History and Conservation

A View of the Bombardment of Fort McHenry, detail from a painting by J. Bower Courtesy Maryland Historical Society

 
On a stormy night in 1814, Francis Scott Key witnessed the British attack on Fort McHenry. Inspired by the sight of a large flag flying over the fort the morning after the bombardment, Key wrote a poem about the event. The poem was published to the tune of a well-known English melody, "To Anacreon in Heaven." The combination soon became a popular patriotic song. In 1931, Congress declared "The Star-Spangled Banner" our national anthem.
       Millions of Americans have heard this history of the Star-Spangled Banner. But the battle and the national anthem are only part of the story. Through the decades, the flag has accumulated a history of its own.
 

The earliest known photograph of the Star-Spangled Banner shows the flag hanging from a building at the Boston Navy Yard in 1874.

       The flag that inspired Francis Scott Key was the handiwork of Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore maker of ship's banners and flags, and her daughter Caroline Purdy. The fifteen red and white stripes and the blue field are made of wool bunting, and the fifteen stars of white cotton. Almost a century after the battle, the grandson of the fort's commander, Maj. George Armistead, first lent and then donated the Star-Spangled Banner to the Smithsonian. When the flag came to the Smithsonian, it was badly tattered and loosely attached to a backing of heavy canvas.
In 1914, the canvas backing was removed and the fragments stitched to a backing of finest heavyweight Irish linen. Securely attached to this backing, the flag was displayed in specially designed and constructed case in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building.
      Since that first study and treatment of the flag, the Smithsonian Institution has used state-of the-art conservation and exhibition techniques to ensure the flag's preservation.
 

Needlewomen sew a backing on the Star-Spangled Banner in the Smithsonian Castle, about 1914.

During World War II, the flag was removed from display and stored outside Washington for safekeeping. In 1963, it was moved to the new National Museum of History and Technology, now the National Museum of American History. Over the next two decades, conservators undertook several analyses of the flag's yarns, fibers, and dyes, and evaluated the effects of dust and pollution. The flag was gently cleaned in place in 1982 and protected by the construction of a new flexible screen, or oleo. Once an hour, to the music of the national anthem, the oleo descended to reveal the flag. Twelve years later, the cables holding the protective screen failed, and this mishap has presented the Museum and the Institution with a new opportunity to study, conserve, protect, and display the flag for visitors and the nation.

The Star-Spangled Banner remained on display in this glass case in the Arts and Industries Building from 1914 to 1964.

In the fall of 1996, the Museum sponsored a conference that drew conservators, curators, textile experts, historians, and other specialists from across the country to discuss preservation, curatorial, and exhibition concerns about the flag. Today, a technical advisory committee formed after the conference is studying the condition of the flag and the range of possibilities for its preservation and display.

Facts about the Flag
Size       30' x 34' (9.75 x 10.4 m); (originally 30' x 42' (9.75 x 12.8 m).
Design       15 white cotton 5-pointed stars, approx. 24" (61 cm) wide, on blue field of wool bunting. 15 stripes--8 red, 7 white, approx. 23-1/2" (60 cm) wide--of wool bunting, handsewn.
Backing       Irish linen, applied with open button-hole stitch.
Weight       About 125-175 lbs. (57-79 kg); backing is over half the total weight.
Date       Made July-August 1813.
Features       The red 'V' is of unknown date and origin. The irregular 'fly edge' resulted from wind damage and portions being cut away for souvenirs during the 19th century. Archival records indicate that damage to the flag was repaired after the battle.