If the name of candidate John Bell doesn't ring a bell, it's probably because he lost the 1860 U.S.. presidential election to a fellow from Illinois named Abraham Lincoln. But Bell's campaign flag waves on,  as does Lincoln's, in "Independency: The American Flag at 250 Years," a unique exhibition of flags and historic objects at the Southampton Arts Center through July 19.

Though Lincoln's and Bell's flags are more than 160 years old, they're not the oldest flags in the collection of lawyer, historian, writer, producer and East Ender John Monsky. That distinction belongs to a 1775 banner for George Washington.

Monsky's collection is expansive and extraordinary, including objects from America's earliest days through the Apollo missions and beyond. Viewers of his presentations at Carnegie Hall or last year's PBS special "The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day” have seen some of the flags he's collected on screen. Now the actual objects, as rare and fragile as they are, are right before viewers' eyes.

"It's such an important collection," said Southampton Arts Center’s executive director Christina Mossaides Strassfield, who co-curated the show with Monsky. "I love the opportunity to make history come alive," she said, explaining why she offered Monsky the entire museum to show his flags. While individual flags have been lent to a variety of prestigious institutions, the collection had never been displayed in its entirety. Several flags are truly one-of-a-kind, like the one that from Amelia Earhart's trans-Atlantic flight and uniform patches worn by astronauts. Others, like one that flew on a landing craft carrying GIs onto Omaha Beach in France on D-Day, are laden with history and emotion.

Four galleries are organized chronologically, so visitors will experience a path through U.S. history. There are campaign flags from Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant and U.S. flags from military actions from the Civil War to one carried by a Navy SEAL Team in Afghanistan.

What comes through is "the collective boldness of the American spirit," said Monsky, "but it's also the tragedies and the difficulties that we had to face and overcome. You see the sacrifices that people made for things that are important to our country — democracy, the republic, freedom — and it hits you in a visceral sort of way."

Monsky pointed out two flags carried during the Civil War, "one by the 25th Corps which was entirely Black soldiers — 13,000 of them — another by the Fourth U.S. Colored Corps. These men went off to fight a war for their country and also for freedom."

Alongside the flags, Strassfield and Monsky are displaying a group of paintings by contemporary artist Sean Scully, who is also the subject of a major exhibition at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill this summer. His paintings are geometric, color-rich abstractions, many composed of stripes or grids.

While they're not meant to be read as flaglike, it's not wrong to see them that way. "When you're looking at Sean Scully's work in relation to these historical pieces, there really is a dialogue going back and forth," Strassfield noted.

Many of the flags raise spirits; others are touchingly poignant. "We're not being political," Strassfield said. "The flag means hope. We're a democracy and we're imperfect, but were always trying, striving to do better." Strassfield's favorite piece is a strip of red, white and blue, taken from the flag Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted on the moon.

For heartbreak, there are banners that flew in town halls and churches during World War II bearing one blue star for each son or daughter who went to war. When one of them died while serving, the blue star was stitched over with gold thread, giving us the term "gold star families."

There will be a talk on June 21 by Monsky, revealing the stunning and tragic stories behind the stars and stripes. He chose to end the exhibition with a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald, "America was a willingness of the heart." Monsky encourages everyone to come in, adding, "Come with some time on your hands so you can take this trip through American history ... You feel the sacrifices of the boys on Omaha beach, on Utah Beach. You see America trying to birth this republic. You see the 13-star flags that were flown as a celebration at the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. And when you get to the end, you feel this willingness of the American heart."

It's an emotional journey. Strassfield promises, "We'll have the tissues out."