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
(ZFC0607)
26-STAR UNITED STATES "Grand luminary" FLAG
Date: About 1840-1844
Medium: Printed on cotton Comment: The twenty-six star flag was valid from 1837 until 1845. During the presidential election campaigns of 1840 and 1844 the United States flag was integrated into the campaigns. Small cotton flags, such as this, were freely distributed to political partisans to use at rallies and parades. The era of the "cheap" flag had begun.
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0607) in 2002 from the Mastai Flag Collection of New York City through auction at Sotheby's.


Second Presidio Exhibit, 2003 – Gallery II
(ZFC0607)
26-Star "Grand Luminary" United States Flag
Date: About 1837–1845 26 Stars: July 4, 1837-July 3, 1845 (Michigan statehood January 26, 1837)
Medium: Printed silk
Comment: The admission of Michigan into the Union as its thirteenth free state complemented recognition the previous June of Arkansas as the thirteenth slave state. Together they brought the total number of states in the Union to 26. More importantly, admission of these two new states maintained the balance that had been established by Henry Clay's "Missouri Compromise" of 1820. Under the terms of that Compromise, Missouri had entered the Union in August 1821 as a slave state to balance the admission of Maine as a free state in March the previous year. The type of balancing act, which guaranteed equal representation in the U.S. Senate for North and South, would continue until 1850. The 26-star flag became the eighth official flag of the United States, remained in service for eight years. During that time the flag would for the first time-although certainly not the last time-be transformed into a political campaign tool. In the election of 1840 partisans of the Whig presidential candidate, William Henry Harrison, emblazoned his image and partisan slogans on the flag. More ominously, four years later during the Kensington Riots in Philadelphia the flag would be embraced by the Know-Nothing movement as a symbol of their anti-foreign, anti-Catholic campaign.
Provenance: Acquired by the Zaricor Flag Collection (ZFC0607) in 2002 from the Mastai Flag Collection through auction at Sotheby's of New York City.

Publications


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Publication Images
Book Cover

Book Cover

Publisher Info

Publisher Info


Cover

Cover

Frontispeice

Frontispeice

Frontispeice detail

Frontispeice detail

Frontispeice detail 2

Frontispeice detail 2

Page 103

Page 103

Flag Books
The Stars and The Stripes - Mastai

The Stars and The Stripes - Mastai


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.