National VA History Center

Fire safety may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about Veteran care, but during the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers period (1865-1930), it was a critical concern. With campuses largely constructed of wooden-frame buildings, housing thousands of often elderly and disabled Veterans, the risk of fire was ever-present. Leaders of the National Homes were keenly aware of this danger, as reflected in their efforts to establish early fire safety protocols.

Throughout the late 19th century, the National Homes developed fire departments that were often staffed by Veteran residents, and the Central Branch in Dayton even had a steam fire engine. Maps from this era, produced by the Sanborn Map Company for fire insurance purposes, reveal detailed records of fire prevention equipment and strategies used at the Homes. These records provide us with a rare glimpse into evolving fire safety measures in the late 19th and early 20th Century, all part of a collective effort to ensure the well-being of the many Veterans living there.

It all started when Bill DeFries, President of the American Veteran’s Heritage Center (AVHC), lost his wedding ring at the construction site for the statue of Abraham Lincoln on the campus of the Dayton VA Medical Center. He requested the assistance of the Dayton Diggers, a local nonprofit whose mission is to “research, recover, and document history” through their use of metal detector survey. The machines used by Dayton Diggers emit an electromagnetic field that responds to metal objects hidden below the ground surface. When they pinpoint a target, they use minimally invasive excavation to remove the object from the soil. In addition to the misplaced wedding band, their team uncovered historic artifacts that can be used to understand the history of Veteran care here in Dayton.

It started with a medal. Later on a button. Then, walks along the trails at the Dayton VA Medical Center and to the National Cemetery. Finally, it ended at a tall monument at the intersection of Monument Avenue and Main Street in downtown Dayton.

Well, it didn't quite end there. This was just the beginning in learning about the soldier, whose likeness sits atop the Montgomery County Soldier's Monument and stands watch at the main entrance to the Dayton VA Medical Center.

This is the story of a curator diving into the story of George Fair, Dayton's Veteran model and a 140 year journey.

Have you ever wondered where do historians, curators and archivists find all the information that goes into museum exhibits, books, and documentaries? One place is government reports. The National VA History Center preserves the history of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers as a predecessor of the modern VA. We do a lot of research related to objects from the Home and we write about what life was like for those who lived and worked there. The Annual Reports that were provided to congress are a great place to look for this information. These reports provide a great deal of information, and you don’t have to travel to an archive, can do it from your computer. See the link at the bottom to access the reports.

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?”.

In 2024, the National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, hosted by the Grand Junction VA Medical Center and co-presented with Disabled American Veterans, will donate adaptive ski equipment from the early years of the event to the National VA History Center in Dayton, Ohio. The clinic started i​n 1986 when VA established it and then held the the inaugural event at Powderhorn the following year. The clinic welcomed approximately 90 Veterans from 27 states, bolstered by a volunteer staff of about 20. Despite skepticism from many health professionals of the era, the clinic underscored the importance of physical activity for persons of all abilities.​

This exhibit includes multiple items that were used at the early clinics, which are finding a new home at the National VA History Center.

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.

While Veterans engaged in activities and learned trades at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) since its inception after the Civil War, formal occupational therapy programs became components of rehabilitative care for Veterans beginning in the 20th century. This exhibit explores what type of activities were used to treat Veterans by showing items from the collection at the National VA History Center.

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.

After the flood from a burst pipe in the winter of 2023 damaged the temporary storage site for the National VA History Center collection and archives, the move to a new home was ramped up. Conducted earlier than expected, moving everything took massive amounts of coordination and elbow grease to get thousands of pounds of artifacts, equipment, and historical records to Building 126 on the Dayton, Ohio VA campus.

What do you do when a water line bursts in a building holding hundreds of historic artifacts and thousands of archive materials? You react quickly. When cold weather hit Dayton, Ohio in 2022, the building holding the VA History collection suffered a burst water pipe which could endanger everything. Our National VA History team responded and enacted a plan with Dayton VAMC leadership on how to save the items that are critical to telling VA's Story.

What's in the box? - For this holiday and Christmas season, the curatorial staff at the National VA History Center found an item from the Mountain Home VA that involves a trade that is rarely used today: letterpress printing.

Phones and laptops make it easy to type and design cards that can be printed in mere moments. But in the past, printing a unique Christmas card, for example, would have required specialized training and skill to create a template. Which, is exactly what our staff at the NVAHC found in the latest box opened in the collection.

Happy Holidays!