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 4 items.
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 Street in Baccarat
- Description
- A charcoal and watercolor sketch on paper of Baccarat, France during World War I. Shell-damaged buildings make up this street scene.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-04
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Smith, J. Andre
- ID Number
- AF*25945
- catalog number
- 25945
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Church in Baccarat
- Description
- Ink wash sketch on paper. A gothic church rises above a bridge spanning a river. A convoy of large vehicles crosses the bridge.
- From catalog card: "The bridge was blown up in the early part of the war; is now temporarily repaired."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-04
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25820
- catalog number
- 25820
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Ruins of Baccarat
- Description
- Ink wash sketch on paper, of a street lined by ruined buildings. The view is from the inside of a shell-torn building and looks to the opposite side of the street. A woman, stooped and holding the hand of a small child, passes an American soldier in the street.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Peixotto, Ernest Clifford
- ID Number
- AF*25861
- catalog number
- 25861
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center