O Say Can You See?

Hands-on history: Folding a national symbol

Have you ever seen an American flag up close? I don’t mean the kind you can wave at parades. How about an American flag that’s 30 feet tall, 42 feet long and fills up our museum’s Flag Hall? If you’ve answered “no” to either of these questions, come to the museum on a busy summer day and touch a piece of history!

Each June, July and August, visitors and staff fold a replica of the Star-Spangled Banner in the middle of our museum. The original flag was sewn by Mary Pickersgilland is a treasured part of our museum’s collection. It flew over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in September 1814 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that became our National Anthem in 1931.

Folding the flag requires a lot of helping hands and enthusiastic voices. Check out the video below to see how it all works!

To learn more, the Star-Spangled Banner exhibition is next to Flag Hall, where you can see the original flag and related objects. You can also meet Mary Pickersgill and learn more about the flag from her perspective by attending Broad Stripes and Bright Stars, a year-round theater program. Take a look at our museum’s Historic Theater calendar to plan your visit and meet her. Hope to see you soon!

Julia Imbriaco is Program Assistant in Education Outreach, Department of Public Programming at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History.

 

How should John Brown be remembered?

An  actor portrays abolitionist John Brown

This summer, the National Museum of American History’s History Alive! Theater program brought visitors the Time Trial of John Brown. A controversial character in American history, John Brown was a radical abolitionist in the mid-19th century. Brown advocated violence to combat slavery and led armed insurrections that would lead to his execution.

This is the second show in the Time Trials series, which invites visitors to serve as jurors in a short hearing for a historical person. In the Time Trial of John Brown, audience members deliberate on John Brown’s contested legacy and decide how he should be remembered in American history.

Check out the video below to get a sense of the process behind the show and why we’re so interested in getting people talking about history.

How do you think John Brown should be remembered?

Susan Evans is Daily Programs and Theater Coordinator and Julia Imbriaco is Floor Manager at the National Museum of American History.

Theater Preview: "Time Trial of John Brown" and "Am I a Pirate?"

When you read a textbook, glance at a grainy photograph of a legendary historical figure, or gaze at an artifact locked behind a protective wall of glass, it's sometimes easy to feel as though history is over there and not here, a distant and removed past that lacks tactility in the present.

Here at the museum, we're always looking for ways to close this gap between our visitors and American history—and the historical theater program, called History Alive!, is likely the most visible result of this mission. On any given day, you can see a different show in operation about every hour and a half in different quarters of the building.

“Time Trial of John Brown”

The educational theater program, which began in late 2008, marries the academic side of museum studies and American history with the artistic and performative nature of theater production to get people talking about history. Our theater program recently unveiled two new programs: "Time Trial of John Brown" and "Am I a Pirate?" In the former, visitors serve as jurors in a short hearing for abolitionist John Brown, who advocated violence to combat slavery during the early 1800s and led armed insurrections that would lead to his execution. Jurors have the opportunity to debate the historical legacy of Brown and how he should be remembered. "Am I a Pirate?" discusses piracy and privateering in the Americas from the early 18th century to the early 19th century, and features shanties from maritime history.

“Am I a Pirate”?

Along with the two new shows, the museum will continue to present "Join the Student Sit-Ins" and "Broad Stripes and Bright Stars." The first, one of our most popular theater programs, transports visitors to 1960 just after four college students began a protest against racial segregation at the Greensboro Lunch Counter.

The program involves audience members by re-creating a sit-in training session based on a written manual from the 1960s and invites them to consider the ordinary Americans who put themselves on the line to change the nation during the Civil Rights Movement. In the second program, Mary Pickersgill, who sewed the flag that inspired the Star-Spangled Banner, discusses life during the War of 1812 and the history behind the flag.

"Join the Student Sit-Ins"

The museum uses theater to create a safe space in which to discuss historical topics that may be difficult to broach otherwise. Interactive theater has the ability to suspend disbelief and transport viewers into a different place and time in American history; we hope the audience encounters history in a dynamic and intimate manner, perhaps even gaining an emotional connection with an historical figure or a time period.

