With a new year, perhaps we’ll get a new state flag. That is if Illinoisans want to replace the flag we’ve had since 1915.
Online voting opens in January, deciding if we want to keep the current flag, choose between one of the new 10 finalists or opt for two previous flags that have flown over Illinois, in 1918 and 1968. For many of us, it’s going to be a tough decision.
Too bad “Fun with Flags,” the online vodcast presented first by Sheldon Cooper and then co-hosted with Amy Farrah Fowler on the long-time CBS comedy, “The Big Bang Theory,” isn’t around to give us insight on flags and help us make the right choice. Despite the assorted problems facing Illinois in 2025, we have a chance to voice our opinion at www.ilsos.fgov/stateflag, and see the finalists for what will fly over state and local buildings in the future.
After the public vote, the 20-person Illinois Flag Commission, which includes state Rep. Tom Weber, R-Lake Villa, will recommend a design finalist in April to the legislature, whose members will then make the final decision. The commission pared the number of flags from nearly 5,000 to the 10 finalists, plus the three previous flags. The Flag Commission was created in 2023 with plans to revamp the flag and give it a little juice with hopes, according to state officials, the new one will, “better represent the state’s diversity of urban, suburban and rural communities and inspire renewed pride among Illinoisans.”
Some of the 10 new designs should be flagged for being quite lame. There’s one with an orange Monarch butterfly, the state’s fluttering insect, in the middle of a Navy blue background surrounded by 21 stars which marks Illinois becoming the 21st U.S. state in 1818. That represents Illinois in what way?
Other flag finalists need guidebooks to explain how their heraldic symbols relate to the Land of Lincoln. The current state flag bears the central elements of the state seal, which was adopted in 1869, with the word “Illinois” added in 1970. It is one of nine U.S. state flags to feature an eagle, alongside Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wyoming.
Vexillology is the study of flags. Vexillologists, those professionals who study the history, symbolism and usage of flags, have not been impressed by our current flag.
A 2001 survey by the North American Vexillological Association ranked the Illinois flag 49th out of 72 different flags of states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada. Which is maybe why the legislature created the Flag Commission.
A person who studies flags is a vexillologist, one who designs flags is a vexillographer. One who is a hobbyist or general admirer of flags, like Sheldon Cooper, is a vexillophile. Choosing our new state flag could be vexing.
Throughout history, flags have proclaimed nations’ and states’ identity, pride and unity. Many have stood the test of time; others have become obsolete, like the red hammer-and-sickle flag of the Soviet Union. Others are antiquated and should be discarded, like the “Stars and Bars” of the traitorous Confederacy.
Flag historians tell us the term “vexillology” didn’t come into existence until 1957, yet flags go back to the earliest days of human civilization, with Romans, Chinese and Egyptians the earliest practitioners of flag usage in military and naval applications.
The word “flag” first appeared in English in the late 15th century and became widespread in the 16th century, a term for defining banners and insignias. Flags have been used on board ships for identification and communication for centuries.
Today, every nation — and states or provinces within them — are identified through their flags. Like the Canadian maple leaf flag. Flags of royal houses, nations, states and territories fly across the globe. They are present during the Olympics after winning medalists take the podium in front of the flags of the three winners’ countries.
Flags also signal events, such as President Joe Biden ordering U.S. flags to be flown at half-staff across the nation. That is to honor former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29 at his home in Plains, Georgia, at the age of 100.
So the choice of a new Illinois flag is a task not to be taken lightly by online voters. For many of us, the old flag or the Sesquicentennial Flag fits the bill.
The Sesquicentennial Flag, featuring a big white “I” in the middle of a Navy blue field surrounded by 21 stars, was designed for the state’s 150th year. Inside the “I” is a red silhouette of Illinois.
It’s a flag design that’s hard to beat and may impress future vexillologists.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
X: @sellenews
