Saving History Saturday: New Jersey Flags

The New Jersey State Museum recently put five Civil War flags on display and shared interpretation of the regiments, battles, and flagbearers connected to the banners. The museum preserves 190 Civil War flags and has been rotating them — five at a time — on display for public viewing and education. This recent unveiling is the first after two years of delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a news article, the curator of cultural history at the New Jersey State Museum, Nicholas Ciotola, shared the museum’s philosophy regarding their flags: “We think it’s one of the most active and perhaps the best flag collection in the company in the country because it gets seen by the public. A lot of the flag collections are kept behind closed doors. People can see them but they have to make an appointment. They don’t have an actual exhibition space dedicated to showing those flags…New Jersey is sharing this collection with the people. It’s not behind closed doors… You don’t have to make 15 phone calls and do hours of research to find out about it.”

Through material preservation and artifact display, the museum is able to share and protect these examples of Civil War history. To learn more about the flag collection for a museum visit or future research, please visit: https://www.state.nj.us/state/museum

Original news article: https://www.trentondaily.com/new-jersey-museum-civil-war-flag-unvailing/