Since the Revolutionary War, when seamstress Betsy Ross supposedly helped design the first U.S. flag, Old Glory has been a symbol of our nation's freedom, prosperity and hardship.

In honor of one of our country's most recognizable symbols, Flag Day will be celebrated June 14.

The first official Flag Day was June 14, 1950.

Harry S. Truman proclaimed this day a holiday August 1949.

Flag Day is celebrated to encourage all Americans to in the United States to display the Stars and Stripes outside their homes and businesses. Individual states determine how they will observe this holiday.

In Pennsylvania and American Samoa it is a public holiday.

Flag Day is celebrated by flying the flag from public buildings, speeches are made in public places and ceremonies take place in towns and cities.

What is it about a piece of cloth that is red, white and blue and has stars and stripes on it that evokes so much emotion?

Flag expert Bob Irwin Richardson, a former Austin public school teacher and the author of "Dim and Flaring Lamps, America's Story Through Its State Flags" said, "Flags are symbolic. Flags can be used to divide a group or bring groups together."

Americans take the treatment of their flag seriously and in the 20th century this has become an important issue.

Included in the code of ethics are such rules, as the national flag cannot be used in advertising.

It also cannot cover a monument or any ceilings. It must not be folded while being displayed. No one should write on an American flag. Ships can lower their flags slightly in greeting each other, but otherwise should not be dipped for any other object or person.

Richardson feels the code of ethics for the American flag are controversial and confusing.

He compares them to a day in school when he would open a window to bring in fresh air and one student would say it was too hot and another would say it was too cold.

"Both students were right. That is the same way with the code of ethics. The way one person displays the flag might be right for them. People become very emotional about what a flag represents to them," Richardson said.

Richardson should know, he has a large flag collection and his book is about every state flag in the United Sates. He began to collect flags during the Hormel strike in 1985 when he thought the Local P-9 and the Hormel management were playing Capture the Flag in their refusal to come to an amicable agreement.

"As I said flags can divide groups or bring them together. I put together a program about each state's flag. I have given numerous programs at schools and special events in several states. I have many old American flags. Flags tell stories and can predict the future," Richardson said.

The American flag has changed designs more than any other flag in the world.

Richardson has some very rare flags, which are proof of how often it has changed.

As different areas became states, stars were added to the flag. Richardson has an American flag with two spaces left for stars.

He also has a rarer flag with 49 stars.

"Flag makers knew that Hawaii was going to be a state so not many flags with 49 stars were sewn. We have had 50 stars on the flag since 1960," Richardson said.

Today, the American flag has 13 red and white stripes for the first 13 colonies. The 50 stars represent the 50 states of the United Sates.

President Woodrow Wilson once said the flag "floats in majestic silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us -speaks to us of the past, of the men and women who went before us, and of the records they wrote upon it."

Flag Display

1. When the flag is displayed over the middle of the street, it should be suspended vertically with the union to the north in an east and west street or to the east in a north and south street.

2. The U.S. flag, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag's own right (the viewer's left), and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

3. The flag, when flown at half-staff, should be first hoisted to the peak for an instant and then lowered to the half-staff position. The flag should be again raised to the peak before it is lowered for the day. The term "half-staff" means lowering the flag to one-half the distance between the top and bottom of the staff. Crepe streamers may be affixed to spear heads or flagstaffs in a parade only by order of the President of the United States.

4. When flags of states, cities, localities or pennants of societies are flown on the same halyard with the U.S. flag, the latter should always be at the peak. When the flags are flown from adjacent staffs, the flag of the United States should be hoisted first and lowered last. No such flag or pennant may be placed above the flag of the United States or to the right of the U.S. flag.

5. When the flag is suspended over a sidewalk from a rope extending from a house to a pole at the edge of the sidewalk, the flag should be hoisted out, union first, from the building.

6. When the flag of the United States is displayed from a staff projecting horizontally or at an angle from the window sill, balcony or front of a building, the union of the flag should be placed at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half-staff.

7. When the flag is used to cover a casket, it should be so placed the union is at the head and over the left shoulder. The flag should not be lowered into the grave or allowed to touch the ground.

8. When the flag is displayed in a way other than being flown from a staff, it should be displayed flat, whether indoors or out. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, (the observer's left). When displayed in a window it should be displayed in the same way, which is with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. When festoons, rosettes or draping are desired, bunting of blue, white and red should be used, but never the flag.

9. The flag, when carried in a procession with another flag, or flags, should be either on the marching right (the flag's own right), or, if there is a line of other flags, in front of the center of that line.

10. The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of States or localities or pennants of societies are grouped and displayed from staffs.

11. When flags of two or more nations are displayed, they are to be flown from separate staffs of the same height. The flags should be of approximately equal size. International usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.

12. When displayed from a staff in a church or public auditorium on or off a podium, the U.S. flag should hold the position of superior prominence, in advance of the audience, and in the position of honor at the clergyman's or speaker's right as he faces the audience. Any other flag so displayed should be placed on the left of the clergyman or speaker (to the right of the audience).

Sheila Donnelly can be reached at 434-2233 or :mailto:newsroom@austindailyherald.com