File:Flag of Springfield, Massachusetts.svg

Original file (SVG file, nominally 1,974 × 1,213 pixels, file size: 280 KB)

This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons. Information from its description page there is shown below.
Commons is a freely licensed media file repository. You can help.

Description

English: Flag of the City of Springfield, Massachusetts, featuring the imagined likeliness of pioneer Samuel Chapin, possibly modelled on John Brown or railroad tycoon and congressman Chester Chapin, as depicted in the The Puritan statue. The codified standards for the flag appear at least as early as 1924 in the ordinances of the City, with the flag reported designed and adopted in 1923. The City's code Ch. 1, Article III, § 1-19 reads-

The City adopts by this section a City flag in details as follows:
A. Such flag shall have an inner blue field bordered with gold and set in an outer white field.
B. In the center of the blue field, on both the front and reverse thereof, shall be a white shield bordered with gold.
C. Arched above the shield and set in the blue field shall be a scroll in gold bearing the inscription "Springfield."
D. Upon the seal shall be a likeness in gold of the St. Gaudens statue of Deacon Samuel Chapin.
E. Within the shield and below on both sides flanking said likeness shall be a scroll in gold bearing the inscription
"A Town May 14, 1636 O.S. Organized A City May 25, 1852,"

all in substantial conformity with the design executed by Charles H. Restall and filed in the office of the City Clerk.

Date 2015-07-15, c. 1923

Source State House Flag Display, Massachusetts General Court, Beacon Hill, Boston, MA

Author Simtropolitan, original by city engineer Chas. H. Restall

Permission
(Reusing this file)

This image shows a flag, a coat of arms, a seal or some other official insignia. The use of such symbols is restricted in many countries. These restrictions are independent of the copyright status.

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was a Commonwealth of Massachusetts public record disseminated by a Commonwealth agency or the Massachusetts Archives. Massachusetts' Secretary of the Commonwealth has stated that such works can be copied and used for any purpose. This copyright does not extend to those records created, received, or under the custody of municipalities by M. G. L. c. 66, § 7, unless otherwise stated, nor does this apply to copy-written materials for commercial purposes received by employees of the Commonwealth.

Language describing permissions

A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) can be found at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf and page 7 says:

"With the exception of situations in which a records custodian is withholding records pursuant to Exemption (n), inquiries into a requester's status or motivation for seeking information are expressly prohibited. ^[1] Consequently, all requests for public records, even if made for a commercial purpose or to assist the requester in a lawsuit against the holder of the records, must be honored in accordance with the Public Records Law."

↑ See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a) (public records are to be provided to “any person”); see also 950 CMR 32.05(5) (custodian prohibited from inquiring into a requester’s status or motivation); but see G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(n) (a records custodian may ask the requester to voluntarily provide additional information in order to reach a “reasonable judgment” regarding disclosure of responsive records).

Definition of "public record"

Public records are defined in A Guide to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Published by William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Division of Public Records, (Updated January 2017) at https://www.mass.gov/files/2017-06/Public%20Records%20Law.pdf on page 40, under M. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26) as:

all books, papers, maps, photographs, recorded tapes, financial statements, statistical tabulations, or other documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any agency, executive office, department, board, commission, bureau, division or authority of the commonwealth, or of any political subdivision thereof, or of any authority established by the general court to serve a public purpose, or any person, corporation, association, partnership or other legal entity which receives or expends public funds for the payment or administration of pensions for any current or former employees of the commonwealth or any political subdivision as defined in section 1 of chapter 32, unless such materials or data fall within the following exemptions found on page 40

Limitations of template usage

Concerned wikipedia editors have noticed that the Commonwealth may make unfounded allegations that copyright protections exist for state regulations based on technical codes developed and copyrighted by private organizations. Where such works/allegations are concerned, {{PD-EdictGov}} and {{PD-US-Codes-and-Standards-as-Statutory-Law}} may be appropriate.

This template is based on official statements by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, which are not definitive in the way a statute or a court ruling is. This formal statement only speaks to public records held by the Massachusetts Archives, so the use of this template for public records of the Commonwealth sourced from individuals or groups not affiliated therewith is not encouraged.

This is consistent with the statement at http://www.sec.state.ma.us/ARC/arcres/residx.htm:

"Those records created by Massachusetts government agencies and institutions held by the Massachusetts Archives are not copyrighted and are available for public use. Copyright for materials submitted to state agencies may be held by the person or organization that created the document."

Note: Works that are considered "public records" but were not created by a state or municipal government agency may be copyrighted by their author; the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution prevents state law from overriding the author's right to copyright protection that is granted by federal law. For example, a state agency may post images online of the final appearance of a building under construction; while the images may be "public records", their creator (eg. architecture/construction firm) retains copyright rights to the image unless the contract with the agency says otherwise. See: Government-in-the-Sunshine Manual: To what extent does federal law preempt state law regarding public inspection of records?.
Disclaimer: The information provided, especially the list of agencies permitted to claim copyright, may not be complete. Wikimedia Commons makes no guarantee of the adequacy or validity of this information in this template (see disclaimer).

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1931.

Public domain works must be out of copyright in both the United States and in the source country of the work in order to be hosted on the Commons. If the work is not a U.S. work, the file must have an additional copyright tag indicating the copyright status in the source country.
Note: This tag should not be used for sound recordings.

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

	Date/Time	Dimensions	User	Comment
current	18:44, 17 April 2020	1,974 × 1,213 (280 KB)	Simtropolitan	Color fix
	23:52, 9 April 2020	1,974 × 1,213 (280 KB)	Simtropolitan	Proportions to better represent other examples
	00:27, 2 October 2018	1,974 × 1,213 (281 KB)	Simtropolitan	Consistence of width of hatching in banner shadows; removed errant points in figure linework
	23:34, 18 June 2018	1,974 × 1,213 (336 KB)	Simtropolitan	added facial details
	23:48, 4 June 2017	1,974 × 1,213 (336 KB)	Simtropolitan	Centered shield, made line widths more consistent, removed some noise (some kept for texture of cloak), refined banner contours
	23:15, 30 March 2017	1,974 × 1,213 (276 KB)	Simtropolitan	Resized px size
	23:13, 30 March 2017	2,106 × 1,250 (340 KB)	Simtropolitan	New file too large, reverted to version as of 01:46, 7 January 2017 (UTC)
	23:12, 30 March 2017	3,167 × 1,946 (268 KB)	Simtropolitan	Added "outer white field" described in the city law, centered border and elements.
	01:46, 7 January 2017	2,106 × 1,250 (340 KB)	Simtropolitan	Book was facing wrong direction, last one for a while
	21:04, 6 January 2017	2,106 × 1,250 (353 KB)	Simtropolitan	Further linework, replaced base with different perspective to match original flag design