For those of you interested in viewing any of the shows, below is a quick round-up of the different programs and their time, date, and place:

Join the Student Sit-Ins: Thursday-Monday at 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 3:00 p.m., 4:30 p.m. at Greensboro Lunch Counter, 2nd floor.

Broad Stripes and Bright Stars: Sunday-Wednesday at 10:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., 2:00 p.m., 3:30 p.m. in Flag Hall, 2nd floor center.

Time Trial of John Brown: Tuesday-Saturday at 11:00 a.m., 1:00 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 4:00 p.m. in Price of Freedom theater, 3rd floor.

Am I a Pirate?: Tuesday-Thursday at 11:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m. in the On the Water exhibition, 1st floor.

Please check the website for schedule updates and changes.

Esther I. Yi is a Fellow in the New Media Department at the National Museum of American History.

Flag Day ceremony welcomes 20 new U.S. citizens

What better place to become an official U.S. citizen than at an American history museum? 

During a special naturalization ceremony, 20 individuals—including four members of the U.S. Armed Forces—raised their right hands and recited the Oath of Allegiance in unison, pledging their loyalty to the country in order to become full-fledged U.S. citizens. Held on Flag Day, the proceedings fittingly took place in the National Museum of American History’s Flag Hall, underneath a glittering, mirrored polycarbonate flag and in front of the exhibition housing the Star-Spangled Banner, the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to pen the national anthem nearly two centuries ago.

Candidates for citizenship raise their right hands as they recite the Oath of Allegience.

A newly minted citizen crosses the stage to receive her certificate.

“We’re holding this ceremony in our public square. This is the place in the museum where the civic life of our museum takes place, where we connect our visitors with information and ideas and with each other,” said Director Brent D. Glass in his opening remarks, encouraging visitors to explore the flag exhibit after the event.

A new citizen is congratulated.

The Stars and Stripes figured importantly throughout the ceremony, serving as a symbol of the nation’s values around which the ceremony participants could unite—not in spite of, but by virtue of, their diversity and their unique paths toward citizenship. The newly minted citizens hailed from twelve different countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Columbia, El Salvador, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Micronesia, Germany, Peru, and the Philippines.

Upon administering the Oath of Allegiance, Alejandro Mayorkas, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), hearkened the flag as a more sober reminder of the responsibilities that accompany citizenship: “As we raise the flag, we raise the hopes and dreams of people not only all over this country, but all over this world,” he said. “It speaks of the rights and responsibilities of United States citizenship—a privilege that you have earned today.” 

Also in attendance at the ceremony was a group of more than 150 middle school students from all across the nation who participated in a joint program of Citizenship Counts and the Close Up Foundation that seeks to empower American youth to become engaged and responsible citizens in their communities. The students cheered loudly when one of their own, Paige Hawkins, took to the podium to lead the crowd in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” whose melodic strands gradually grew in force as more people joined in, even passersby viewing the ceremony from the floor above.

Student Paige Hawkins leads the crowd in singing "The Star-Spangled Banner."

In an interview before the ceremony, Mayorkas was asked to identify his favorite part of being an American citizen, to which he briefly paused for thought before giving a straightforward answer: “Raising my children in this country, and having them understand and appreciate what a privilege that is.” He continued, “I share with them the stories of people we encounter in our work at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, so my children, however young they are . . . understand what it means to come to this country and hope to have not only the ability to realize dreams, but to have the basic rights of freedom of expression and safety.”

Gerda Weissmann Klein at the podium.

The keynote address at Tuesday’s ceremony was delivered by Holocaust survivor Gerda Weissmann Klein, the founder of Citizenship Counts and a humanitarian celebrated for her advocacy on behalf of tolerance, community service, and responsible citizenry. Klein, 87, shared the story of her path toward American citizenship, underscoring the importance of personal strength in the most trying of times, and the power of humanity and compassion.

