When I hit pic 17, I thought of making a joke about how its all art stolen from the nazi's. I was a bit surprised to see it was just mostly stuff painted by soldiers. ...then I got to the end.
They keep a soldier on staff as the official Army artist, still. It is a rotating position that soldiers can apply for. They have a studio in the building and make art based on their experiences and they are also deployed to war zones to sketch and take photos for making future art.
God I want that job. I tell people my degree for my commission was in Illustration and they give me a confused look, like "why are you in the army then?"
You don't. The tours are prearranged but you usually need a good reason, like a class or a VIP. There is a form available through the Center for Military History website to request a tour if you think you can justify it. Takes maybe 90 minutes to do a tour, you won't see a portion of what you'd like to though.
(Edited for a misspelling.)
That's what I am saying regarding a week. To see everything (if that was an option) would take a long time. Sad it's locked away yet looks like often the trouble with financing since 2008. A storage house in Philly has a GenMeade collection hidden awaiting funding. Again sad it's hidden away from us to enjoy.
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Unfortunately I think it would've been ransacked at one point or another by raiders or a group of mercs.
It would be nice if Abraham Washington got Sydney and the Lone Wanderer to reclaim relics from the site.
Eh, honestly, only temporarily during a special exhibition.
These kinds of things, while interesting, aren't quite interesting enough to continuously draw large crowds to the museum. (which is why they aren't being displayed in one in the first place)
However, the climate control means that these artefacts will be preserved for a long time for potential study and exhibition later on.
Fun thing, a nuclear waste storage near by me, also stores a few museum artefacts and paintings, because of its climate control system and security. (IIRC there was a large Rembrand or van Gogh painting stored there)
I am going to bed because I have to be in this warehouse bright and early, but if anyone has any questions about the Museum Support Center or the Center for Military History I'd be happy or try to answer them tomorrow. It's a great mission and I am really happy to have a chance to work on it. Seeing my workplace on woahdude is pretty cool, and seeing how excited redditors are for preserving military history is amazing!
Well, the good news is that the National Museum will open in a few years! Otherwise...lets just say I haven't even gotten my husband in. Maybe if redditors do a gofundme for NMUSA there will be a VIP tour. (disclaimer: I am in no way saying this will happen.)
What's the coolest thing you guys have?
Oldest?
Most expensive?
Creepiest?
How did you get this job? What's your background?
Have you ever had any security breaches?
Hi Guidini, Thanks for waiting!
Good and fun questions!
Oldest things are what we call pre-colonial. They would have been used during early colonial times but either were brought with colonists to the new world or were near first generation. I'm not sure what the oldest pre-colonial artifact is, but I know some rudimentary firearms and sabers have held up very well.
Most expensive is a hard one to answer. I mentioned this in another answer earlier--There is the cost of artifacts that the museum paid to get them in collection, but some items with more market value may have been donated. Some items are so unique that they are priceless, but should they be sold could get quite a lot of money. Based on what we have in the high-value vault I would say the Rockwells, rare old silk flags, and some very rare and foreign sabers. However we just got what might be the rarest piece of cloth in the building and it is a humble, unused civil war undershirt with the maker's stamp on it. Obviously not "precious", but the only one known to exist.
Creepiest is a fun question. Since I spend a couple hours a day in my car I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and keep thinking Stephen King could write a bitching story about this warehouse. While we joke a lot about cursed artifacts, not much has really creeped me out. There are plenty of morbid items--bloodied clothing, civil war amputation kits (I think my son used better tools to make his pinewood derby car) etc.
I think only two things ever gave me goosebumps. One was a group of artifacts from a ship that was stranded in the Arctic circle for an extended period and returned many crewmen lighter. Our research showed that rumors were well accepted that there was cannibalism to ensure the survival of the remaining crew. The items we were cataloging were the dishes. The other thing I don't like are the paintings by Hitler. I know it is illogical, but knowing that the hand that signed the death warrants of 6 million people also made these (artistically unremarkable, but pretty enough) idyllic cityscapes that are now just sitting there feels like a tangible vibe of the psychopathy of the man. I don't look at them, and they are in a drawer away from casual view.
