National VA History Center

What's in the box? - In the first of many, our National VA History Center is on the search to discover unique collection items one box at a time. On a dark and stormy night (not really), deep in the confines of the quiet halls of the warehouse (actually in a well lit office), our curator staff opened a box to find a mysterious and lonely head, with no body. It was the Curse of the Mannequin Head!

Curator Corner blog - A unique item in the National VA History Center collection, a USB flash drive that looks like a card. In an effort to get assistance to as many Veterans in Alaska, these cards were sent out with preloaded documents to help apply for benefits.

Curator Corner blog - The long and fulfilling process to create the critical planning document for the National VA History Center is done. The Interpretive Master Plan details the themes and stories that will be told within the future NVAHC.

Curator Corner blog - The National VA History Center (NVAHC) is relatively new in tenure, but has already started bringing on interns as they embark on careers as history professionals.

Curator Corner blog - There’s a 3D tumor out there and the VA History Center wants it. The quest for contemporary artifacts is a constant challenge. It’s not simply a question of what to collect, but when, where, and how to collect items of potential value to our collection. In this case, the hunt is on for an item used in an innovative collaboration at the Seattle VA Medical Center to safely remove a tumor from a Veteran’s kidney.

Curator Corner blog - A key first step in developing a new museum is an Interpretive Master Plan (IMP) and a core project team to create it. On June 9, 2021, a group of VA employees met with the staff from the Smithsonian Exhibits program to begin forming the team that would begin planning for a future VA museum.

Curator Corner blog - A VA employee found a historic blanket at a flea market. She then learned about the National VA History Center and made a call. Soon it was a donation item to the collection. Check out this courtesy story from the Eastern Oklahoma VA Health Care System.

Curator Corner blog - Happy Halloween! As a tribute to all the dolls that make our hearts race, this edition of the Curator Corner features procedure dolls from the recently acquired group of early 20th century artifacts from Mountain Home VA Medical Center in eastern Tennessee. Some of these dolls are super creepy.

The National VA History Center is progressing in the early stages at the Dayton VA Medical Center campus - but artifact collection to fill its rooms has successfully been underway. Less than a year after celebrating the Center's establishment, VAs History and Archive team transferred the first artifact into its collection - a 19th Century Bible from the campus chapel.

As the reality of a global pandemic set in, historians, archivists, and museum professionals recognized the need to collect artifacts telling the story of VA's efforts to care for Veterans against COVID-19. Part of that collection fell to the newly established VA History Office which led to its first agency-wide historical preservation effort.

How does VA do it? Many people interested in VA's archives have asked excellent questions about archiving and what that team does, how will it expand, and what can be accomplished. As those answers have come clearer at the National VA History Center, Archives Month seemed to be an excellent time to discuss them.

Curator Corner blog - So the VA is getting its own museum? That's pretty cool! But what goes into finding the right pieces to display from the collection? Or how to even start a museum from scratch? The National VA History Center's curator Kurt Senn tells you how. He's new on the gig, but he's experienced, so he knows a thing or two about this. Take a peek at what he's doing now to start this VA museum!