BLOOMINGTON - Joey Grant, 11, gently grasped the edge of a flag and held it out it for his fifth-grade classmates to see.

Of the 48 historic flags standing on poles in the fifth-grade hallway of Oakland Elementary School, this is his favorite.

"It shows that free African-Americans, not just slaves, fought to save their nation," Grant said of why he liked the flag known as the Bucks of America flag, which was carried an all-black volunteer army unit in the Revolutionary War.

Grant said he always has liked flags as symbols of the county's history, but he became more interested thanks to the Historical Flags of the United States of America exhibit, which spent last week at his school.

That's what Leslie Frizzell, fifth-grade social studies and language teacher, hoped would happen. She said having the flags there so students could see them up close would let students immerse themselves in history.

The collection began with Jane Halstead Stout, a history teacher who displayed the reproductions of historic flags in her classrooms for many years. When Halstead Stout retired, she started lending the flags to schools, banks and interested groups, and she developed a booklet about the 49 flags she collected.

Halstead Stout now lives in a nursing home and has made Lou and Polly Myers the "official keepers of the flags."

Seeing the collection as sort of a public trust, the borrowers tend to pass it on a little better than when they got it, said Sharon Frizzell of Normal, Leslie's sister-in-law, who arranged for the flags to visit Oakland.

"It's our visual history in a nutshell," said Sharon Frizzell.

Sharon Frizzell, the Regent for the Letitia Green Stevenson chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, met Polly Myers, through DAR and learned of the collection. She knew her sister-in-law would want to share the stories her Oakland school classes.

Frizzell decided to contribute to the collection by ordering a replacement for the missing 49th flag. She also wants to add a new, 50th flag.

Leslie and Sharon Frizzell researched the flags further and collected photographs to expand the accompanying materials, and their husbands, Jim and Dan Frizzell respectively, repaired some of the stands.

They plan to return the collection with a more in-depth, colorful new booklet. They also hope to create a video and audio presentation about the flags over the summer and include a photo story of children interacting with the flags.

Leslie Frizzell, dressed in patriotic read, white and blue with stars, told students one day what she knew about the flags - and admitted what she did not know yet.

She showed them an empty spot on her paper as she described one flag. "This is all I know now," she said promising them she would try to discover more.

"She (Leslie Frizzell) tingles when she talks about history. If all of us had teachers as excited and knowledgeable about history as her, we would all know a lot more about history," said Oakland Principal Mary Kay Scharf, who also teaches flag etiquette and flag facts to students in kindergarten through third grade each year.

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Famous flags

French Fleur de Lis (1673): The oldest flag represented in the collection honors the flag that flew over the French territory of Louisiana, now roughly the central quarter of the continental United States.

The rattlesnake flag (1775-1776): The rattlesnake was a commonly used image on Revolutionary War flags because it could defend itself but didn't attack unless provoked. Sometimes the snake had 13 symbolic rattles to represent the 13 founding states.

The Betsy Ross flag (1777): Oral history gives this flag importance as the first American flag, but in truth it was used little during the Revolutionary War.

Know Nothing flag (1850s): It represented a popular movement in reaction to fears that Irish Catholic immigrants were becoming too abundant and powerful in American cities. The group took its name from the fact that when a member was questioned about the group's activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing."

Lincoln/Kennedy funeral flag (1865, 1963): The 36-star flag was edged with black crape for Lincoln's funeral. The same flag was used again on the coffin of President Kennedy.

SOURCE: Research accompanying Historical Flags of the United States of America collection

Compiled by Phyllis Coulter