Handsome flags on display in Gainesville, Ga.

A collection of handmade reproduction Civil War flags is going on display through July at a history center in Gainesville, Ga.

Robert Banks set up the two dozen banners over the weekend at the Northeast Georgia History Center at Brenau University.

Made of a variety of authentic materials, including silk and wool bunting, the handsome flags will be exhibited beginning Tuesday in the center's rotunda.

I met Banks, who lives near Helen, Ga., last May at the Confederate Cemetery in Resaca, where he set up many of his hand-sewn flags for a memorial service.

Banks, a recent retiree, makes reproductions of flags that were used by both Confederate and Union units.

"Im always working on a flag," Banks told me recently. "I will start a new one soon."

In the past year, he made flags of the 9th Connecticut Infantry, 57th Georgia Infantry and the 69th New York Infantry (part of the Irish Brigade).

The Northeast Georgia History Center, 322 Academy St., Gainesville, Ga., is open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays. Admission is free for members, $5 for adults, $4 for senior citizens (65+), $3 for students (5-18).

• Closer look at his flags | • History center website