The Lone Star State takes its name from the icon on its famous
flag, a flag whose story adds a unique dimension to the 
dramatic history of Texas. In the flag's early incarnations,
homespun cotton, ladies' silk dresses, and various other goods
provided the materials used for banners to lead Texans in battle
and in nation-building. In Texas Flags, Robert Maberry, Jr.,
traces the use of the lone star symbol in the nineteenth century
and describes in detail the various flags that have either
incorporated it or used other symbols altogether.

     Texas' now-famous flag, Maberry has discovered, was not always
a common sight in the state. Though it had been the national flag
during the last six years of the Republic (1839–45), the original
flag was discarded in favor of the Stars and Stripes upon annexation
in 1845. Indeed, by 1860 few Texans knew what their former national
standard had looked like. During the years of secession and Civil
War, Texans became reacquainted with the old flag, but they made
relatively few copies of it, using the lone star emblem instead 
on the battle flags of the various units.

     The Texas flags pictured and described in this book are historical
objects that show considerable artistry and ingenuity on the part
of their makers. Their stories, and those of other banners that
have long since disappeared, reveal much about the cultural and
aesthetic preferences of the age in which they were fashioned
and about the political winds in which they were unfurled.

_________________________________________________________

ROBERT MABERRY, JR., wrote this book as guest curator for the
exhibition Texas Flags: 1836–1945 at the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston. He has also served as the director of the Historical
Flags of Texas Project, a conservation effort sponsored by the
Friends of the Texas Historical Commission. He lives in Fort 
Worth, Texas.


Published in association with the Museum of Fine Arts,
Houston