Composition
The New Hampshire flag features a field of blue charged with the state seal, centered.
New Hampshire
The flag of New Hampshire follows a common pattern for U.S. state flags, featuring the state seal on a field of blue. It is the only flag, though, to feature a warship.
It was originally adopted February 24, 1909 and has changed just once to accommodate changes to the state seal.
The current version was officially adopted in 1931.
Iconography
9 stars
New Hampshire, the ninth state
laurel wreath
victory
USS Raleigh
Portsmouth, shipbuilding industry
granite
Portsmouth, natural resources, landscape
Colors
The prominent colors are blue and gold, with supporting colors within the seal.
New Hampshire statute does not provide Cable or Pantone values for the colors of the flag.The hex values here are approximations.
blue
#002a86
Gold
#efae0e
Brown
#9e4d3c
Green
#3f863f
Red
#de1c2c
White
#ffffff
Construction
New Hampshire law doesn’t specify dimensions, but the flag is usually produced with a proportion of 2:3.
It does call for the coat of arms to be produced with “suitable proportion.”
Previous iteration
The original New Hampshire flag still featured the state seal at its center. The ship was depicted further in the background, with ship builders working in the foreground. The law was not specific, so varying versions of the ship became common until 1931 when it was standardized.
The original seal featured the Latin words (later translated to English) “Sigillum Reipublicae Neo Hantoniensis” and the date 1784, when New Hampshire’s state constitution took effect.
The state coat of arms (pictured) shows a similar compositon to the original seal.
Sources
- Howe, Randy. Flags of the Fifty States: Their Colorful Histories and Significance. Guilford: The Globe Pequot Press, 2002. Print.
- Mitchell, Henry. The State Arms of the Union. Boston: L. Prang & Co, 1876.
- New Hampshire Revised Statutes. Title I - The State and Its Government. Chapter 3 - State Emblems, Flag, Etc. Section § 3:2 - State Flag.
- Hammond, Otis Grant, A.M. History of the Seal and Flag of the State of New Hampshire. Governor and Council of the State of New Hampshire. 1916. Print.
- The State of New Hampshire
- Flag of New Hampshire - Wikipedia