American History Museum to Close for Nearly Two Years

The National Museum of American History will close for almost two years, the Smithsonian Institution announced this morning. The shutdown will allow the museum -- keeper of items ranging from the gunboat Philadelphia to Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers -- to build a new gallery for the Star-Spangled Banner and overhaul and update the building's interior.

The 42-year-old museum, the largest history museum in the country and the third most popular of the Smithsonian's museums, will close on Labor Day. Construction is expected to be completed by the summer of 2008.

The centerpiece of the new plan will be a dramatic enclosure for the banner, the flag that few over Fort McHenry during the British bombardment of 1814 and inspired Francis Scott Key to write the song that became the national anthem. The Smithsonian has had the flag since 1907. During the past eight years, the flag has undergone thorough restoration and the Smithsonian announced today that the work is complete.

Its new home will be a theatrical setting, with the lights dimmed to evoke the "dawn's early light," with Key's words floating behind it and the flag tilted 12 degrees upward. It will no longer be hung vertically because of the stress on the wool and cotton fibers. The flag's gallery will be behind a soaring 19 foot abstract flag and panels at the entrance and exit of the enclosure will tell the history of the flag and the restoration project.