4 Ways of Looking at Flags

Star-spangled symbols, from anonymous art in Mississippi to a digital exhibit at Ellis Island.
From Reader's Digest
2. As a piece of history
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Courtesy of National Museum of American History

2. As a piece of history
After its celebrated appearance at Fort McHenry, the very star-spangled banner that inspired our national anthem arrived at the Smithsonian in 1907, proudly hailed but battered too: It had passed through generations of a military officer's family, who had made a tradition of parceling out snippets as souvenirs. "The idea of desecrating the flag is a fairly modern one," says Smithsonian conservator Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss. For a major mending in 1914, the museum hired embroiderer Amelia Fowler, shown here overseeing a few of the 1.7 million stitches that would secure a new linen backing. Fowler earned $1,243—a small sum compared with the $7 million it cost to get the flag restored for the reopening of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History last year.
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