How do you clean a huge old piece of cloth that is a national symbol, the subject of the anthem that is sung, if with some difficulty, by every American?
Very carefully. Very slowly. And in Washington, you start by convening a conference of experts.
The object of all this attention is the very Star-Spangled Banner that waved over Fort McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that became the national anthem.
Since that day in 1814 when Key saw the American flag from the deck of a ship in Baltimore's harbor and knew the British had not captured the city, it has lost a star and several yards of stripes. In fact, it is now 270 square feet smaller, mostly because proud citizens have snipped pieces from it over the years.
But it has also gained a benign but mysterious red ''V'' sewn on a white stripe. And it has become a mat for dust, pollen, bits of leaves and soil, and errant fibers from paper, mops and the like. This is what Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss, a textile expert at the Smithsonian Institution, where the flag is displayed, calls ''normal indoor pollution.''
The flag has also put on weight, going from 80 pounds when it flew over the fort to about 135 pounds now, mostly because of a linen backing added to protect it years ago.Continue reading the main story
Ronald E. Becker, the Smithsonian official responsible for the cleaning project, described his problem this way: ''What's the best approach to maximizing the life of the flag and still have it on display?''
So how do you clean a national icon? That's what Mr. Becker and his group are studying. They do know they aren't going to put it in a washing machine. But they may use a gentle vacuum cleaner.
In 1812, the young United States got into a war with Britain over trade and territorial disputes. Today, probably the most lasting memory of the war was that it gave birth to ''The Star-Spangled Banner,'' and not that it resulted in the burning of the White House, which occurred just before the attack on Baltimore.
The flag that inspired Key was ordered in 1813 by Maj. George Armistead, the commander of Fort McHenry, who wanted an extraordinarily large flag that could be seen from a great distance. He hired Mary Pickersgill, a Baltimore flag maker, to sew the 42-by-30-foot flag for $405.60. Given the year of the contract, that might seem an enormous amount, but Prof. Robert Sahr, an Oregon State University political scientist who has studied the relative value of money, put it at about $3,000 in 1996 dollars because the War of 1812 caused a period of great inflation.
Ms. Thomassen-Krauss, the Smithsonian textile conservator, said of Mrs. Pickersgill: ''She's an interesting lady, and her mother made a flag for George Washington's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.''
Mrs. Pickersgill may have bought the fabric from Capt. Jesse Fearson, her brother-in-law, who had a dry-goods store in Baltimore, Ms. Thomassen-Krauss said. She kept the flag-making even more of a family project by enlisting her 13-year-old daughter, Caroline, to help her with the sewing, which took place on the floor of a local brewery. And she probably got advice from her mother, Rebecca Young.
Except for the cotton stars, the flag was made of wool bunting that presumably originated in England, then the world's wool center. Perhaps the wool was seized from a British ship by an American privateer or was bought in a third country after being shipped there from England, Ms. Thomassen-Krauss speculates.
''Wool was typical material for flags in this country up until the Civil War,'' she said. ''Cotton at that time -- before the invention of the cotton gin -- was a luxury item. Wool is good for a flag, being elastic and durable under wear and tear.''
What's fairly certain is that the flag didn't shrink at Fort McHenry, because forts didn't fly their prized flags in the rain. Instead, in bad weather they flew a smaller and less valuable banner called a storm flag.
The blue dye for the star field was made of indigo, probably from India or Southeast Asia. The red dye was made of cochineal, which comes from the bodies of female insects of the same name, and madder from a plant probably grown in the Netherlands or France.
Bunting is a textile term for an open-weave fabric. For the flag, the warp (the yarn stretched on the loom during weaving) and the weft (the filling yarn that is woven into the warp) are roughly 30 threads per inch for the blue field and 41 for the stripes.
The flag has 15 white stars -- when the flag is hung vertically, they are in six horizontal rows of two or three each -- and 15 stripes (8 red and 7 white), instead of the 13 in the current flag.
Last November, Mr. Becker, who is the associate director for capital programs at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, brought together 50 experts -- textile scientists, conservators, historians, curators, designers and flag specialists -- from the United States, Canada and Britain to discuss the flag's conservation.
It is hung vertically under low light near the museum's second-floor entrance. A reproduction has been added at the bottom to represent the missing area. It serves as the backdrop for a pendulum that demonstrates that the earth rotates, and many people are so intent on watching the pendulum swing back and forth that they do not even notice the huge flag behind them.
The scientists will decide on the proper micro-environment for the flag. They will also determine a level of light that will be bright enough for the public to see the flag but not enough to damage it.
Mr. Becker estimated that it will cost about $15 million to construct a new display area for the flag, including the costs of replacing the air-conditioning system and changing the linen backing if necessary. Another $15 million will be sought to establish an endowment to care for the flag in the future.
Some of that money will come from the Government, since the Smithsonian is a quasi-Federal agency. The museum is hoping that individuals, corporations and foundations will provide the balance.
The flag once had a huge protective cover that was raised with some ceremony every hour on the hour, accompanied by ''The Star-Spangled Banner.'' But the cover broke in 1994.
Mr. Becker said, ''We saw it as an opportunity to not just replace it but to renew our conservation efforts and study the condition of the flag today.''Continue reading the main story