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 223 items.
Page 1 of 23
The Russian Imperial Guard awaiting the German Emperor, Peterhof Pier. [Active no. 1081 : photonegative,] 1897
- Notes
- Company catalog card included
- Similar to RSN 19907
- Currently stored in box 3.1.11 [197]
- Date
- 1897
- 1900-2000
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- Subject
- Imperial Guard (Russian)
- Local number
- RSN 12425
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Airmen fueling military airplanes : black-and-white photoprint]
- Summary
- Unidentified photographer
- Cite as
- American Petroleum Institute Photograph and Film Collection, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1940
- 1950
- [ca. 1940-1950]
- 1940-1950
- donor
- American Petroleum Institute
- Local number
- 00071102.tif (AC Scan)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Mixed group at base of huge tree. No. US B-12. Stereo interpositive.]
- Notes
- Currently stored in box 1.2.20 [10]
- Date
- 1900
- 1910
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- H.C. White Co
- Local number
- RSN 8623
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Tank Range Card
- Description
- This chart has a black image marked on a rigid white plastic sheet. Five equally spaced concentric circles are divided into eight equal sections by lines through the center of the circle. The outermost circle is divided into 64 equal segments, which are numbered counterclockwise from 0 to 32 on the left half of the circle. On the right half, segments are numbered from 0 at the bottom counterclockwise to 30 at the top, and also from (34) to (64).
- A mark at the bottom left reads: CARD, TANK RANGE (/) 8724207. A mark on the left top reads: HUNDREDS OF MILS. There are 6400 mils in a circle of 360 degrees angular measure.
- The object comes from the Felsenthal Collection of computing devices. According to the accession file it was made by Felsenthal for the U.S. Army in 1955, and had Felsenthal designation FA0-51. It may have been used by the tank gunner to lay his gun on target, before the availability of electronic or laser sighting.
- Reference:
- Accession file 1977.1141.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955
- maker
- G. Felsenthal & Sons, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1977.1141.06
- catalog number
- 336390
- accession number
- 1977.1141
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
[Tuskegee Airman sitting on wing of plane] [cellulose acetate photonegative]
- Summary
- Unidentified airman wears cap and has his back to the camera. Negative by Robert Scurlock during World War II
- Date
- 1942
- 1945
- 1940-1950
- photographers
- Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)
- photographer
- Scurlock, Robert S [Saunders] 1917-1994
- Subject
- Tuskegee Airmen
- Local number
- AC0618.004.0000203.tif (AC Scan No.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
National Company (NATCO) Atomic Clocks Records, 1955-1968
- Notes
- Richard Timothy Daly, Jr. directed the development of the commercial clock. The papers probably include material created by him and other project personnel listed below
- The first commerical atomic clock was invented by a team of physicists working under J. R. Zacharias at MIT after WWII. They were produced by NATCO, Inc. of Malden, Mass., from 1955-1967. The company also researched other applications for the clocks, including a collision avoidance system
- Summary
- Original acquisition: Blueprints, technical drawings, research reports, instruction manuals, photographs, marketing brochures documenting the production of the first commerical cesium beam frequency standard and subsequent models. Other projects and proposals, esp. Collision Avoidance system, are also documented
- Addendum, 2012: Proposals, memoranda and reports on the technical aspects of atomic clocks, 1960s, generated by the National Company
- Cite as
- National Company (NATCO) Atomic Clocks Records, 1955-1968, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1955
- 1955-1968
- 1950-1970
- 1950-2000
- 1940-1970
- 20th century
- creator
- NATCO, Inc (National Company, Inc.)
- author
- Bagnall, James
- Daly, Richard Timothy Jr
- donor
- Lerner, Louis C
- author
- Grant, Eugene
- Mainberger, Walter
- Orensberg, Arthur
- George, James
- Holloway, Joseph
- Bovarnick, Michael
- Subject
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Local number
- 1985.0027 (NMAH Acc.)
- 2012.3018 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980 (bulk 1919-1965)
- Notes
- Bickley was one of the more active inventors of twentieth century. While his main and most portable invention was an automatic bean sorter, his other inventions were numerous and wide in scope. Examples are: a photographic exposure meter; fly killing device; dance charts; nut-cracking device; and outdoor electric sign
- Summary
- Correspondence, patents, drawings, manuals, trade literature, and photographs, particularly rich in information on Bickley's sorting devices. World War II innovations, and other inventions such as an exposure meter, dance charts, fly-killing device, and an outdoor electric sign known as the Motograph
- Spans much of the twenthieth century and is of value to researchers interested in product development, the patent application process, product marketing and promotion, World War II innovation, and the daily operation of a small, privately owned industry. General correspondence, patents and patent correspondence, drawings, manuals, trade literature, and photographs; also, several artifacts designed by Bickley, including a photographic exposure meter (Fotimer), a prototype slide mount (Color Tight Slide Mount), dance chart, and even a clipboard (Deskette)
- Cite as
- The Everett H. Bickley Collection, 1919-1980, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1919
- 1919-1980
- bulk 1919-1965
- 20th century
- 1930-1950
- creator
- Bickley, Everett H. 1888- 1972
- donor
- Beyer, Audrey Bickley
- Subject
- Bickley Manufacturing Company
- H. J. Heinz Company
- Local number
- 1999.3022 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Dunhills Ltd.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Dunhills Ltd.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_13741
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from Franz & Meyer]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- Franz & Meyer
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_15738
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
- No Image Available
[Trade catalogs from G. A. Goebel Co., Inc.]
- Date
- 1900s
- Company Name
- G. A. Goebel Co., Inc.
- Record ID
- SILNMAHTL_17652
- Data source
- Smithsonian Institution Libraries
