Whitney Smith (born February 26, 1940) is a professional vexillologist and scholar of flags. The term vexillology, which he originated in his 1958 article Flags of the Arab World, refers to the scholarly analysis of all aspects of flags. In 1961, Smith and colleague Gerhard Grahl cofounded The Flag Bulletin (ISSN 0015-3370), the world's first journal about flags. The following year, Smith established The Flag Research Center which was located in Winchester, Massachusetts for 45 years. Smith retired from publishing The Flag Bulletin in 2011. He transferred the Center's library and archives in 2013 to The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin; The Flag Research Center was transferred to The Trust for Vexillology, a non-profit corporation that supports the Whitney Smith Flag Research Center at the Briscoe Center.