Nationality American Occupation Vexillologist | Name Whitney Smith | |
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Born February 26, 1940 (age 84) ( 1940-02-26 ) Arlington, Massachusetts, U.S. | ||
This Month in Flag News: November 2016
Whitney Smith Jr. (February 26, 1940 – November 17, 2016) was a professional vexillologist and scholar of flags. He originated the term vexillology, 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.
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Career
In 1961, Smith and colleague Gerhard Grahl cofounded The Flag Bulletin (ISSN 0015-3370), the world's first journal about flags. The following year, Smith established The Flag Research Center and was its director.
Smith worked with Klaes Sierksma to organize the First International Congress of Vexillology (Muiderberg, 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 International Federation of Vexillological Associations (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 (NAVA) and the 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.
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 give the honor of Fellow of the Federation on July 27, 2001. In 2013 he transferred The Flag Research Center's library and archives to The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.
On November 17, 2016, Smith died from complications of Alzheimer's disease at the age of 76.