VIDEO: Star-Spangled Banner
The Star-Spangled Banner was the flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to compose the song that became the National Anthem. It has 15 stars and 15 stripes.
Here we see the actual "Star-Spangled" flag as it looked before and during its restoration at the National Museum of American History
The earliest known photograph of the flag, arranged by historian George Preble, was taken at the Boston Navy Yard in 1873. Pictured also are conservators at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History painstakingly restoring the Star-Spangled Banner.
