226 MISSOURI HISTORICAL REVIEW.
HISTORY OF THE STATE FLAG OF MISSOURI.
Robert Burett Oliver.
In October, 1908, the Daughters of the American Revolution, at their annual conference held in Columbia, discovered
that Missouri had no state flag. Mrs. Robert Burett Oliver,
of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, afterwards elected State Regent
of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and J^Jrs. John
R. Walker, of Kansas City, witt some other .ladies were appointed a committee to prepare ** %+l Jjkfor a ate AaS and ^
possible to secure the pacc"v~*^ ^^UhW^ •,--•* j^jj^^ficial
' fl&g„pf the State. . - .- ,. "^^^P^^^"^^
Mrs. Oliver at oncex^, ^merflPpTOi ^tud^ -*ppn>-
"priate and attractive design fo$ sudi^PKjg. She^rote to the
Secretary of every state and~every territory* iri the Union for
copies of the law of their respective states and territories relating to their several state flags. She received an answer
from every state in the Union and found that a great majority had by legislative enactment adopted a state flag defining and prescribing its design. Some of these letters from
the Secretaries of State were full of historical interest connected
with the passage of the law adopting a state flag. All this
investigation required time and labor, but after months of
study and research Mrs. Oliver designed our present state flag.
She called to her assistance, Miss Mary Kochtitzky, of Cape
Girardeau, a local artist of much skill and taste, to assist her
in the execution and painting of the design.
After the design had been fully executed a draft of the bill
was prepared by Ex-Senator Robert Burett Oliver, the husband of the designer, and forwarded to his nephew Arthur L.
