Tag Archives: flag

I didn’t know this until yesterday but 2014 is the 200th birthday of our national anthem, the Star-Spangled Banner.

This is a picture of the flag that flew over Ft McHenry in Baltimore and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem which became our national anthem.

I took this picture of the flag in 1985 at the Smithsonian, photos of it are not allowed anymore.

In 1981, the Smithsonian began a two-year preservation effort: staff vacuumed the flag to reduce accumulated dust, installed new lighting and air-handling systems, and mounted a screen in front of the flag to protect it from light and damaging airborne matter.

 But more needed to be done to preserve the flag and in 2008 the flag got its own state of the art gallery.. CLICK HERE to visit that site.

CLICK HERE to read the story behind the Star-Spangled Banner.

CLICK HERE for the story of the Star-Spangled Banner