subject: College Flags Amongst The Most Collectible Of Memorabilia [print this page] College flags rank amongst the most collectible of memorabilia, with a wide variety of styles that reflect the unique heritage of each individual institution. Officially licensed college flags and pennants guarantee authentic insignia as well as quality design, and they provide a source of revenue that goes back to support the school.
You can purchase flags or pennants to hang by the door of one's house or show in one's garden as well as banners that could be streamed over an entrance or across the yard. Two-ply constructions allow designs to be viewed properly from either side.
But most varieties of college flags are most often to be found at intercollegiate games, particularly football games. They are used by the fans to cheer on their team, and waving them is symbolic of the school spirit. One popular activity while waving them is to sing the school's fight song en masse. In fact, it is hard to conceive of a college flag apart from that college's fight song. One would seem incomplete without the other.
Thus, you can find hundreds of fight songs, just as there are hundreds of flags. At times both are equally old and hallowed, and sometimes each is of vastly different vintage. The earliest fight song in generally recognized to be Boston College's "For Boston" of 1885, but it is not certain which is the oldest college flag. Indeed, it is not certain when the tradition of college flags and pennants began, though one may safely imagine that their origins roughly coincided.
Speaking of origins, numerous flags have changed over the years owing to cultural advances that made it unacceptable to feature mascots based on racial stereotypes or designs integrating the old Confederate Battle Flag. Many alumni protest, but ultimately new generations of students with no sentimental attachment to old symbols make the revised styles their own.
