After Memorial Day, Store Flags with Respect

Some people like to fly their flags year round, while others fly them just on the major holidays: Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day. If you store your flag most of the year, but fly it on holidays, make sure that you store it properly. Follow these guidelines:

• Store your flag in a dark place. Bright light will fade the colors in the fabric.
• Store your flag in a dry place. It may develop mildew if it is exposed to much humidity. Don’t store it in the basement, especially if you live in a flood plain.
• While the “official” fold is appropriate for a flag that is taken out and flown regularly, it may not be appropriate for a flag that is going to sit in storage for prolonged periods of time. You may want to place your flag between sheets of acid-free tissue paper, or clean, unbleached, cotton cloth before you fold it.
• Do not store your flat in any place where it will be in contact with wood. Wood and wood products (such as cardboard) contain acid, unless (as in the case of some paper and cardboard products that are specially made for storing historic or archival documents) they have been made out of acid-free material. If you are going to store your flag in a trunk or wooden drawer, be sure to line the trunk or drawer with clean, unbleached cotton cloth, or with an inert material such as a polyester film.
• Do not use pesticides or mothballs to protect your flag from insects, as these substances contain chemicals that will harm cloth as well as insects.
• If you wash your flag prior to storing it, wash it gently by hand, using a very mild soap. It is preferable to vacuum the flag very gently on the lowest possible setting, using a brush attachment that you have covered with cheesecloth (to protect the brush from tearing or snagging the cloth of the flag, especially if the flag is fairly old.
• There are many websites where you can find instructions detailing how to fold a flag properly. You will need four people to work together — two to fold and two to act as a “table.” The basic procedure is to fold the flag in half twice width-wise. Once you have gotten that far, fold in triangles, until only a square of blue is left. Fold the square down into a triangle and tuck inside the folds.  For detailed instructions, try this video (intended for Girl Scouts) or this handout from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Take good care of your flag, and it should last for generations.

Tags: American flag, flag, fold, Memorial Day, respect, storage, United States, veterans, Veterans Affairs

This entry was posted on Monday, May 31st, 2010 at 12:26 am and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.