Star-Spangled Banner
Star-Spangled Banner names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Star-Spangled Banner THE 59 Key on board the frigate "Surprise" in
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
THE 59 Key on board the frigate "Surprise" in the course of the bombardment of Fort McHenry, Md., by the British fleet in 1814. The words on Key's suggestion were sung to the tune of "Anacreon in Heaven," which is supposed to have been composed by John Stafford Smith about 1773. The anthem, as soon as it became known, attained great popularity and the first public singing is said to have taken place in a tavern near the Holiday Street Theater, Baltimore, the singer being Ferdinand Durang. The moving character, both of the sentiments and the plants the melody, has placed it among the most thrilling any country. "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Washington, 1914), by O. G. T. Sonneck describes the evolution of the anthem, and contains different versions of the text and music. STARVATION or INANITION, the physical effect produced by the total want of food and water. The symptoms of starvation in man are: an increasing loss of weight, severe pain in the stomach, loss of strength, sleeplessness, great thirst, in some cases stupor, and in other cases nervous excitement with convulsions. Death occurs in about eight days. With a good supply of water, however, life may be prolonged, in the absence of solid food, for a period of two or three weeks, and cases have been known of persons surviving for two months and more. Gradual starvation may result from continued low percentage of nutritive elements in the daily diet.
Star-Spangled Banner THE, the national anthem of the United States
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
THE, the national anthem of the United States. It was written by Francis Scott
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's called it "the national anthem of the United States" in 1921, that was custom rather than law: the song had been adopted for military use by order in 1889 and 1916, but Congress did not make it the official national anthem until 3 March 1931, when President Hoover signed the bill. The tune's origin as "To Anacreon in Heaven" by John Stafford Smith, which Collier's reports, is still the accepted account, and O. G. Sonneck's 1914 study remains a standard reference. What Collier's could not foresee is the anthem's later role as a site of political argument "the hireling and slave" line of the rarely sung third verse, and the wave of protests by athletes kneeling during the song from 2016 onward. The garrison flag that Key saw over Fort McHenry now hangs at the Smithsonian, given a major conservation treatment completed in the 2000s.
Written for this edition, 2026.