Stitching History: Recreating the Star-Spangled Banner

“Mary Pickersgill Making the Flag.” Oil on canvas by R. McGill Mackall, MdHS, 1976.80.61

Breaking News! The Maryland Historical Society is recreating the 30 x 42 foot Star Spangled Banner flag!

We will be sewing the flag during the same six-week time period that Mary Pickersgill did 200 years ago.

Mary Pickersgill, a local flag maker, worked with her daughter Caroline, nieces Eliza and Margaret Young, and African American indentured servant Grace Wisher to complete the flag in six weeks. We aim to recreate the flag during the same time period 200 years later.

Our flag will then be flown at Fort McHenry during the Defenders Day celebration!

MdHS has recruited experienced sewers to construct the majority of the flag, however, we want to share the experience with our friends in the general public.  To do this we will have two public sewing days, where anyone can come in and put a stitch or two in the flag!  These two days will be Saturday, August 3 and Sunday August 11 from noon till 3 each day. 

Sign up today!

August 3rd signup: https://www.mdhs.org/civicrm/ event/info?reset=1&id=87

August 11th signup: https://www.mdhs.org/civicrm/ event/info?reset=1&id=88

Even if you can't come to Baltimore to see the flag as it's being created, there are other, equally important ways to help. Supporting our Kickstarter Campaign is one. Kickstarter is a new, online way to make donations to projects that are funded by everyday people like you and me.

All you have to do is visit the link to our project on Kickstarter.com.

You'll find complete details about our project budget, the cost of materials and what we are planning on doing with the flag once it's finished.

Click to play the video

You'll also find a video - put together by Education Director Kristin Schenning and me - that outlines our project, and why it's so important to have your support.

In return for your generosity, we have put together a fun array of thank you gifts, from 15-star flag pins to signed copies of my In Full Glory Reflected book, to commemorative pieces of the recreated flag itself!

It truly is the most important project our 170-year-old institution has ever undertaken. My sincerest thanks for your support!


Burton Kummerow
President, The Maryland Historical Society