MdHS In The News

Civil War exhibit opens in Maryland

The Maryland Historical Society's museum opened Maryland's largest and most comprehensive Civil War exhibit this month.

The impact of the war is told in personal terms in "Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War." The exhibit occupies more than 5,000 square feet and tells the story of a tragedy in three acts: the romantic war, the real war and the long reunion.

The exhibit will run for four years with annual updates.

Articles of War

The Maryland Historical Society’s documents, weapons, and personal items offer a glimpse of the Civil War the way Marylanders lived it.

Photography by David Colwell

Original 'Star-Spangled Banner' poem leaves Baltimore for first time

Two state police, 6 city officers escort armored truck carrying original document

-The Baltimore Sun

O see the poem that became our national anthem

-USA Today

Eighty years ago this week, President Herbert Hoover signed a resolution establishing an American anthem: Francis Scott Key's Star-Spangled Banner.

On Tuesday, in preparation for its anniversary celebration, Key's original handwritten poem left the Maryland Historical Society — its home since 1953.

The paper, suspended in argon gas in a specially designed case, traveled in a Dunbar Armored car with an escort of police and dignitaries to the state Capitol building in Annapolis.

Original 'Star-Spangled Banner' poem leaves Baltimore for the first time

-The Washington Post

By Jessica Anderson

Tuesday, March 1, 2011; 11:45 PM

After Francis Scott Key scrawled down the four verses of "The Star-Spangled Banner," he left four fold marks from putting the parchment in his breast pocket. Nearly 200 years later, the historic document is handled with far more reverence and care.

"Star-Spangled Banner" manuscript travels to city

Francis Scott Key's original poem leaves Baltimore the the first time

-Capital Gazette Communications