Volunteers archiving the In America flags reflect on how they solve even the most challenging puzzles among the flag collection and database.

DATE POSTED: May 30, 2024.

By Valerie Mathews, Alicia Murphy, and Sarah Wagner

From the moment the flags from In America: Remember arrived from the National Mall to artist Suzanne Brennan-Firstenberg’s studio in Bethesda, MD, work began to clean, order, and store them. Almost two and a half years later the archiving efforts for the installation have expanded to include flag-by-flag cross referencing and transcription for both the initial installation at the DC Armory (In America: How Could This Happen …) and the In America: Remember collection.

We’ll post a dispatch on how the RIM team has been helping with transcribing flag dedications not yet included in the digital archive, but here we’re focusing on the painstaking, fussy work of solving discrepancies among ID numbers, photographs, names, and even puzzles that have arisen with the inscriptions themselves – in short, the sleuthing that volunteers Valerie Mathews and Alicia Murphy have taken on. We’ll also highlight Suzanne Firstenberg’s knack for deciphering dedications that seem all but lost to the human eye.

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Alicia Murphy 

There are many steps in caring for the 20,000 dedicated In America: Remember flags. Once the flags arrived in the studio after flying on The National Mall, they had to be cleaned. From weeks of being outside, the flag stems were beginning to rust and the flag faces were dirty from dust and rain. Volunteers spent countless hours over the course of months removing rust with steel wool; waxing flag stems to reduce the future possibility of rusting; cleaning flag faces with damp Q-tips to ensure the handwritten dedications were not damaged. Next, came the task of ordering the flags numerically and packing them into boxes according to the section of the Mall that they had flown in. This huge task took nearly a year to complete. 

The next phase of curation is ongoing.  We are in the process of entering individual flag ID numbers into a database to be cross-referenced with the geolocation database which contains flag photos, dedication transcriptions, and other identifying information. The goal is to allow the future study of the flags to be primarily through the database with the option to easily access the physical flags when needed. 

While cleaning and cataloging the flags, we often encounter difficulties with flag identification numbers. A number might be illegible, or faded, or duplicated. There are several databases that we use to determine the correct ID. During the installation, those wishing to register their dedicated flags completed an online form that included information such as the deceased’s name, state, and the registrant’s name and contact information. Geolocators would take a photo of the flag in the field, tagging it with specific coordinates that would enable a flag photo to be accessed on the website at a later date. If we were unable to determine the flag ID number, Suzanne was often able to find the information in the geolocation database, and later we were able to use the GW database of flag photos and dedication transcriptions to cross-reference flag information. We can determine the correct ID numbers by matching names or other identifying information.  

Some flag dedications are registered with a formal name but written using a nickname, so with that alone, we would be unable to match the flag with the correct number. But, perhaps it was signed with the names of several family members. And one was also the name of the registrant. So, we can positively identify the correct number. We have found multiple flags that were registered by a single person to honor several different people. Dedications have been written on the wrong flag with the information in the database corresponding to the other flag. Or occasionally, two flags share the same ID number (the 8-digit number assigned to a flag indicates the day, hour, minute & second of the registration). We can use the databases to find the flags so that we can assign a letter to one flag to make it a unique identifier. Our goal is to clean and catalog the flags, enter all the identifying information, flag transcription and flag photos into several databases in order to make it easier for future scholars, curators, and the public to access the information and the actual flags. 

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Valerie Mathews 

“Solving a Discrepancy” 

Situation:  One number of the 8-digit geolocator ID code is illegible on the physical flag 

Solution Steps 

1. Cross-reference the Name Of Deceased (NOD) on the flag to the Master Flag Excel Spreadsheet (Alicia’s) and the Transcription Excel Spreadsheet (GWU/RIM’s). 

2. Confirm the NOD and ID code when the flag was registered (located in the Transcription Spreadsheet). 

3. During Step 2 it was discovered the flag photo and text transcription were not entered in the Transcription Spreadsheet (yet), but the name of the flag registrant appears in that Spreadsheet. 

4. Research online obituaries for the NOD and discover that his wife’s name matches the name of the flag registrant. 

5. Resolution:  Confirm that the Transcription Spreadsheet ID code matches the NOD on the flag; therefore, the correct digit is written on the flag and so the geolocator ID is accurate. 

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Sarah Wagner 

Among the 20,000 dedicated flags, there are some 3,300 flags that bear inscriptions but were never formally registered as submissions to the In America: Remember installation and thus did not get geolocated. They were, however, included in the flags gathered up during de-installation and have since become part of the permanent archive. Many of the dedications were written in non-permanent markers (e.g., ballpoint pens), and some ended up damaged by rain or other elements. 

Just because the script isn’t immediately visible doesn’t mean that it’s irretrievably lost. Suzanne Firstenberg has spent hours examining these “puzzle” flags, trying to make out text from even the slightest indentations that remain on the plastic surface.  

Take this one for example: 

From what appears an almost blank flag, Suzanne was able to decipher the dedication, “John Daskos Scarsdale, NY 10/8/39 12/18/20 Loved and missed by all.” 

Or this one: “Harry Warren Kendall Oklahoma City 1946-2020″ 

Finally, this one: “Aunque pase el tiempo siempre estaras en mí corazón. Te amo [heart] Papito Jorge Ergueta”