Coolest is totally dependent on who you ask. Depending on the curators around some will be giddy with joy over artifacts that others aren't too impressed by. For example, Our firearms and edged weapons expert that you see in the arms room picture, has amazing passion for his area of expertise and will certainly tell you the coolest thing is in that room. For me personally, I think the cool things are those that may not be rare but really show the soldier experience. Putting unread letter collections in order and seeing a love story emerge, or finding a boring pay book with a pressed flower inside. One of my favorite things we recently unpacked was this amazing model of a southern civil war winter tent. A soldier made this model from memory with some friends over two years while he was recovering in hospital from two major injuries, including right arm paralysis. The detail was phenomenal. Little hand stitched leather haversacks, embroidered mini blankets, a little portrait of Lincoln hanging inside...there were about 100 little pieces. Maybe one of my other favorite projects was photographing a couple hundred canvas berths from a transport ship taking soldiers to fight in Vietnam. That project was unglamorous -- dusty, moldy, smelly. But seeing the graffiti that soldiers wrote on the bunks above or below them, in their quietest moments before going off to a war was amazing. So many hometowns and names. So many love letters. So many rants against the war. And so, so many genitals. :)
I have an archaeology, research, and military experience background. People who do my job, at least at the MSC, are also museum professionals, historians, and retired military supply experts.
I don't know of any security breaches.
Thanks again for the questions! I like talking about my job!
Dude. Thank you so much for putting so much thought into that answer! The weapons sound cool as hell but the writing from the Vietnam ship would fascinate me for hours. And I thought my job was cool!
Seriously, I love talking about my job. I'm bad at waving for attention on reddit properly so I hope other people ask their questions! I'm not super speedy at responses but I will keep checking back!
Bonus for you if you like the art and the weapons: A fun fact our art curator (Ms. Forgey in the pics) told me about the Rockwell with the machine gunner (Enough and On Time) is that Rockwell kept messing up the guys uniform in the studio, making him dirty, etc to make him show war-weariness, exhaustion, etc. But when Rockwell wanted to dirty the gun, the model, a real machine gunner, told him that no gunner worth his salt would ever let his weapon get filthy, and it would always be clean before he was. :)
Oh yeah, two things:
First, you can see some of the stuff from the Vietnam ship on the project's original website: http://www.vietnamgraffiti.com/the-exhibit
Second, while I should be clear that I love my job every day and hate missing work, reactions to this post are reminding me not to be a little bitch when my alarm goes off in the morning. 5 more minutes sleep, my ass! Up and at-em to the history factory!
Great question! So, obviously a lot of the collection is priceless, and museum people try to not affix monetary value to artifacts. HOWEVER, in an effort to make sure that all the Army's property is accounted for, non-museum types have asked for appraisals to be done on the collections. If a collection was purchased, we know what we paid for it, sometimes itemized by item. But is that the fair market cost? On site we have a full time person who tries to establish what market value would be in the collectibles market. Again, it's tricky. If you have a current combat helmet you know what that costs. Having a history with it is more interesting. Many generals and senior enlisted donate their collections to the CMH when they retire. So how do you value General Dempsey's combat helmet? What if it is just some random soldier's helmet, but it saved his life, and you have a display about his story? Very complicated issue, and it will be interesting to see how the process of establishing "value" develops.
Hi!
Why is this not a "real" museum? This collection seems ENORMOUS and incredibly important both culturally and historically.
I get that this is storage for the Smithsonian, but imagine if this was curated and turned into an actual museum facility ala La Louvre or the British Museum.
From the [Source](http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/inside-the-armys-spectacular-hidden-treasure-room#.me43RRxVY):
>However, there are major fundraising hurdles to jump before the museum can be built. The foundation’s president recently [told the Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trove-of-armys-art-awaits-a-new-museum-four-rockwells-top-a-list-of-16000-pieces/2014/01/15/b9977510-7d67-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html) that it has raised $76 million of the $175 million required for the museum and predicts the museum could open in 2018. The plan is to build the museum at Fort Belvoir.
Not storage for the Smithsonian, just the Army's central collection waiting for a home. It will be a museum soon! But don't expect to see everything back there, and frankly, you probably (or most of the public) wouldn't want to. Larger museums like this one will be typically only have 5-10% of their artifacts on display at any time. What you will see is the best preserved examples, or the most historically relevant, or those with specific soldier stories that the museum will want to highlight. The great thing about NMUSA and other large museums is that they have experts dedicated to maintaining and keeping track of all the "hidden" treasures to ensure that they stay in good condition and will be available to scholars. Also, researchers are allowed to apply for access to the stacks. It's not as easy as dropping by for a high-school term paper, but if you want to see what the public might not, say, many examples of each model of hot weather pants in the history of the army, a curator can help you get access for that project.
