The Star-Spangled Banner, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

A national treasure, The Star-Spangled Banner, is housed at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. It has been on view almost continuously since it came to the Smithsonian Institution in 1907. Although it has received the best possible care, the flag has been damaged from decades of exposure to light, pollution, and temperature changes. In order to preserve this enduring national symbol, the National Museum of American History initiated the Star-Spangled Banner Preservation Project in December 1998. This preservation project is the most extensive and complex ever undertaken by the museum and is expected to last three years.

Also in 1998, The History Channel broadcast an original documentary about the Star-Spangled Banner and the Preservation Project in order to help focus national attention on the museum's conservation efforts. The History Channel produced this program and the Star-Spangled Banner Project Teacher's manual in collaboration with the conservators and historians at the National Museum of American History.