Military - Overview
The Museum's superb military collections document the history of the men and women of the armed forces of the United States. The collections include ordnance, firearms, and swords; uniforms and insignia; national and military flags and banners; and many other objects.
The strength of the collections lies in their enormous depth. Some 3,000 military small arms and 2,400 civilian firearms document the mechanical and technological history of the infantryman's weapons from the beginning of the gunpowder era to the present. Among the 4,000 swords and knives in the collection are many spectacular presentation pieces. The collections also include Civil War era telegraph equipment, home front artifacts from both world wars, early computers such as ENIAC, Whirlwind, and Sage, and materials carried at antiwar demonstrations.
"Military - Overview" showing 99 items.
Page 1 of 10
A View of Château Thierry
- Description
- Pencil and crayon sketch on paper. The work depicts the village of Château-Thierry, France during World War I. The Saint-Crepin church rises above the other buildings of the village. On the bottom left corner of the drawing the artist wrote "Chateau Thierry Looking south-west from the Chateau terrace."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-08-04
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25900
- catalog number
- 25900
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A Billet at Peronne
- Description
- A watercolor and pencil sketch on paper of a billet at Peronne, France. The sketch depicts buildings in disrepair with several soldiers standing in the street. A stack of timber sits in front of the buildings.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-04
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25901
- catalog number
- 25901
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
American Motor Trucks at Langres
- Description
- A charcoal and watercolor sketch on paper. A large building, La Porte de Moulins, rises above several other buildings and a clearing where army vehicles are grouped. American soldiers are roughly sketched and appear to be working on one of the trucks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-06
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25902
- catalog number
- 25902
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
At Andilly
- Description
- A charcoal and watercolor color sketch on paper of Andilly, France. The sketch depicts a tree-lined canal and a few buildings lining the left side of the canal. A man in the center of the drawing is carrying a bucket in each hand.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-06
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25905
- catalog number
- 25905
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A Billet at Rangeval
- Description
- A pencil, charcoal, and watercolor sketch on paper of a billet at Rangeval, France. The scene is of the top floor of a stable where the soldiers are quartered. Several soldiers are at the far end of the loft.
- An original label for the sketch read, "This shows the hay loft of a huge stable. The men arrange their bunks in the straw and along the wall. The great shell hole in the roof (the result of former fighting) admits light and air and especially rain. But those men whose beds are exposed to the elements have stretched their ponchos tent-fashion and are enjoying a sort of inside-out existence."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-05
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25907
- catalog number
- 25907
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A Road at the Front
- Description
- A charcoal, pencil, and watercolor color sketch on paper of a camouflaged road at the front lines. An American soldier is walking down a road that is bordered on each side by a barbed wire fence covered with branches and wood that continues into the background. The catalog card records the original label for this drawing: "This is the road from Baccarat to Pexonne via Vaqueville. It shows a screening of camouflage made from reeds and pine bows now turned brown with age. On the distant hills (a little to the left of the center of this picture) is located a German O.P. [Observation Post]. The road is quite frequently under shell-fire."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-04
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25908
- catalog number
- 25908
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A Cell in the Monastery at Rangeval
- Description
- Charcoal and watercolor color sketch on paper. This interior scene shows a room in a monastery in Rangeval, France. The cell holds many beds, two of which are occupied by American soldiers who are reading. Hanging clothes line the cracked plaster walls. Some sort of American flag is above one of the bunks.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-05
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25909
- catalog number
- 25909
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A View of Neufchateau
- Description
- Pencil and watercolor sketch on paper. The work depicts the French city of Neufchâteau during World War I. The scene shows the city from an aerial perspective, with farms in the lower left portion of the sketch. A church steeple dominates the center of the sketch, with buildings surrounding the church on all sides.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-06
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25910
- catalog number
- 25910
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A View from the Terrace at Boucq
- Description
- Pencil and watercolor sketch on beige paper. The work depicts a view toward the east from a terrace in Boucq, France. The terrace is set high above a valley or flat plain with small towns depicted in the distance. There are three planes and an American observation balloon in the sky.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-06
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25911
- catalog number
- 25911
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
A Kitchen at Andilly
- Description
- Pencil, charcoal, and watercolor sketch on paper. The work depicts a kitchen in Andilly, France during World War I. Two soldiers are cooking on a wagon stove in the center of what appears to be a the interior of a barn or a store room.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-06
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25913
- catalog number
- 25913
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center