Vorige week hebben we nog eens een lange wandeling gemaakt in de omgeving van de National Mall...
Het was een frisse, zonnige dag - twijfelend tussen de winter en de lente...
De wagen effe geparkeerd in de ondergrondse parking van het IMF... en dan - via de Wereldbank - richting Witte Huis.... op nog geen steenworp...
Van het Witte Huis ging het richting National Mall met het obligate Capitol en Washington Monument...
We hebben onze wandeling beeindigd in het National Museum of American History... Gezien ik een boek over de Civil War aan het lezen ben, en daarin voortdurend wordt verwezen naar dit museum...wou ik even controleren of alles wel klopte :-)... en het klopte... Oef !
DE trekpleister van het museum is de originele "eerste" Star Spangled Banner...
Een beetje uitleg: (in 't Engels)The original Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that would become our national anthem, is among the most treasured artifacts in the collections of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C.
QUICK FACTS ABOUT THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER FLAG
Made in Baltimore, Maryland, in July-August 1813 by flagmaker Mary Pickersgill
Commissioned by Major George Armistead, commander of Fort McHenry
Original size: 30 feet by 42 feet
Current size: 30 feet by 34 feet
Fifteen stars and fifteen stripes (one star has been cut out)
Raised over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, to signal American victory over the British in the Battle of Baltimore; the sight inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner”
Preserved by the Armistead family as a memento of the battle
First loaned to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907; converted to permanent gift in 1912
On exhibit at the National Museum of American History since 1964
Major, multi-year conservation effort launched in 1998
Plans for new permanent exhibition gallery now underway
MAKING THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
In June 1813, Major George Armistead arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, to take command of Fort McHenry, built to guard the water entrance to the city. Armistead commissioned Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore flag maker, to sew two flags for the fort: a smaller storm flag (17 by 25 ft) and a larger garrison flag (30 by 42 ft). She was hired under a government contract and was assisted by her daughter, two nieces, and an indentured African-American girl.
The larger of these two flags would become known as the “Star-Spangled Banner.” Pickersgill stitched it from a combination of dyed English wool bunting (red and white stripes and blue union) and white cotton (stars). Each star is about two feet in diameter, each stripe about 24 inches wide. The Star-Spangled Banner’s impressive scale (about one-fourth the size of a modern basketball court) reflects its purpose as a garrison flag. It was intended to fly from a flagpole about ninety feet high and be visible from great distances. At its original dimensions of 30 by 42 feet, it was larger than the modern garrison flags used today by the United States Army, which have a standard size of 20 by 38 feet.
The first Flag Act, adopted on June 14, 1777, created the original United States flag of thirteen stars and thirteen stripes. The Star-Spangled Banner has fifteen stars and fifteen stripes as provided for in the second Flag Act approved by Congress on January 13, 1794. The additional stars and stripes represent Vermont (1791) and Kentucky (1792) joining the Union. (The third Flag Act, passed on April 4, 1818, reduced the number of stripes back to thirteen to honor the original thirteen colonies and provided for one star for each state — a new star to be added to the flag on the Fourth of July following the admission of each new state.) Pickersgill spent between six and eight weeks making the flags, and they were delivered to Fort McHenry on August 19, 1813. The government paid $405.90 for the garrison flag and $168.54 for the storm flag. The garrison flag would soon after be raised at Fort McHenry and ultimately find a permanent home at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. The whereabouts of the storm flag are not known.
