchester, Massachusetts Flag designers Vexillologists Writers from Massachusetts Neurological disease deaths in Massachusetts Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Boston University alumni

Early life

Career

Bibliography

See also

References

External links