the nighing of the garrison flag the morning after the barrage inspired francis scott key to write the words that became our national anthem. >>> good morning, i am jennifer jones and the chair of the armed forces history division here at the american history museum division. i'm in charge of the star-spangled banner. >> i'm suzanne thomassen-krauss, senior textile conservative of american history and for the duration of the star-spangled banner association i was the chief conservator. >> we are going to take you on a small tour today. please come join us. one of the things people don't always recognize is that during the war of 1812 it was fought from 1812 until after 1814, early 1815. it was really about america re-establishing its independence against the british. >> in 1814 the city of washington was attacked and it was burned. it was mostly the federal buildings that were burned and also the newspapers. anything that was supporting the separation of the united states from britain. it was said that you could actually see the fires in washington from the city of baltimore. this is o

and also of the star-spangled banner flag which is sometimes known as the great garrison flag. e strange, but you heard my words correctly. the flag sung about in "the star-spangled banner" is right behind me in the building can be. there are people as we speak looking at it in an exhibition and when we are done here, you can take the opportunity to go to our open entrance, go inside the museum, see the collections we have on display but also see that star-spangled banner flag, the flag that they talk about in our national anthem. when francis scott key saw that flag flying 200 years ago he was inspired to hand write a poem in a manuscript and believe it or not, that manuscript is also on display in this building inside the national museum of american history. 1814 manuscript of our national anthem. the stewards are the maryland historical society. now i would like to introduce you all to the president and ceo of the maryland historical society, he is a singular historian and interpreter and is largely due to his efforts that the manuscript and the flag have been brought togethe

and also of the star spangled banner flag, which is sometimes known as the great garrison flag. ful collections we have on display. but also see that star spangled banner flag, the flag talked about in our national anthem. when francis scott kings saw that 200 years ago he was inspired to handwrite a poem in the manuscript. that is also on display inside the national museum of american history. the original 1814 manuscript of our national anthem. the stewards of that manu script are the maryland historical society. i would like to introduce you to the president and ce of. it is largely due to his efforts that the manuscript and the flag have been brought together for the first time in 200 years. as a matter of fact, probably closer to each other than they have ever been before. so please join me in welcoming him. [ applause ]. >> how exciting it is to be here among this great american music, particularly the carter family. very exciting. good afternoon, everyone. and this wonderful, glorious day, this flag day. we at the maryland historical society are honored to be sharing our s

stewards of american history and also of the star-spangled banner flag, sometimes known as the great garrison flagange, but you did hear my words correctly. these flags that you sung about in "the star-spangled banner" is right inside the building behind me. there are people as we speak looking at it in an exhibition. when we are done, you can take the opportunity to go around to our open entrance, go inside the museum, see all of the wonderful collections on display, but also see that star-spangled banner the flag we talk about in our national anthem. when francis scott key saw that same flag flying 200 years ago, he was inspired to handwrite the point, a manuscript. believe it or not, that manuscript is also on display in this building, inside the national museum of american history, the original 1814 manuscript of our national anthem. the stewards of that manuscript are the maryland historical society. now i would like to introduce you all to the president of the maryland historical society. he is a singular historian and interpreter. it is largely due to his efforts that the manuscript and fla

and also of the star spangled banner flag, which is sometimes known as the great garrison flag. , you all can go and to our open entrance, go inside the museum, see all the wonderful collections we have on display. but also see that star spangled banner flag, the flag talked about in our national anthem. when francis scott key saw that same flag flying 200 years ago, hi he was inspired to hand write a poem in a manuscript. believe it or not, that m manuscript is also on display inside the national museum of american history. the original 1814 manuscript of our national anthem. the stewards of that manuscript are the maryland historical society. i would like to introduce you to the president and ceo of the society. i he's a singular historian and interpreter and it's large lly e to his efforts that the manuscript and the flag have been brought together for the first time in 200 years. as a matter of fact, probably closer to each other than they have ever been before. so please join me in welcoming mr. burt kummerow. >> how exciting it is to be here among this great american music,

at that time he saw the star-spangled banner or the garrison flag being raised in victory, that they actually survived the bombardment. so at that time he felt so moved to pen the beginnings of the words of a poem that he had a drinking tune in his mind that would allow him to make the rhymes. as a lawyer, he was a very eloquent writer, but he was also known as a poet. he wrote those words to the song and it became our national anthem not until 1931, but was being sung much earlier throughout the 19th century. >> we are now standing in front of the specially designed chamber to house the star-spangled banner. the decision was made to always keep the flag available for any american citizen to see when they visited the museum. so we had to create a special chamber. you'll notice that it's very dark in here. that's because we keep the flag at about one foot candle. that allows us to keep it on permanent exhibition without doing substantial damage to the flag from the light. when we did an extensive research project, we found light was doing the most damage to the flag. that was our focu