The National VA History Center has a permanent home
In May, the National VA History Center moved from its temporary home in Building 401 to our long-term home for collections in Building 126. Moving on the Dayton campus required logistics and planning. We were moving artifacts and historical records, so we couldn’t use a company like Two Guys and a Truck. The pre-move planning was intense and stressful, but now the collections are in a better home.
The most exciting part of the move is that we now have a loading dock and freight elevator. That may not seem significant, but imagine trying to get a half-ton printing press upstairs and through a narrow door. Imagine the Friends cast in the episode when they are trying to get the sofa up a flight of stairs while Ross keeps yelling “PIVAT” repeatedly. Our scenario includes yelling directions on how to maneuver a telescopic forklift. Robyn calls it a scorpion lift—yeah, she’s right; it does look like a scorpion.
Building 126 was built to serve as a warehouse, providing better space for preserving the artifacts and archival collections. Now, we can store large pieces of equipment, showing the evolution of health care. It also provides better flexibility for making those collections accessible to you when we open to the public.
We recently installed a new art rack to store art in the collection properly. Emma Miller’s portrait was the first piece installed. She was the Matron at the home and served in various important roles. Miller’s Cottage bears her name due to her contributions to the home. She also received the honor of being the first woman buried in the Dayton National Cemetery.
We have also started reorganizing the collection, and the Collections Committee is actively considering objects for inclusion in the permanent collection. It is a long process, and we anticipate completing it by the end of the fiscal year (September 2024). We are also entering objects into the collections management system, making everything easier to track and inventory. We plan to start a project in 2024 to add compact shelving, providing additional space to expand the archival collection.
In October, we installed a temporary exhibit in Building 126 to highlight medical equipment the Denver Acquisition Center shipped directly to veterans. The exhibit includes a variety of objects used to assist veterans with their health. We will rotate this case every six months to share objects in the collection. There will also be an online exhibit of the same objects.
Robyn set up her lab on the third floor for processing, preserving, and digitizing archival material. Just like Batman, she has some wonderful toys. These include a humidification chamber for rehydrating and removing creases and wrinkles from paper. She also has equipment to digitize a variety of materials. The crown jewel is the DC Titan. It can digitize large flat documents and books and even create 3D renderings of objects. It also uses unique cameras and software to look at the layers of a document, painting, or object to see if previous writing, painting, or inscription exists.
By Kurt Senn
Curator, National VA History Center
Share this story
Related Stories
Curator Corner
It isn’t often that researchers who work with historic objects get to know the people who used those objects every day. Sometimes we get lucky and can link artifacts to certain facilities or buildings on a historic VA campus, but usually we must look for more hidden lines of evidence to figure out how an object fits into the history of those who care for our Nation’s Veterans. As nice as it would be, it isn’t as if many artifacts turn up labeled with their owners’ names! So, imagine my surprise when my teammates and I began sweeping Putnam Library for any historic objects left behind before the building is closed for renovation, and found just that.
As far as artifacts go, its story seemed simple: book presses like these would have been used to help maintain and repair the thousands of books read in Putnam Library ever since it first opened in 1879. The day that I first got up close and personal with the press, I noticed a woman’s name scraped into the black paint of the platen (the technical name for the big metal plate used to hold books together). It said “Helen Carson” in big, legible letters. As we carefully transported the heavy press down the many stairs inside Putnam Library, I looked at the name and thought “Hm…wonder who that is?”.
Curator Corner
Mary Lowell Putnam is tied to VA history by her generous donation of a large volume of books to the Central Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. These books, meant to honor her son who died in the Civil War, helped foster reading advancement for the Veterans who lived there after the war and into the 20th Century. However, her life was more than just a moment in time donating books. It included a life-long study of languages and a very sharp opinion that she shared in writing throughout her life.
Curator Corner
Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln are among the most easily recognizable figures in American history. Their faces are symbols of wisdom, strength, and leadership. Even today, polls consistently rank them as the greatest or most successful presidents. With that in mind, it is unsurprising that the appreciation of these legendary statesmen has deep historic roots. In honor of their birthdays, our team at the National VA History Center explored those roots through this pair of plaster busts.