Military

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.

Physical DescriptionChinese-made AK-47 assault rifle, marked with "66" in a triangle.General HistoryThe AK-47 was designed by Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov.
Description
Physical Description
Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifle, marked with "66" in a triangle.
General History
The AK-47 was designed by Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov. Kalashnikov was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1938; while serving as a tank driver-mechanic, he became interested in the operation of firearms. After being seriously wounded in 1941, he was given six months of leave, and spent that time designing a submachine gun with his machinist friend Zhenya Kravchenko. In 1946 Kalashnikov sent the Main Artillery Commission in Moscow his drawings for a new gas-operated rifle based on the M43 cartridge. The committee gave him the go ahead to create a prototype. From 1946 to 1948 work progressed on the Kalashnikov rifle. In 1949 one of his rifles, the Avtomat Kalashnikova Obrazets 1947, was accepted by the Soviet Army and quickly dubbed the AK-47.
ID Number
AF.74476M
catalog number
74476M
accession number
292533
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AF.74771M
catalog number
74771M
accession number
293877
serial number
2013018
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AF.70362M
catalog number
70362M
accession number
277831
serial number
7062421
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
ID Number
AF.74840M
catalog number
74840M
accession number
294007
serial number
8404096
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1945
ID Number
2013.0327.1121
catalog number
2013.0327.1121
accession number
2013.0327
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
1945
depicted (sitter)
Chiang Kai-shek
maker
Anonymous
ID Number
2013.0327.0964
accession number
2013.0327
catalog number
2013.0327.0964
Currently not on view
Location
Currently not on view
date made
ca 1945
ID Number
2013.0327.1125
catalog number
2013.0327.1125
accession number
2013.0327
Date made
1992
ID Number
1994.3051.02
catalog number
1994.3051.02
nonaccession number
1994.3051
maker number
6117

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