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The North American Vexillological Association (NAVA; French: Association nord-américaine de vexillologie) is an American and Canadian membership organization devoted to vexillology, the scientific and scholarly study of flags. It was founded in 1967 by American vexillologist Whitney Smith and others.
Contents
The association publishes Raven: A Journal of Vexillology, an annual peer-reviewed journal, the Flag Research Quarterly, for vexillological topics and inter-disciplinary discussion, and NAVA News, a quarterly newsletter.
The association honors achievement in the field with several honors and awards:
The association is a charter member of the International Federation of Vexillological Associations, and is among the largest vexillological organizations.
Principal officers
(As of May 2016)Organization flag
The association's flag consists of a large white "V" (an inverted chevron) separating a blue triangle above from two red triangles on either side. The length of the top side of the blue triangle is the same as the width of the flag. (Note that a flag's "width" is its vertical dimension when flying from a flagpole.) The flag proportion is 2:3.
The "V" represents vexillology. The colors are taken from the flags of the two countries covered by the Association: Canada (red and white) and the United States (red, white, and blue).
Annual meetings and meeting flags
Since 1967, the Association has held annual meetings across the United States and Canada for all those interested in flags to present and discuss research and to honor vexillological achievement. Since 1977, it has marked each meeting with a distinctive flag.