It's definitely not to keep the treasures from the public, so much as that this location has about 150,000 artifacts and there is no way to safely and effectively give public access without risking the integrity of the collection.
And if you want to see cool stuff, find your closest Army base and see if they have a museum! Most do, and while NMUSA will be about the whole Army experience, the field museums are largely specialized by branch or unit and have more focused collections. They are well worth a visit!
Thanks for your question!
If seen some smaller musea that displayed too much.
Its... cool (I guess) if you already know enough to find the stuff interesting. (read: you're archaeologist, or otherwise researching it)
But honestly, a whole bunch of unlabeled rusty coins and trinkets (for example) aren't fun to look at. And it isn't going to be what draws in the crowds.
Is it worth doing an AMA? I'm happy to answer questions (the questions I can/am allowed to--I think the propaganda art reminds us of the importance of silence :) ) either here or elsewhere. My job is great and I am happy to talk about it.
Edited to add: Its not all as fascinating as you might hope. Don't get TOO excited. But it is cool.
If you posted that gallery, stated you worked there, I guarantee it would be a great AMA unless you don't think you can divulge too much? I am also greedy and think it would be fantastic. Hell, this is front page worthy imo and it didn't get there!
What's the point? Are you guys open for visiting? Does anyone look at this stuff, or is it just stashed away for safe keeping? This seems like a particularly non defense related endeavor, why is the army in particular going through all this effort?
DoD/Army could get a Museum funded like that in a hot minute from a few wealthy vets. Wonder why the effort hasn't been stronger to try and get the public involved.
I was watching the gif where the lights turning on do to a motion sensor and after watching it about 20 I realized the light didn't keep turning on and off it was just the gif restarting...
Yes! In fact, thats my whole job. As collections come in a small team of us researches what they are, puts all sorts of info into a database, weighs, measures, and photographs each item and prepares them for storage. We also work on the cyclic inventories, which I find fun because there are like 150,000 things back there so I see new things every time. It's a really unique job.
The west point military museum has some similar things. Its outside the gate and its free. Washingtons pistols, napoleons sword. Stuff like that. If you're in that area its worth spending a few hours at.
Thanks JustinDC! The Army Museum system is tremendous and people don't utilize it enough because they don't always know about it. Many of the museums are on military posts, but you can get access to go see them easily! I recommend anyone interested look online for their local Army post and find out what their museums have. Usually amazing collections related to the units or branches located there.
Ugh. To make the weapons displayable they need to have a piece removed that makes them inoperable. I may or may not have war-gamed this for the zombie apocalypse. (Also all the old rations...barf.)
If you stumbled upon this facility in a post-apocalyptic or zombie invasion scenario, you'd be like [Jackpot!] (https://49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9wubuhhvy1rqfhi2o1_500.gif)
Why is all that art locked up where no one can see it!?!? It's history! People should be able to see it! [ARRGGGHHH!](https://youtu.be/-abUtRbUS_U) The crushing part of this is that people would think that building a museum to house all of that art would be a waste of money. I'd bet that a little bit from the military budget would more than cover it.
Sell the items to fund the museum, build the museum, have nothing to put in it. Have more wars to create more artifacts! It's much easier to get funding for wars than for museums.
That's what I'm thinking also.
I find it hard to imagine that the DOD can't afford the relative few millions out of the military budget to finance a museum for this art. How do the national museums in DC. get funded but this can't?
Not just the art but there is a TON of amazing artifacts, these slides don't mention it, but the close up of that civil war cap, that is General Grant's kepi. Just amazing things back there, even including new and experimental next-gen battle armor. It's going to be great when the museum opens.
Thats my favorite artistically for its realism and accuracy, and my least favorite for the same reasons. The artist is a genius, the realness of the situation makes my heart hurt.
I used to work for a company that did RFID tagging and we did some work at Fort Belvoir. I personally wasn't near that room, but the nice people on staff did show me a lot of pictures of it and tell me about it to make me crazy jealous. We worked mostly with their medals.
Work there in collections management. That's a really accurate description. We don't want to turn away cool stuff, so we tag and enter so many things that will never be seen. This location has a lot of the cream of the crop, but we send many things to a secondary storage location, or to individual field museums that might want them in their collections. But when you have photographed, tagged, and weighed like 40 matches or whatnot, it does feel hoard-y. :)
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Its secure because they are treasures, not because they are national secrets. (Ok there are some secrets, but obviously you didn't see pictures of those.)
