United States National Museum Section of Historical Relics Search this
United States National Museum Division of History Search this
United States National Museum Section of Naval History Search this
United States National Museum Division of Naval History Search this
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Division of Armed Forces History Search this
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Department of Armed Forces History Search this
Museum of History and Technologu (U.S.) Department of National and Military History Search this
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Division of Political History Search this
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Division of Historic Archeology Search this
Museum of History and Technology (U.S.) Department of National History Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.) Department of the History of Science and Technology Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.) Division of Naval History Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.) Division of Armed Forces History Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.) Division of Military History Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.) Division of Political History Search this
Type:
Mixed archival materials
Place:
United States
Date:
1968
1947-
Category:
Agency History
Notes:
This is an agency history. It does not describe actual records. The Smithsonian Institution Archives uses these histories as brief accounts of the origin, development, and functions of an office or administrative unit to set that unit in its historical context. To find information on record holdings, please double-click the highlighted field "Creator/Author", which will open on a brief view of relevant records.
Guide to the Smithsonian Archives
National Museum of American History website, https://americanhistory.si.edu, 2000-2022
National Museum of American History, Departments, Division of Political and Military History, https://americanhistory.si.edu/about/departments/political-and-military-history, accessed August 24, 2021.
Beginning in the 1880s, military collections were curated by the Section of Historical Relics, United States National Museum. In 1904 a Division of History was created and had custody of military collections as well as other historical collections. In 1935, the Division established the Military and Naval Collection, and, in 1947, it formed a Section of Military History. The Section was given Divisional status in 1948 and was placed under the direction of Mendel Peterson. In 1957 when the Museum of History and Technology was created, Military History was incorporated, together with a Division of Naval History, into a Department of Armed Forces History. In 1969 a Department of National and Military History was formed, embracing the Division of Political History and the Division of Historic Archeology as well as the military and naval history. A 1978 reorganization saw the creation of a Department of National History, of which Military History remained a part.
In 1980 the National Museum of American History was created, and at this time Military History was assigned to the Department of the History of Science and Technology. In 1984 the Division was merged with the Division of Naval History to form a Division of Armed Forces History. In 2018 the division combined with the Division of Political History to become the Division of Political and Military History.
The Division of Political and Military History collects, studies, and cares for the material culture of American democracy and the nation's military. The political history staff studies the political principles, practices, and institutions that have shaped the political culture of the United States. It focuses on political relationships between groups and interests; institutions of government; and changing practices of representative and participatory democracy in a nation of diverse people and cultures. Staff are especially interested in changing definitions of citizenship and political rights; contested political ideologies; governmental policies and their impact; the role of political parties; elections; protest and reform movements; varied and changing expressions of nationalism; predictive opinion and media effects; and traditional political techniques and forms of communication. The military history staff collects the material culture of the American military experience from the French and Indian War to the contemporary War on Terrorism. Notable elements of the museum's military collections include the Japanese American internment experience during World War II, and the September 11 attacks on the United States, women's military history, and firearms technology. Collectively, staff uses the materials and interprets these in relation to the country's social and cultural history. The division's collections, exhibitions, public programs, research, and writing put America's armed forces into historical context.
Curatorial staff of the Division included Mendel Peterson, Head Curator, 1957-1964, and Chairman, 1964-1969; Craddock R. Goins, Jr., Curator, 1959-1998, Edgar M. Howell, 1969-1973, Donald E. Kloster, Associate Curator, 1973-1984; Frank A. Blazich, Jr., 2017- ; Kenneth Cohen, 2018- ; Kathleen Golden, 2005- ; Lisa Kathleen Graddy, 2004- ; Jon Grinspan, 2016- ; Claire Jerry, 2017- ; Modupe Labode, 2020- ; Verónica A. Méndez, 2021- ; David D. Miller, 2005- ; Harry Rand, 2005- ; Manuel R. Rodriguez, 2019- ; Barbara Clark Smith, 2000- ; Miranda Summers Lowe, 2019- ; Tsione Wolde-Michael, 2020- ; and Cedric S. Yeh, 2005- . Chairs of the division include Jennifer Locke Jones, 2006-2017; Nancy Bercaw, 2018-2021; and Bonnie Campbell Lilienfeld, Acting Chair, 2022- .
For a history of the larger creating unit, refer to "Forms part of" above.
Repository Loc.:
Smithsonian Institution Archives, Capital Gallery, Suite 3000, MRC 507; 600 Maryland Avenue, SW; Washington, DC 20024-2520
