A museum is an institution that cares for (conserves) a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these items available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. The largest museums are located in major cities throughout the world, while thousands of local museums exist in smaller cities, towns, and rural areas. Museums have varying aims, ranging from serving researchers and specialists to serving the general public. The goal of serving researchers is increasingly shifting to serving the general public.
The National Museum of the United States Air Force is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the oldest and largest military aviation museum in the world, with more than 360 aircraft and missiles on display. The museum draws about a million visitors each year, making it one of the most frequently visited tourist attractions in Ohio.
The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 Western and American Indian art works and artifacts. The facility also has the world's most extensive collection of American rodeo photographs, barbed wire, saddlery, and early rodeo trophies. Museum collections focus on preserving and interpreting the heritage of the American West. The museum becomes an art gallery during the annual Prix de West Invitational Art Exhibition and Sale each June. The Prix de West Artists sell original works of art as a fund raiser for the Museum. The expansion and renovation was designed by Curtis W. Fentress, FAIA, RIBA of Fentress Architects.
The Frazier History Museum, previously known as the Frazier Historical Arms Museum and the Frazier International History Museum, is a history museum located on Museum Row in the West Main District of downtown Louisville, Kentucky. An affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, the Frazier documents and reinterprets stories from history using artifacts, gallery talks, and live interpretations that are written and performed in costume by a staff of teaching artists.
Carlisle Barracks is a United States Army facility located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It is part of the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command and is the site of the U.S. Army War College. It is the nation's second-oldest active military base.
The United States Army Ordnance Training Support Facility artifacts are used to train and educate Logistic Soldiers. It re-located to Fort Lee, outside Petersburg, Virginia. Its previous incarnation was the United States Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Maryland which closed in September 2010.
The National Museum of Health and Medicine (NMHM) is a museum in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, DC. The museum was founded by U.S. Army Surgeon General William A. Hammond as the Army Medical Museum (AMM) in 1862; it became the NMHM in 1989 and relocated to its present site at the Army's Forest Glen Annex in 2011. An element of the Defense Health Agency (DHA), the NMHM is a member of the National Health Sciences Consortium.
The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within TRADOC. The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army. The center is responsible for the appropriate use of history and military records throughout the United States Army. Traditionally, this mission has meant recording the official history of the army in both peace and war, while advising the army staff on historical matters. CMH is the flagship organization leading the Army Historical Program.
The National Museum of the United States Navy, or U.S. Navy Museum for short, is the flagship museum of the United States Navy and is located in the former Breech Mechanism Shop of the old Naval Gun Factory on the grounds of the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C., United States.
The Army Heritage Center Foundation (AHCF) is a membership-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation that is coordinating a public-private partnership to assist the United States Army to develop the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center (USAHEC) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Near the city's western end, a historic C&O railroad station, as well as American Civil War battle sites near historic Lee Hall along U.S. Route 60 and several 19th century plantations have all been protected. Many are located along the roads leading to Yorktown and Williamsburg, where many sites of the Historic Triangle are of both American Revolutionary War and Civil War significance. The first modern duel of ironclad warships, the Battle of Hampton Roads, took place not far off Newport News Point in 1862.
The Polish American Museum located at 16 Belleview Avenue in Port Washington, New York, USA, was founded on January 20, 1977 and is directed by Gerald Kochan. It features displays of folk art, costumes, historical artifacts and paintings, as well as bilingual research library with particular focus on achievements of the people of Polish heritage in America.
The International Museum of World War II was a not-for-profit museum devoted to World War II located in Natick, Massachusetts, a few miles west of Boston. It was formed over a period of more than 50 years by its founder, Kenneth W. Rendell, one of the world's premier dealers in autographs, letters and manuscripts, who has earned international renown as an authenticator of historic artifacts. The museum's collections documented the events of the war, from the signing of the Treaty of Versailles ending World War I to the Nuremberg and Tokyo war crimes trials. The museum's goal was to preserve the reality of the history of World War II and to provide an educational experience of the lessons to be learned. In 2016, the Museum of World War II became The International Museum of World War II to reflect its being the only museum in the world with an international collection of letters, documents, and artifacts.
The National Infantry Museum and Soldier Center is a museum located in Columbus, Georgia, just outside the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning. The 190,000-square-foot museum opened in June 2009.
The National Museum of the United States Army is the official museum for the history of the United States Army and is just outside Washington, D.C. It opened on November 11, 2020. The objectives of the museum are to honor America's soldiers, preserve Army history, and educate the public about the Army's role in American history. The U.S. Army announced April 16, 2020 that the museum would delay its opening due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Minnesota Military Museum is the principal activity of the Military Historical Society of Minnesota (MHSM), a non-profit educational organization chartered to preserve and explain Minnesota’s military history. It is federally recognized as a charitable 501(c)(3) organization. MHSM operates the museum as a public–private partnership in cooperation with the Minnesota Historical Society and the Minnesota National Guard. The museum, which is open to the general public year-round, is located a few blocks inside the main gate at Camp Ripley, a state-owned 53,000 acres military training center located on the Mississippi River just north of Little Falls in central Minnesota. The museum is certified by the United States Army Center of Military History although its mission encompasses all branches of service.
The Gettysburg Museum and Visitor Center is a Gettysburg National Military Park facility, with a museum about the American Civil War, the 1884 Gettysburg Cyclorama, and the tour center for licensed Battlefield Guides and for buses to see the Gettysburg Battlefield and Eisenhower National Historic Site.
The Brigadier General James B. Thayer Oregon Military Museum is a 4-acre (1.6 ha) military history museum at Camp Withycombe in Clackamas, Oregon. The museum houses a collection of more than 14,000 artifacts plus a library with 30,000 volumes. Outside the main museum building is a park area with outdoor interpretive exhibits. There are two historic structures in the park that allow visitors to walk through a historic field artillery horse barn and a quartermaster storehouse. Established in 1975, it was renamed in 2011 in honor of native Oregonian James B. Thayer, a United States Army brigadier general who began his military service during World War II.
The African American Military History Museum, also known as East Sixth Street USO Building, located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, opened to the public on May 23, 2009. The museum building was originally constructed in 1942 as a USO Club for African American soldiers who were stationed at Camp Shelby. The structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 and was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 2010.