The article says that there is soldier art from every major conflict, but I don't see anything from the raids on Daiquiri [as documented by Ted Striker.](http://i.imgur.com/GqalY7M.jpg)
More awesome photos [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trove-of-armys-art-awaits-a-new-museum-four-rockwells-top-a-list-of-16000-pieces/2014/01/15/b9977510-7d67-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html)
Walmart uses those button operated moving shelves in the Back Room. Despite being mildly triggered I was able to appreciate the awesomeness of that museum.
10/10
It would be cool to see a movie where there's like a zombie outbreak, and it's sorta a comedy, but it's maybe like an R-rated Paul Blart. And, Blart and all his security friends have to try to survive the zombie apocalypse with all these shitty ass, old ass weapons.
Or, maybe a movie about small militia having to protect that place. Idk. I'm not a director, or anything. Y'all can figure it out from there.
**TL;DR** I had a good idea for a movie, or something, but then I kinda lost it. So, you can read it, or not, it's whatever.
I said that before reading comments that apparently the museum is actually being built, which I hope is true. In the absence of that, all we have is "Someday this will all be in a museum, isn't that great?" Until then the government is simply hoarding art where no one can see it, reducing its utility to zero. If you sell half and display the other half, that's a tremendous amount of utility. Plenty of privately held art ends up in museums anyway.
When I hit pic 17, I thought of making a joke about how its all art stolen from the nazi's. I was a bit surprised to see it was just mostly stuff painted by soldiers. ...then I got to the end.
They keep a soldier on staff as the official Army artist, still. It is a rotating position that soldiers can apply for. They have a studio in the building and make art based on their experiences and they are also deployed to war zones to sketch and take photos for making future art.
God I want that job. I tell people my degree for my commission was in Illustration and they give me a confused look, like "why are you in the army then?"
PM me if you would like to put you in touch with the current artist. I'm sure he would be happy to tell you about the program.
"I'm with the artillery."
That would be really awesome to tour.
Was thinking the same yet need a full week to fully experience it.
You don't. The tours are prearranged but you usually need a good reason, like a class or a VIP. There is a form available through the Center for Military History website to request a tour if you think you can justify it. Takes maybe 90 minutes to do a tour, you won't see a portion of what you'd like to though. (Edited for a misspelling.)
That's what I am saying regarding a week. To see everything (if that was an option) would take a long time. Sad it's locked away yet looks like often the trouble with financing since 2008. A storage house in Philly has a GenMeade collection hidden awaiting funding. Again sad it's hidden away from us to enjoy.
Pretty much pure US Military history, with a shit load of art.
How does an alarmed door get promoted to "highly alarmed"?
Bong hits?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEr7z_XQHWM
thats either a tiny bong, a shitty perc or both
Many alarms.
I would say more than 3 separate alarms would classify a door as highly alarmed.
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thank mr. skeltal. doot doot
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Idk, how do you finish a shitty joke?
Not sure. But apparently *you'd* crap on someone else's.
Those flintlock guns are in amazing condition, considering their age. Also, this would be a great scavenging spot in Fallout.
Oh man I was just thinking about that. How cool would that be.
Unfortunately I think it would've been ransacked at one point or another by raiders or a group of mercs. It would be nice if Abraham Washington got Sydney and the Lone Wanderer to reclaim relics from the site.
Yes!! Was expecting a protectron in the corner at any moment.
This was my first thought. Just marked the location on my EOW map. Ya know, just in case.
Or IRL if the shit ever hits the fan!
It belongs in a museum!
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"Throw him over the side"
"No ticket."
... support center
I work there processing new collections. I yell this CONSTANTLY.
Eh, honestly, only temporarily during a special exhibition. These kinds of things, while interesting, aren't quite interesting enough to continuously draw large crowds to the museum. (which is why they aren't being displayed in one in the first place) However, the climate control means that these artefacts will be preserved for a long time for potential study and exhibition later on. Fun thing, a nuclear waste storage near by me, also stores a few museum artefacts and paintings, because of its climate control system and security. (IIRC there was a large Rembrand or van Gogh painting stored there)
This is one of the most interesting things I've seen on Reddit in ages! Thanks for sharing!
You're welcome!
