On March 4, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill to officially adopt "The Star-Spangled Banner" as the national anthem of the United States of America. The lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner" come from Francis Scott Key's poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry," the earliest extant manuscript of which is housed in the H. Furlong Baldwin Library at the Maryland Center for History and Culture. The poem was handwritten by Key, a Maryland lawyer and amateur poet, on September 14, 1814, at the Indian Queen Tavern in Baltimore after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British forces during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. It was published in the Baltimore Patriot newspaper on September 20, 1814, and was later put to the tune of a popular song at the time titled "To Anacreon in Heaven." You can learn more about Maryland's role in the War of 1812 by visiting the exhibition “The Unfinished Revolution: Maryland in the Wars for Independence” at MCHC. (1) “The star-spa...