 Happy Statehood Day!
IHB celebrates Statehood Day with hundreds of 4th graders at the Indiana State House each year. With colleagues from the State House Tour Office, Indiana State Archives, elected officials from each branch of government, other government agencies, and nonprofit organizations, we get to share a little bit of Indiana's early history and recognize the winners of the annual Statehood Day essay contest. It's a blast!
At today's Statehood Day celebration, IHB exhibited the original State Banner. The banner was designed by Paul Hadley for the Daughters of the American Revolution-sponsored state flag design competition for the state's Centennial. You can see Governor Pence's proclamation for Statehood Day on our website. While you're exploring, you can also click these links to learn more about Paul Hadley and the Indiana State Flag.
State Banner Conservation
Elizabeth Hague of the Indiana Archives undertook a project to stabilize the original State Banner this year and she sends this note about the process:
The Indiana
State Flag is made of dark blue silk and was not in bad condition.
However, silk does not age well and it has become brittle and fragile.
Damage to the flag was isolated to any place the flag was tacked to the
background.
A fine
polyester organza of the same color blue was used to repair and support the
breaks of the silk fibers. Regular sewing pins and needles would create
holes in the fragile silk so insect pins and a curved suture needle were used
to sew the organza in place while the flag remained flat. Fine threads
taken from the organza were used as sewing thread.
The background
the flag rests on was replaced with unbleached muslin that was washed with
special soap to remove the sizing. The flag was delicately anchored to
the background across the top to reduce the individual spot stresses the previous
mounting had caused.
The frame was
repaired and all the components were assembled again using acid-free
cardboard. The double frame keeps the flag from touching the glass.
Gaby Kienitz, Conservator at the
State Museum, was a great help on the project, offering guidance on supplies and
technique for repairing the fabric of the flag.
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