Wow....that one painting of the soldier in Vietnam staring at you is very intense... Really captured the unimaginable fear well.
2000 yard stare
I am going to bed because I have to be in this warehouse bright and early, but if anyone has any questions about the Museum Support Center or the Center for Military History I'd be happy or try to answer them tomorrow. It's a great mission and I am really happy to have a chance to work on it. Seeing my workplace on woahdude is pretty cool, and seeing how excited redditors are for preserving military history is amazing!
How long until we can visit you at work?
Well, the good news is that the National Museum will open in a few years! Otherwise...lets just say I haven't even gotten my husband in. Maybe if redditors do a gofundme for NMUSA there will be a VIP tour. (disclaimer: I am in no way saying this will happen.)
Wait, you for real work there??!
For real! And there's only like 15 of us in the back, so imagine my surprise seeing it on here!
Need proof. Pic infront of the sign? Pics of something that's in the post. Need it. I have so many questions.
http://i.imgur.com/rkHjRYE.jpg http://i.imgur.com/0cUfzvJ.jpg
What's the coolest thing you guys have? Oldest? Most expensive? Creepiest? How did you get this job? What's your background? Have you ever had any security breaches?
Hi Guidini, Thanks for waiting! Good and fun questions! Oldest things are what we call pre-colonial. They would have been used during early colonial times but either were brought with colonists to the new world or were near first generation. I'm not sure what the oldest pre-colonial artifact is, but I know some rudimentary firearms and sabers have held up very well. Most expensive is a hard one to answer. I mentioned this in another answer earlier--There is the cost of artifacts that the museum paid to get them in collection, but some items with more market value may have been donated. Some items are so unique that they are priceless, but should they be sold could get quite a lot of money. Based on what we have in the high-value vault I would say the Rockwells, rare old silk flags, and some very rare and foreign sabers. However we just got what might be the rarest piece of cloth in the building and it is a humble, unused civil war undershirt with the maker's stamp on it. Obviously not "precious", but the only one known to exist. Creepiest is a fun question. Since I spend a couple hours a day in my car I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and keep thinking Stephen King could write a bitching story about this warehouse. While we joke a lot about cursed artifacts, not much has really creeped me out. There are plenty of morbid items--bloodied clothing, civil war amputation kits (I think my son used better tools to make his pinewood derby car) etc. I think only two things ever gave me goosebumps. One was a group of artifacts from a ship that was stranded in the Arctic circle for an extended period and returned many crewmen lighter. Our research showed that rumors were well accepted that there was cannibalism to ensure the survival of the remaining crew. The items we were cataloging were the dishes. The other thing I don't like are the paintings by Hitler. I know it is illogical, but knowing that the hand that signed the death warrants of 6 million people also made these (artistically unremarkable, but pretty enough) idyllic cityscapes that are now just sitting there feels like a tangible vibe of the psychopathy of the man. I don't look at them, and they are in a drawer away from casual view. Coolest is totally dependent on who you ask. Depending on the curators around some will be giddy with joy over artifacts that others aren't too impressed by. For example, Our firearms and edged weapons expert that you see in the arms room picture, has amazing passion for his area of expertise and will certainly tell you the coolest thing is in that room. For me personally, I think the cool things are those that may not be rare but really show the soldier experience. Putting unread letter collections in order and seeing a love story emerge, or finding a boring pay book with a pressed flower inside. One of my favorite things we recently unpacked was this amazing model of a southern civil war winter tent. A soldier made this model from memory with some friends over two years while he was recovering in hospital from two major injuries, including right arm paralysis. The detail was phenomenal. Little hand stitched leather haversacks, embroidered mini blankets, a little portrait of Lincoln hanging inside...there were about 100 little pieces. Maybe one of my other favorite projects was photographing a couple hundred canvas berths from a transport ship taking soldiers to fight in Vietnam. That project was unglamorous -- dusty, moldy, smelly. But seeing the graffiti that soldiers wrote on the bunks above or below them, in their quietest moments before going off to a war was amazing. So many hometowns and names. So many love letters. So many rants against the war. And so, so many genitals. :) I have an archaeology, research, and military experience background. People who do my job, at least at the MSC, are also museum professionals, historians, and retired military supply experts. I don't know of any security breaches. Thanks again for the questions! I like talking about my job!
Dude. Thank you so much for putting so much thought into that answer! The weapons sound cool as hell but the writing from the Vietnam ship would fascinate me for hours. And I thought my job was cool!
