http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/06/14/fragmented.flag.ap/index.html
CNN.com - Parts of famous U.S. flag on display - June 14, 2001
Parts of famous U.S. flag on display
June 14, 2001 Posted: 9:41 a.m. EDT (1341 GMT)

The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in
Washington will display these fragments of the original
Star-Spangled Flag beginning Thursday

BALTIMORE, Maryland (AP) -- The original Star-Spangled Banner survived the
British shelling of Baltimore, Maryland, in 1814, and the image of the
flag flying over Fort McHenry inspired the poem later used as the national
anthem.
But less than a century after the fort's commander took the flag home, it
was about 10 feet shorter and missing one of its 15 stars.
For decades, the family of Maj. George Armistead bestowed flag snippings
upon officials and esteemed acquaintances, in a practice once considered
an honored tradition.
Many fragments have been lost, squirreled away in private homes or buried
with their recipients. But others go on display Thursday -- Flag Day -- at
the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, where
the original flag has been displayed since 1964.

"Snippings from the Star-Spangled Banner" will run at the museum through
September 23.
Armistead, who took command of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812,
decided the installation needed "a flag so large that the British will
have no difficulty seeing it from a distance."
A 30-by-42-foot flag was stitched together by Mary Pickersgill. When
Armistead retired after successfully defending the fort, he took the flag
home.

This is the first known photograph of the Star-Spangled Banner,
taken at the Boston Navy Yard on June 21,1873
It was willed to his wife, Louisa, and later passed down to his daughter,
Georgiana Armistead Appleton. Both women occasionally lent the flag out
for display, and invited people to cut pieces from it.
"It was considered a way of saving history if you will, to give someone a
piece of our national history. And it was considered an honor to receive
such a piece," said Marilyn Zoidis, curator of the Star-Spangled Banner
project at the Smithsonian.
Appleton's son, Eben Appleton, inherited the flag when she died in 1861.
He donated it to the Smithsonian in 1912.
At Fort McHenry, full-sized replicas of the flag continue to fly.
"I've been working here six years and it's still compelling to see the big
flag flying over the fort," said Vincent Vaise, a National Park Service
ranger stationed at Fort McHenry. "It's like a big exclamation point over
the fort."

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