Winterthur Museum is displaying several rare American Revolution Flags on Sunday.
Three of 35 flags surviving since the American Revolution will be on view; the Commander-in-Chief (or Washington's Headquarters) Flag, 8th Virginia Regiment’s Grand Division (or Muhlenberg) Flag, and the Forster Flag.
The Flag Day event also features an historical lecture.
Dr. Scott Stephenson, Director of Collections and Interpretation at the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia will examine Revolutionary War flags and the role of Pennsylvania Germans in the American Revolution.
Linda Eaton, Winterthur's Director of Collections & Senior Curator of Textiles says the museum may be best known for its garden grounds but its historical holdings are also a big draw.
“What we do is overlay that kind of peace and serenity with history, research, new things that people didn’t know before. You can’t get any closer to history than to be with the things that were there.”
Eaton says those studying the flags each brings a different skill set to the project.
Her main interest is learning about the historical role of women.
“You know the people that made these flags were the women and so I’ve been very interested to study the construction of the flags and the sewing techniques,” she says. “One of the things that are so interesting about the Commander-in Chief's Flag is that those stars are laid in using a technique that was taught to every woman as a form of mending.”
The lecture takes place at 12:15 Sunday with the exhibition immediately following in Winterthur’s Rotunda.