1917 · [Youngstown, OH
by [Van Kirk, J. W.]
[Youngstown, OH: published by the author, 1917. 16mo, pp. 27, [3]; pro-forma certificate for the International Color Bearers Flag Membership in back completed in manuscript and signed by Van Kirk as Secretary; color printed paper wrappers, mild soiling, small chip to spine, textblock clean and sound. A pamphlet made for distribution to registered members of the Youngston Peace Society, a branch of the American Peace Society. This copy is filled out to L. O. Vinci of Rome, 1919, who served as the Italian secretary to the Subcommission of Roumanian and Jugo-Slav Affairs at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. Reverend Van Kirk was a Methodist Minister from Ohio who found himself called to travel the world preaching for international unity and brotherly love. In 1912, after he had already travelled twice around the world, he developed a flag to serve as a symbol of international peace. The design was meant to be furnished by natural laws, "or, in other words, God would furnish his own flag for a united world." With that in mind the rainbow was chosen as the primary motif, with the colors merging into a band of white that unified the globe among a backdrop of stars. The flag traveled with him, and was distributed to many civil leaders and peace activists, garnering much public interest at a time when the idea of a peaceful world government was the mission of many. Van Kirk's flag was one of the earliest modern flags to utilize a rainbow. One later copy (1925) only in OCLC. (Inventory #: 54969)