Libraries to get book on La. flag

Moran Printing, a Baton Rouge-based printing
company, is donating about 2,000 copies of a book it published about Louisiana’s state flag to public schools and
public libraries across the state, the book’s author and Moran company officials
said.

The company began shipping copies of “A Modern History of the Louisiana Pelican Flag,” on Tuesday, said Glen Duncan, who wrote the book.

The books are being sent to 1,663 public school libraries and 340 public libraries in Louisiana, Duncan said.

The book was begun after Duncan and Curtis Vann,
two Baton Rouge residents, researched the history of
the flag when they were working to redesign it, Duncan
said.

The new design, which included three droplets of blood on the mother pelican’s breast to represent self-sacrifice, was unveiled in November 2010. Duncan said he helped develop styles and elements of the flag, but Vann drew the actual design.

Duncan said the research took months because they could not find an official design of the flag on which to base the new design.

He said they found six versions of the flag.

Duncan said he and Vann wanted to create a unified design the state could use.

“We had a 200-year-old brand that really was not protected,” he said.

After discovering a plethora of information about the flag’s history, Duncan said, he and Vann figured they should publish it.

“We thought, ‘This is a story our citizens need to know,’” he said.

Vann, a sales executive at Moran, said his bosses were enthusiastic when he approached them with the idea of publishing the book.

Its first edition was printed at the end of 2010.

Vann said donating the books is a good way to bring more Louisiana history into public schools.

“It delves into a lot of how the original flag came about and how it has changed over the years,” Vann said.

Becky Vance, Moran Printing’s president and chief operating officer, said in a news release that Moran wanted to publish the book and donate it to schools because it’s the first comprehensive history of the flag.

“Our flag has a great story, including how volunteer citizens rallied to the call to capture its history and ensure the new design was true to our heritage,” Vance said in the release.