Opening giant flag requires 32 pairs of hands

About 20 Waseca area veterans gathered on the county fairgrounds June 29 for an unusual type of honor guard.

 

The group had volunteered to unroll, measure, and assess the gigantic 48-star flag discovered by the Waseca County Historical Society (WCHS). Society leaders wanted to know if there might be a way to display the large flag–measured to be 36 feet long and 19 feet wide –during the county fair.

 

As the veterans in their crisp white uniforms unrolled the flag, additional volunteers stepped in to support the sides of the flag’s continually lengthening span; eventually 32 people encircled it.

 

To the group’s disappointment, it was determined the flag could not be put up for display. For one thing, there are very few local surfaces large and flat enough to hang the flag without risk of damaging it. The largest difficulty, though, is that the flag does not have a suitable system for attaching it to a board or other support. This lack meant it would not work to hang the flag in the open air suspended from the city’s aerial platform firetruck, which has been done with other flags in observance of 9-11.

 

As was reported in earlier editions of the Waseca County Pioneer, the gigantic flag had been stored “in plain sight” and forgotten for decades: Last summer, WCHS staff and board members noticed something long and thin suspended under an eave of the log cabin which stands in Hodgson Hall on the county fairgrounds. Staff members speculate the flag was likely retired from use in 1959, the year Alaska and Hawaii became states and increased the official number of stars on the U.S. flag to 50.

 

WCHS staff member Elizabeth Anselmo says research in the Society’s collection has uncovered images of the flag–or one very much like it–being carried in town parades in the 1940s. In one 1942 photo, a large group of Boy Scouts walks with the flag stretched out parallel to the ground. Local figure Charles Ward, then in his 80s, appears ahead of the flag dressed as Uncle Sam.

 

Museum staff member Anna Simmons, who has extensive knowledge and experience with textiles, has determined that the flag was not produced in a factory or by professionals, and was probably not intended for long-term outdoor display, since it is made of cotton broadcloth such as became readily available in the 1920s and is still used to make clothing, crafts and quilts.

 

WCHS staff has found references which lead them to believe the flag was probably commissioned by Herman Peterson, a Waseca resident in the first half of the twentieth century who was very interested in history and who collected flags. Materials also refer to local resident Nina Clement having “directed” the production of the flag.

 

The flag’s stripes are alternating lines of red and white cloth sewn together, with occasional imperfections in the seams. The white stars are double stitched around the edges to hold them to the blue field; in places, the outside line of stitches misses the outside edge of the stars. These details tend to validate that the flag was not professionally produced.

 

Research regarding the flag continues, says Anselmo. She says a current priority is to collect stories and recollections of places and times the flag appeared. She wants the public to know a designated email account, 48starflag@wasecacountyhistorycenter.org, has been set up to receive memories people would like to share, and visitors will also be able to talk with WCHS board members and staff during the county fair to share their memories.

 

Due to its sheer size, and the recent revelation it does not have a design which allows it to be suspended for display using modern options, Anselmo says the flag cannot be displayed during the fair.

 

The current plan, she wants people to know, is to acquire an archival grade tube long enough to hold the flag and to keep it stored in the climate controlled museum going forward.

 

People might also be interested to know that the national broadcasting company CNN is putting together a piece about Waseca’s 48-star flag due to be shown nationwide on July 4.