Artifact of the Week 20260327 - Troop Flags

Discovered an error that needed to be corrected, so today’s post is a little later than planned. If you are a fan of the TV show “The Big Bang Theory,” you probably recall Sheldon Cooper’s “Fun with Flags” live stream. While the title is amusing, I’m sort of surprised Sheldon didn’t use the more formal word Vexillology or characterize himself as a vexillophile. Vexillology is the study of the history, symbolism, and usage of flags or, by extension, any interest in flags in general, and a vexillophile is a hobbyist or general admirer of flags. Whitney Smith, an American scholar, conceived of vexillology in 1957 and formalized it in 1961 with the publication of The Flag Bulletin. During my research, I read about a 1960s article in Boys’ Life Magazine about the history of the Troop Flag. I was unable to find it, so if you know of this article, please let me know. I would love to read it and include it in my records. So now that I have piqued your curiosity, it’s time to get down to business and look at the history of the oldest flag in Scouting America, the Troop Flag.