In 1942, Klein, just a teenager, was separated from her Poland-based family and sent to various concentration camps, even making a 350-mile death march with 4,000 women in 1945. That same year, the young woman—weighing only 68 pounds at the time—was liberated by Kurt Klein, a U.S. Army intelligence officer whose kind actions would “restore me to humanity again,” she said. The pair eventually married and moved to America, where Gerda Weissmann Klein became a naturalized citizen. Klein, the recipient of the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom, has gained international recognition for public service and humanitarian work. At the ceremony, Klein said that the United States has given her gifts that she could have never imagined in her “wildest dreams.”

A ceremony participant shows off her new certificate of citizenship.

Esther I. Yi is a Fellow in the New Media Department at the National Museum for American History.

Suds Up: How to make soap, 19th-century style

Piqued by the innovation, resourcefulness, and ingenuity required in an era before washing machines did all the scrubbing for us, we decided to make our own soap.

The museum is finalizing preparations for an upcoming summer program, Wash, Rinse, Wring, Repeat!: 19th Century Laundry at Home. Slated to launch June 11, the program will examine the development of laundry technology over time and invite visitors to wash linens using methods unfamiliar in this day and age.

To get us in the nineteenth-century mindset, Christopher Wilson, Director of Daily Programs, guided the staff through saponification (the chemical process of producing soap) as it would have been performed by Americans a century ago. With only a few modifications (e.g., a hot plate rather than an actual fire to heat the animal fat), we produced an unscented batch and another infused with peppermint oil extract.

Take a look at how we saponified to success:

STEP ONE: Collect and melt the fat.

Soap has three main ingredients: fat, lye (sodium hydroxide), and water. It is crucial that these components are precisely measured and kept at appropriate temperatures throughout saponification.

We began by melting large containers of cold animal fat. Many different kinds of fat can be used to make soap, and we chose a combination of leftover bacon grease and drippings from roasted chickens and turkeys—the smell reminded me of Thanksgiving dinner.

Numerous soap recipes can be found on the Internet, but we liked Snowdrift Farm’s website in particular because it allows readers to specify the oil in use.

Here’s Chris explaining the importance of melting points as we melted the fat into oil on a hot plate.

STEP TWO: Combine the lye and water, and bring the mixture to the right temperature.

After melting the fat to the right temperature (we used a chemical thermometer from The Lemelson Center’s Spark!Lab), we determined the weight of the fat (this time, with the help of Spark!Lab’s digital scales). Next, we combined water and lye, and I was surprised by how quickly the temperature rose upon combination.

According to Chris, nineteenth-century Americans had to be careful when adding the lye: too much, and the solution can become very caustic and leave chemical burns on the skin.

Here’s Chris mixing the lye and water.

STEP THREE: Mix all the ingredients together, and let it set for a month.

Once the oil and water/lye combination were all set, Chris brought them together in a bowl using a (decidedly non-period-appropriate) electronic hand mixer. The solution quickly transformed into a thick, light yellow liquid. I can only imagine how tiring the process must have been without the help of a handy electric appliance. We then poured the soap into a container, where it will rest for a few weeks before we kick off our laundry program on the National Mall terrace.

Here’s Chris combining the oil and water/lye solution, and presenting the final product.

Between melting the fat and working with a substance like lye, saponification can be dangerous and cause serious burns if one does not take the appropriate cautionary measures. If you decide to make soap on your own, be sure to wear safety goggles and use heat-resistant gloves like we did.

The saponification lesson made me feel like I was back in school: hearing words like “melting point,” “caustic,” and “chemical reaction” reminded me of the degree to which science can dictate our everyday lives—and even household chores. We hope you come visit the Wash, Rinse, Wring, Repeat! program at the museum this summer, and suds up!

Do you have any science lesson stories to share? Have you ever made soap, or even done laundry without the help of modern machines? Share your thoughts and comments below!

Julia Imbriaco is a seasonal Floor Manager in the Department of Daily Programs.