// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhy was the American City Flags book sad? It was feeling a little flagged.
American City Flags: 150 Flags from Akron to Yonkers is a 2003 book by John M. Purcell about city flags. It is a special double volume issue of Raven: A Journal of Vexillology, a peer-reviewed journal published by the North American Vexillological Association. The book is the first comprehensive work on the subject, documenting the municipal flags of the largest 100 U.S. cities, all 50 state capitals, and at least two cities in each state. Each article describes in detail the flag's design, adoption date, proportions, symbolism, selection, designer, and predecessors.
Publication and background
[edit]Authored by John M. Purcell, American City Flags: 150 Flags from Akron to Yonkers was published by the North American Vexillological Association (NAVA) in April 2004.[1] Purcell, a former president of NAVA, along with other vexillologists, spent 40 years researching flags. The book presents the results of their work.[2] When the book was published, Purcell was a resident of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, and had retired from being a Spanish language and education professor at Cleveland State University.[3][4][5]
From his youth, he had become drawn to flags after a person gifted him a world map containing around 25 flags on the edge, intended to be detached and matched to the corresponding places.[4] In 1999, NAVA gave him the Whitney, an award commemorating the noted vexillologist Whitney Smith.[6] Living in Cincinnati in the 1960s, Purcell initially considered authoring a book about cities' flags but realized that the expense of the color plates, which he deemed crucial, made the work financially infeasible.[1] Ted Kaye oversaw a city flags survey that served as the foundation for the book and acted as the book's editor.[7]
Content
[edit]Included in the book are 150 articles examining the flags each of the country's 50 state capitals as well as its 100 biggest cities.[2] NAVA asked its members and the public to give flags' designs scores from 0 to 10.[8][9] Aside from its members, around 400 people took part in NAVA's online survey about flags that ran for five months.[10] For every state, the book covers at a minimum of two cities' flags.[5] The 20 best-rated flags excluded city seals and words.[7]
Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Denver; Phoenix; St. Louis; Wichita; Portland, Oregon; Indianapolis; Louisville; and Corpus Christi ranked as the top 10 city flags. The 10 worst flags were from Pocatello; Huntington; Rapid City; Milwaukee; Mesa; Hialeah; Lubbock; Provo; Cedar Rapids; Montpelier.[8] 75% of the flags were rated fewer than five points.[11]
See also
[edit]Publication details
[edit]- Purcell, John M.; Croft, James A.; Monahan, Rich (2003). American City Flags: 150 Flags from Akron to Yonkers. Trenton, NJ: North American Vexillological Association. ISBN 978-0-9747728-0-6.
References
[edit]- 1 2 "Five Ohio Cities Make List in Flag-Ranking Survey, Book". ThisWeek Community Newspapers. December 2, 2004. NewsBank 117A094183BF7CE8.
- 1 2 Corley, Asta (December 31, 2004). "City's flag flies near top of the poll - 29th out of 150: Survey ranked flags of largest cities, capitals". Anchorage Daily News. NewsBank 10767C610F899ED3. Retrieved April 4, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Lafferty, Mike (November 22, 2004). "Columbus Does Not Fly High on Experts' List". The Columbus Dispatch. NewsBank 10DADF15E5A350A0.
- 1 2 Wallace, Julie (November 9, 2004). "Akron Flag Is Left in Tatters by Rank - Out of 150 City Symbols, Group Says Icon No. 126 Cleveland in at No. 59". Akron Beacon Journal. NewsBank 10647BF5C37CF96D.
- 1 2 Karlson, Karl J. (November 23, 2004). "City's Flag Ranks About a 'C' in Survey - St. Paul's Finishes 44th Among 150 U.S. Metro Banners. It's Not Vexing, Just Not Interesting, Vexillologists Say". St. Paul Pioneer Press. NewsBank 106965122F62E080.
- ↑ Parks, Kevin (December 2, 2004). "What Vexes a Vexillologist? Flag Frivolity, of Course". ThisWeek Community Newspapers. NewsBank 117A094179B82B38.
- 1 2 Gulick, Joe (November 4, 2004). "Obscure flag may be city's true colors". Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. NewsBank 106291E5756EE728.
- 1 2 "OKC places 130th in survey of American city flags". The Journal Record. October 27, 2004. NewsBank 1060127DE06CFAA8.
- ↑ Schmitz, Jon (October 19, 2004). "A grand old flag". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. NewsBank 105D92C9EF258D22. Archived from the original on April 4, 2026. Retrieved April 4, 2026.
- ↑ Garrett, Rusty (November 26, 2004). "City Flag Flutters In Publication". Times Record. NewsBank 124FF702E7826140. Retrieved April 4, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Powell, Les (November 30, 2004). "City banner ranks 74th of 150 flags in Web poll". The Patriot-News. pp. 1, 10. NewsBank 10D9906164E94036. Retrieved April 4, 2026 – via Newspapers.com.
External links
[edit]- American City Flags: 150 Flags from Akron to Yonkers at the North American Vexillological Association
- American City Flags: 150 Flags from Akron to Yonkers at Open Library
 | This article about a reference book is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |
 | This American flag–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |