You don't see it very often in modern St. Patrick's day decorations and greetings, but it was popular in vintage St. Patrick's Day postcards and greeting cards to mix the American flag with the Irish flag, or to have Uncle Sam somewhere in the visual mix. The vintage St. Patrick's Day postcards on this page exemplify that vintage tendency to show the tie between the two countries. If you're Irish and live in the United States, I would think these images would be close to your heart.

The Irish flag has changed a bit over the years, as is evidenced in these vintage postcards. It used to be a field of solid green, but now the Republic of Ireland flag has three equal-width stripes in green, orange and white. I imagine the new flag is easier for flag companies to make because there are no details like the old flag had.

Scroll down and follow the instructions to download these free vintage Irish and American flag images.

Choose a thumbnail version of any of the free vintage Irish and American flags above the large images to the right. When you click on one of the images, it will appear larger.

IMPORTANT: Once you've chosen a heart image and see it larger, double-click on the larger image, which will make the best version of the art appear. Sorry for the extra step, but this will give you the highest quality art.

Then, if you have a PC, just right-click and save the final version of the artwork to your hard drive.

Looking for Other Vintage Images?

You might also be interested in the Free Clip Art Sourcebook, a free e-book that provides links to thousands of free vintage and contemporary clip art images, including many for St. Patrick's Day. No registration is required and it's completely free!