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.
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Tobacco Pipe
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1875 - 1900
- ID Number
- DL.61.0619
- catalog number
- 61.0619
- accession number
- 234565
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
Sextant
- Description
- This sextant was made by C. Plath, an important instrument firm in Hamburg, Germany. It was rated by the Deutsche Seewarte on 12 November 1944, and was probably used by the German navy in World War II. Nonetheless, the donor related that it had been owned her grandfather, William Bertus Voortmeyer, and used on an American Liberty Ship during that war.
- This sexant has a radius of 16 cm, a drum micrometer for reading the graduated scale, and serial number 19530.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1944
- maker
- C. Plath
- ID Number
- 2009.0253.01
- accession number
- 2009.0253
- catalog number
- 2009.0253.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
-
knife, folding
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- ca 1915
- ID Number
- DL.59.1117B
- catalog number
- 59.1117B
- accession number
- 111627
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
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