Exhibits


Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.
Exhibition Copy First Presidio Exhibit
Exhibition History
First Presidio Exhibit
(ZFC0023)
35-Star United States Flag
Date: 1863-1865
Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars; all hand sewn
Comment: West Virginia, the thirty-fifth state of the Union, was carved from the mountainous counties of the Commonwealth of Virginia by the pro-Union forces inhabiting that northwestern area of the state. After political machinations to permit the western counties to form a new state from a portion of Virginia with the constitutionally requisite consent of both parties, West Virginia was recognized on June 20, 1863, by the United States Congress. In accord with the 1818 Flag Act, the union of the United States flag was altered to bear 35 stars effective July 4th, 1863. Since nothing in that legislation specified how the stars were to be arranged, individuals and manufacturers chose patterns according to their own artistic inspirations. Today many of these designs are treasured as a form of American folk art expressed in cloth. While a multiplicity of star arrangements characterized the Civil War era, certain regional tendencies arose. In the Mid-Atlantic States, especially Pennsylvania and Maryland, the arranging of the stars in circles and concentric rings tended to predominate. Based on similarities to later flags also emanating from the region, the manufacturer of this flag is thought to have been Jabez W. Loane of Baltimore. A later example of his work appears in Gallery 5.


Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 - Gallery III
(ZFC0023)
35-Star United States Flag

Date: 18631865 35 Stars: July 4, 1863-July 3, 1865 (West Virginia statehood June 20, 1863)
Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars; all hand-sewn
Comment: West Virginia, the thirty-fifth state of the Union, was carved from the mountainous counties of the Commonwealth of Virginia by the pro-Union forces inhabiting that northwestern area of the state. After political machinations to permit the western counties to form a new state from a portion of Virginia with the constitutionally requisite consent of both parties, West Virginia was recognized on June 20, 1863, by the United States Congress. In accord with the 1818 Flag Act, the union of the United States flag was altered to bear 35 stars effective July 4th, 1863. Since nothing in that legislation specified how the stars were to be arranged, individuals and manufacturers chose patterns according to their own artistic inspirations. Today many of these designs are treasured as a form of American folk art expressed in cloth.
While a multiplicity of star arrangements characterized the Civil War era, certain regional tendencies arose. In the Mid-Atlantic states, especially Pennsylvania and Maryland, the arranging of the stars in circles and concentric rings tended to predominate. Based on similarities to later flags also emanating from the region, the manufacturer of this flag is thought to have been Jabez W. Loane of Baltimore. A later example of his work appears in Gallery 5.

Publications


Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.
Publication Copy Publication History:

Madaus, Howard M., Dr, Whitney Smith, The American Flag: Two Centuries of Concord and Conflict. Santa Cruz: VZ Publications, 2006, p. 73.

35-Star United States Flag

West Virginia, the thirty-fifth state of the Union, was carved from the mountainous counties of the Commonwealth of Virginia by the pro-Union forces inhabiting that northwestern area of the state. After political machinations to permit the western counties to form a new state from a portion of Virginia (with the constitutionally-requisite consent of both parties), West Virginia was recognized on June 20, 1863, by the United States Congress. In accord with the 1818 Flag Act, the union of the United States flag was altered to bear 35 stars effective July 4th, 1863. Since nothing in that legislation specified how the stars were to be arranged, individuals and manufacturers chose patterns according to their own artistic inspirations. Today many of these designs are treasured as a form of American folk art expressed in cloth.
While a multiplicity of star arrangements characterized the Civil War era, certain regional tendencies arose. In the Mid-Atlantic States, especially Pennsylvania and Maryland, the arranging of the stars in circles and concentric rings tended to predominate. Based on similarities to later flags also emanating from the region, the manufacturer of this flag is thought to have been Jabez W. Loane of Baltimore.

Date: 1863 1865
Size: 40" hoist x 67.5" fly
35 Stars: July 4, 1863 July 3, 1865 (West Virginia statehood June 20, 1863)
Media: Wool bunting with cotton stars; all hand-sewn
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection in 1996 from the Star-Spangled Banner Flag House Collection of Baltimore, MD.
ZFC0023

Title information is available upon specific request. Additional information available upon request to researchers, writers and others demonstrating special circumstances. In some situations, information may not be available.