
USDA Research
Helps Preserve Historic FlagBy Jim Core July 3, 2001As the nation prepares to celebrate its
225th birthday tomorrow, Agricultural
Research Service wool experts can take pride in knowing they helped the
Smithsonian Institution gain additional
insight into a national treasure, the flag that inspired the
Star-Spangled Banner. The flags fiber and dyes have degraded over the years, despite care by
its custodians. Exposure to light, temperature fluctuations and humidity have
sped deterioration of the 150-pound wool flag, its cotton stars and its linen
support over its lifetime. Scientists William N. Marmer, Jeanette M. Cardamone and colleagues at
USDAs Agricultural Research Service in
Wyndmoor, Pa., worked with the Star-Spangled Banner Preservation
Project to assess the flags deterioration using high-tech equipment
at the Wyndmoor lab. They collaborated with the projects chief
conservator, Suzanne Thomassen-Krauss, of the Smithsonians
National Museum of American
History. The researchers, based in the ARS Eastern Regional Research Centers
Hides, Lipids and Wool Research Unit,
offer unique expertise in this area. They are the only federal researchers
working on the utilization of domestic wool. The unit is responsible for
developing and patenting new technology for bleaching and dyeing wool, as well
as technology to monitor those processes. Cardamones team examined
the fabric structure for signs of damage utilizing images taken by the
Smithsonian. The scientists used Digital Image Analysis for Fabric Assessment
(DIAFA) to analyze authentic flags from the same era, as well as a new flag
Cardamone wove to simulate the original. From the digital images, they
developed a mathematical procedure to determine yarn spacing and thickness
without risk of damage to the delicate areas of the actual flag. Cardamone says their methods are designed to give characterizations of the
flags fabric and are less tedious than traditional techniques. ERRC
scientists can now present findings based on their methods to the
Smithsonians textile conservators, who may apply the technique to the
Star-Spangled Banner when deciding how to monitor its condition over time. The 30- by 34-foot flag has been in the Smithsonians collection since
1907. The National Museum of American History built a special conservation
laboratory to accommodate the flag, which was moved there in 1999 as part of
the three-year conservation project to better care for, exhibit and store it. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agricultures chief scientific research
agency. U.S. Department of Agriculture |