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 23 items.
Page 1 of 3
A Lodging for the Night, 42nd Division
- Description
- Pen and ink with touches of graphite. Horizontal landscape format; village scene. Church tower and hills in background. Vehicles and a line of horses in foreground. Several soldiers moving about. Sketch done on white wove paper that is mounted on tan card with decorative ruled graphite lines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25686
- catalog number
- 25686
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Awaiting a Call
- Description
- Graphite, brush and ink wash sketch. Sketch of trucks lined up in a town square. People and soldiers are depicted; one woman with a child carries an umbrella. Two small dogs in front of the line of trucks. Hills and clouds in background. Sketch is done on white wove paper that is affixed to a larger piece of off-white card.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-05-18
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25694
- catalog number
- 25694
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
German Prisoners Under Guard
- Description
- Graphite, brush and ink wash, and black crayon sketch. Village scene of a road and a large building. Three men walk down the road followed by a third carrying a rifle. Tall smokestack, emitting smoke, in background. Two women in the far left of the drawing. The sketch is done on off-white wove paper that is mounted on off-white card. There is a label that is affixed to the bottom edge of the sketch and also the card mount. It is glued over another typed label.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-05-15
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25695
- catalog number
- 25695
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Monument Left to the Memory of the German Occupation of Flirey
- Description
- Brush and ink wash with touches of graphite. A large ruin stands in the center of the sketch; some small trees or shrubs are to the left of the ruin. Sketch done on beige wove paper mounted on tan card with decorative ruled graphite lines. A label attached to the center bottom of the card mount reads: "MONUMENT LEFT TO THE MEMORY OF THE/GERMAN OCCUPATION OF FLIREY/BY W. J. DUNCAN/TRANSFERRED FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT/2854."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-09-13
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25696
- catalog number
- 25696
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Last Remains of Montfaucon
- Description
- Ink wash, black crayon, and graphite sketch of a road leading through what remains of a village. An ambulance stands before a shell-torn building; several wagons and soldiers are standing in the road. Part of a wall stands on the right. Airplanes in sky. Sketch is on beige wove paper mounted on tan card that has decorative ruled lines. Below the sketch is a printed label, attached to the tan mount, that reads: "THE LAST REMAINS OF MONTFAUCON/FIRST-AID DRESSING STATION/BY W. J. DUNCAN/TRANSFERRED FROM THE WAR DEPARTMENT/2860."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-10-20
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25702
- catalog number
- 25702
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Main Street in Sanzey
- Description
- Brush and ink wash sketch with touches of graphite. Sketch depicts a road leading through a village. A church with a large steeple dominates the scene. Troops with horses and a wagon are on the right, lined up against the building. Smaller buildings and a water trough are on the left. Down the road, a mounted soldier's horse rears in front of a man and small child. The sketch is executed on white wove paper mounted on beige card that has been ruled with decorative graphite lines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25703
- catalog number
- 25703
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
San Mihiel Drive
- Description
- Lithographic crayon sketch. A large tree dominates this scene. Troops are advancing down a road from the left foreground to the right background. A shell-torn building is in the left background; wagon, men, and horses are in its yard. Ruined clock tower on far left. A soldier mounted on a horse is in roughly the center of the scene. Beige textured wove paper. On the bottom edge of the mount is an inscription that reads: "Troops leisurely advancing in St. Mihiel drive by/the ruins of Sichprey [sic], Sept. 13/18."
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-09-13
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25704C
- catalog number
- 25704C
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
American Troops Watering Horses
- Description
- Black ink and charcoal drawing of mounted troops in a large basin/pond of water. Immediately behind them is a group of badly damaged buildings. Church spire in the center background. Birds in sky. The sketch is done on beige wove paper mounted on brown (formerly beige) card, with decorative lines around the border ruled in graphite.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Duncan, Walter Jack
- ID Number
- AF*25704E
- catalog number
- 25704E
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Verdun Offensive
- Description
- Charcoal and crayon drawing on textured cream wove paper. The paper is mounted on heavy brown cardboard. Troops on foot and mounted on horses in foreground. A line of heavy artillery and soldiers dominate the center of the drawing. Smoke plumes trail out of the artillery guns; the background is misty with smoke.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- artist
- Harding, George Matthews
- ID Number
- AF*25730
- catalog number
- 25730
- accession number
- 64592
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Taking Artillery Around the Mine Crater in the Road to Varennes
- Description
- Charcoal sketch on paper. A large cross is surrounded by several smaller crosses, some bearing wreaths or ribbons, in the foreground. A group of soldiers is resting among the crosses. Some men appear to be eating. A group of soldiers, on foot and on horseback, ascend a small hill in the background. At the end of this procession is a large piece of artillery. On the right of the sketch is a crater; some soldiers are walking up and out of the depression while others are at work inside the crater.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1918-09
- associated date
- 1917-1918
- associated person
- War Department
- maker
- Morgan, Wallace
- ID Number
- AF*25783
- catalog number
- 25783
- accession number
- 64592
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center