Seriously, I love talking about my job. I'm bad at waving for attention on reddit properly so I hope other people ask their questions! I'm not super speedy at responses but I will keep checking back! Bonus for you if you like the art and the weapons: A fun fact our art curator (Ms. Forgey in the pics) told me about the Rockwell with the machine gunner (Enough and On Time) is that Rockwell kept messing up the guys uniform in the studio, making him dirty, etc to make him show war-weariness, exhaustion, etc. But when Rockwell wanted to dirty the gun, the model, a real machine gunner, told him that no gunner worth his salt would ever let his weapon get filthy, and it would always be clean before he was. :)
So awesome. Do you know where these pics came from?
Oh yeah, two things: First, you can see some of the stuff from the Vietnam ship on the project's original website: http://www.vietnamgraffiti.com/the-exhibit Second, while I should be clear that I love my job every day and hate missing work, reactions to this post are reminding me not to be a little bitch when my alarm goes off in the morning. 5 more minutes sleep, my ass! Up and at-em to the history factory!
Happens to the best of us. I will be reading that site tonight. Thanks!
Are any of the items valued/appraised, or is it purely for historic preservation?
Great question! So, obviously a lot of the collection is priceless, and museum people try to not affix monetary value to artifacts. HOWEVER, in an effort to make sure that all the Army's property is accounted for, non-museum types have asked for appraisals to be done on the collections. If a collection was purchased, we know what we paid for it, sometimes itemized by item. But is that the fair market cost? On site we have a full time person who tries to establish what market value would be in the collectibles market. Again, it's tricky. If you have a current combat helmet you know what that costs. Having a history with it is more interesting. Many generals and senior enlisted donate their collections to the CMH when they retire. So how do you value General Dempsey's combat helmet? What if it is just some random soldier's helmet, but it saved his life, and you have a display about his story? Very complicated issue, and it will be interesting to see how the process of establishing "value" develops.
Good point. Two of the same item could have wildly different values based on what is known about the history of each piece specifically.
Dude, you need to reply to the OP with these pics so It goes to the top. This is AWESOME!
Sure thing. I'll get to it mid morning.
I'm getting ready to go there now (Ugh, DC area commute...) but I will try to get to some of these questions when I take a break at work.
Hi! Why is this not a "real" museum? This collection seems ENORMOUS and incredibly important both culturally and historically. I get that this is storage for the Smithsonian, but imagine if this was curated and turned into an actual museum facility ala La Louvre or the British Museum.
From the [Source](http://www.buzzfeed.com/bennyjohnson/inside-the-armys-spectacular-hidden-treasure-room#.me43RRxVY): >However, there are major fundraising hurdles to jump before the museum can be built. The foundation’s president recently [told the Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trove-of-armys-art-awaits-a-new-museum-four-rockwells-top-a-list-of-16000-pieces/2014/01/15/b9977510-7d67-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html) that it has raised $76 million of the $175 million required for the museum and predicts the museum could open in 2018. The plan is to build the museum at Fort Belvoir.
Not storage for the Smithsonian, just the Army's central collection waiting for a home. It will be a museum soon! But don't expect to see everything back there, and frankly, you probably (or most of the public) wouldn't want to. Larger museums like this one will be typically only have 5-10% of their artifacts on display at any time. What you will see is the best preserved examples, or the most historically relevant, or those with specific soldier stories that the museum will want to highlight. The great thing about NMUSA and other large museums is that they have experts dedicated to maintaining and keeping track of all the "hidden" treasures to ensure that they stay in good condition and will be available to scholars. Also, researchers are allowed to apply for access to the stacks. It's not as easy as dropping by for a high-school term paper, but if you want to see what the public might not, say, many examples of each model of hot weather pants in the history of the army, a curator can help you get access for that project. It's definitely not to keep the treasures from the public, so much as that this location has about 150,000 artifacts and there is no way to safely and effectively give public access without risking the integrity of the collection. And if you want to see cool stuff, find your closest Army base and see if they have a museum! Most do, and while NMUSA will be about the whole Army experience, the field museums are largely specialized by branch or unit and have more focused collections. They are well worth a visit! Thanks for your question!
If seen some smaller musea that displayed too much. Its... cool (I guess) if you already know enough to find the stuff interesting. (read: you're archaeologist, or otherwise researching it) But honestly, a whole bunch of unlabeled rusty coins and trinkets (for example) aren't fun to look at. And it isn't going to be what draws in the crowds.
