Gifts

Welcome to the Paul Harris Gallery in RI Center in Evanston. In this room you will find a collection of souvenirs, gifts & other items acquired by Paul Harris over many years. If you can help identify or supply more information about any of them, or any others, please contact us at www.historycomment.org

Rotary Flag made of silk, consisting of a white field with the official wheel emblem emblazoned in gold in the center of the field.

This flag is believed to be the one that, on November 29,1929, the American aviator and Rotarian Richard E. Byrd carried with him when he flew over the South Pole in a Ford Trimotor. Byrd started and finished his Antarctic adventure in New Zealand. Before he left there for his Antarctic base, the Rotary Club of Wellington asked him to carry a Rotary flag with him, a request to which the aviator readily agreed. On his return, Byrd gave the flag back to the club and it then remained in New Zealand. However, a few years later, the Wellington Club decided to present it to R.I., and with Byrd on the stage, the flag was handed over at the 24th R.I. Annual Convention held in Boston, Massachusetts in 1933. DG Nominee Thomas List (D53) "in the name of the Rotarians of New Zealand", handed it over to PRI Clint Anderson for safe keeping. It was said by List that Byrd had taken a similar flag over the North Pole. Details of the speeches by Anderson, List and Byrd at this gathering can be found in the Convention proceedings pages 65 and 66.