American Historical Ephemera and Photography

50 x 120 in. machine-sewn cotton flag with blanket wool canton featuring 39 double-appliquéd cotton stars (blue wool with holes throughout, staining to red and white stripes). Hoist is canvas with 4 whip-stitched eyelets, jute rope attached to top and bottom eyelets. White stripe below canton includes hand-sewn inscription, "Made about 1812; Eliza J. Burt (grandmother of Carl B. Jenkins, owner of flag from 1940); Augusta Jenkins; Sevilla Phelps." This flag, however, is not an 1812-era flag, but may have been produced to commemorate North Dakota statehood, ca 1889.

By the late 1880s, several western states had petitioned for admission to the Union. During the fall of 1889, in anticipation of the Dakota Territory being admitted as one state and the admission of other states delayed until after 4 July of the following year, flag makers began manufacturing 39-star flags. Unexpectedly in November, North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted as separate states along with Montana and Washington. When Idaho gained statehood on 3 July 1890, it brought to 43 the number of stars required on the new flag. As a result, 39-star flags produced in advance of 4 July were unofficial and obsolete.