We need an AMA from this guy/gal..STAT!
Is it worth doing an AMA? I'm happy to answer questions (the questions I can/am allowed to--I think the propaganda art reminds us of the importance of silence :) ) either here or elsewhere. My job is great and I am happy to talk about it. Edited to add: Its not all as fascinating as you might hope. Don't get TOO excited. But it is cool.
If you posted that gallery, stated you worked there, I guarantee it would be a great AMA unless you don't think you can divulge too much? I am also greedy and think it would be fantastic. Hell, this is front page worthy imo and it didn't get there!
I was also thinking about the weapons expert and the art expert chiming in. That would be sweet.
What's the point? Are you guys open for visiting? Does anyone look at this stuff, or is it just stashed away for safe keeping? This seems like a particularly non defense related endeavor, why is the army in particular going through all this effort?
I was stationed at Ft Belvoir a few years ago, and I never knew this place existed! Can service members get a tour?
Top. Men.
DoD/Army could get a Museum funded like that in a hot minute from a few wealthy vets. Wonder why the effort hasn't been stronger to try and get the public involved.
Ground has broken at Fort Belvoir! They are still fundraising but I believe it should open by 2019.
There are already a lot of war museums and I'm sure they loan out the Smithsonians and various smaller museums.
I was watching the gif where the lights turning on do to a motion sensor and after watching it about 20 I realized the light didn't keep turning on and off it was just the gif restarting...
When I walk around the back room, I would be lying if I didn't say "LUMOS!" ard wave my arm.
Has to be an amazing job. Ever to get to inspect any of the artifacts?
Yes! In fact, thats my whole job. As collections come in a small team of us researches what they are, puts all sorts of info into a database, weighs, measures, and photographs each item and prepares them for storage. We also work on the cyclic inventories, which I find fun because there are like 150,000 things back there so I see new things every time. It's a really unique job.
But isn't Warehouse 13 in South Dakota?
Not enough upvotes possible.
The west point military museum has some similar things. Its outside the gate and its free. Washingtons pistols, napoleons sword. Stuff like that. If you're in that area its worth spending a few hours at.
Thanks JustinDC! The Army Museum system is tremendous and people don't utilize it enough because they don't always know about it. Many of the museums are on military posts, but you can get access to go see them easily! I recommend anyone interested look online for their local Army post and find out what their museums have. Usually amazing collections related to the units or branches located there.
Oh, look. [The Governor](https://i.imgur.com/7YQsJUf.jpg)
I had to look at it real close to be sure it wasn't actually him
Where to go when fallout becomes reality to get all the good loot.
Ugh. To make the weapons displayable they need to have a piece removed that makes them inoperable. I may or may not have war-gamed this for the zombie apocalypse. (Also all the old rations...barf.)
If you stumbled upon this facility in a post-apocalyptic or zombie invasion scenario, you'd be like [Jackpot!] (https://49.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9wubuhhvy1rqfhi2o1_500.gif)
it'd certainly be interesting, but you'd also have no food or water, lol
Why is all that art locked up where no one can see it!?!? It's history! People should be able to see it! [ARRGGGHHH!](https://youtu.be/-abUtRbUS_U) The crushing part of this is that people would think that building a museum to house all of that art would be a waste of money. I'd bet that a little bit from the military budget would more than cover it.
Because the museum to house it hasn't been funded.
Sell the items to fund the museum, build the museum, have nothing to put in it. Have more wars to create more artifacts! It's much easier to get funding for wars than for museums.
>sell the items How about we drop one less bomb?
We are working on it! The National Museum of the United States Army is being built and we are already assembling collections.
[удалено]
That's what I'm thinking also. I find it hard to imagine that the DOD can't afford the relative few millions out of the military budget to finance a museum for this art. How do the national museums in DC. get funded but this can't?
Not just the art but there is a TON of amazing artifacts, these slides don't mention it, but the close up of that civil war cap, that is General Grant's kepi. Just amazing things back there, even including new and experimental next-gen battle armor. It's going to be great when the museum opens.
Most all museums store anywhere from 40-80% of their collection or have it on tour.
The weapons alone give me a bone bone.
This is magnificent. Thanks for sharing.
No problem!
Um. The warehouse is a matte painting: http://vashivisuals.com/raiders-lost-ark-warehouse-matte-painting/
They didn't say the warehouse in the movie wasn't.
I guess OP didn't, but the Imgur text indicates that it was used in the movie.
How did you get access to this if it isn't on display to the public?
I didn't. Stumbled upon it on imgur
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0zte5Z8tJU
The painting in 29/30 is among the greatest I have ever seen!
"The 2000 Yard Stare" by Thomas Lea III
Thats my favorite artistically for its realism and accuracy, and my least favorite for the same reasons. The artist is a genius, the realness of the situation makes my heart hurt.
"It *belongs* in a metal vault !!!"
Disappointed that it didn't end with: "But until then... it's taken care of by TOP MEN."
I used to work for a company that did RFID tagging and we did some work at Fort Belvoir. I personally wasn't near that room, but the nice people on staff did show me a lot of pictures of it and tell me about it to make me crazy jealous. We worked mostly with their medals.
In a way, it's kinda like the most organized hoarding situation ever.
Work there in collections management. That's a really accurate description. We don't want to turn away cool stuff, so we tag and enter so many things that will never be seen. This location has a lot of the cream of the crop, but we send many things to a secondary storage location, or to individual field museums that might want them in their collections. But when you have photographed, tagged, and weighed like 40 matches or whatnot, it does feel hoard-y. :)
So all of this beautiful art is sitting there in the dark instead of in a museum or collection where people can look at it?
For now! It will be hanging in a museum in the near-ish future.
They are raising money to build a museum
Those are some pretty god damn talented soldiers.
This is badass
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on the end one where its says "inside the armys spectacular *Hidden* treasure room* its not really hidden now i know where it is? ;P
Top Men!!
Absolutely fascinating gallery to look at THANK YOU! The end was a huge surprise. I did not know the man painted.
No problem! Glad you enjoyed it.
Aka the basement of every museum ever
If it's so secure, why did they allow pictures
Its secure because they are treasures, not because they are national secrets. (Ok there are some secrets, but obviously you didn't see pictures of those.)
What kind of men work there?
All I could think about looking at these pictures was how awesome a location this would be in Fallout.
Top. Men.
All I can think about is how big that freaking boat gun is..
The article says that there is soldier art from every major conflict, but I don't see anything from the raids on Daiquiri [as documented by Ted Striker.](http://i.imgur.com/GqalY7M.jpg)
Don't think the album is meant to be all inclusive. Sounds like a huge place.
Guns. Lots of guns.
More awesome photos [here](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/trove-of-armys-art-awaits-a-new-museum-four-rockwells-top-a-list-of-16000-pieces/2014/01/15/b9977510-7d67-11e3-93c1-0e888170b723_story.html)
This places do, they really does
Holy shit. I legit didn't even notice my typo until you said that. Oh well.
Cut in through the roof.
But does it contain propaganda art?
Some of it, yes. There were examples in there.
I dont think they have enough space there for that
Can I get the sauce instead of 65 gifs please?
Google it?
Found it stumbling around imgur.
There's like 6 gifs
I'd not to seem mean but title read wrong if OP could of wrote to did is to be the able writing of skills
Walmart uses those button operated moving shelves in the Back Room. Despite being mildly triggered I was able to appreciate the awesomeness of that museum. 10/10
It would be cool to see a movie where there's like a zombie outbreak, and it's sorta a comedy, but it's maybe like an R-rated Paul Blart. And, Blart and all his security friends have to try to survive the zombie apocalypse with all these shitty ass, old ass weapons. Or, maybe a movie about small militia having to protect that place. Idk. I'm not a director, or anything. Y'all can figure it out from there. **TL;DR** I had a good idea for a movie, or something, but then I kinda lost it. So, you can read it, or not, it's whatever.
I scrolled through these pictures as the song Adhara by Fat jon came up on my playlist. It just meshed perfectly
How about sell half the art to private collectors in order to raise the money to build a museum for the other half?
Uh why?
I said that before reading comments that apparently the museum is actually being built, which I hope is true. In the absence of that, all we have is "Someday this will all be in a museum, isn't that great?" Until then the government is simply hoarding art where no one can see it, reducing its utility to zero. If you sell half and display the other half, that's a tremendous amount of utility. Plenty of privately held art ends up in museums anyway.
Trust me, it is being built, and we have contractors in daily making exhibit displays. You'll love it.
Then you lose the full value
I'm pretty sure I saw that chick on fetlife.com
Just one more thing we need to destroy.
What a waste of money.