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Neil_Baumgardner

I finally got down to Quantico to see the King armored car that is now on display in the new Global Expeditionary Force Gallery in the National Museum of the US Marine Corps.

smg.photobucket.com/al...2_1729.jpg

It still rankles me that the new museum has just a small fraction of what was on display the old Air-Ground museum, but I have to admit the King armored car looks a lot better than it did back then.

www.wwi-models.org/Pho...index.html

Enjoy,

Neil

Joe_D

That's the big dilemma,

Displaying only what can be maintained and viewed properly based on indoor space or put everything on display for the public and sacrifice preservation by exposing them to the elements. Breaks my heart to see some very unique equipment rust away but am glad I could access it.

Given a choice I'd rather see it preserved properly, even if it limits my ability to view it. In my experience (US), those wanting to see the stored stuff are usually much more dedicated AFV enthusiasts who can usually gain access with prior coordination and sometimes a donation, while to the general public tanks are tanks and missing out on certain models would be a moot point.

Neil_Baumgardner

IMO, there's a middle path - particularly for a museum collection as small (relatively) as Quantico's. Sure, have the nicely restored/refurbed artifacts in the main galleries where they can tell part of a story. But also have a gallery or two of vehicles/aircraft that will eventually be restored. All you're doing by keeping them in storage is hiding them from the public, they could just as easily be "stored" in a viewable area. And they dont have to be exposed to the elements either. It's more a space issue than anything else.

The new National Museum of the US Marine Corps was built to have great interactive displays, but not so much to display all of the items they have (although its always unclear how much unused space they have - when you compare the exterior to the interior - it seems like there may be a lot of currently unused internal space).

Neil

Dontos

Neil

Storing 'as is' collection pieces (ie aircraft/armored vehicles) in a facility which provides protection from the elements AND maintained for public access tends to stretch budgets of 'public' institutions far beyond 'the bottom line'.

As unfortunate as this sounds, there seems to be little interest of pouring taxpayer funds into historic preservation or restorations.

Digital interactive displays are becoming the focus over restored &/or preserved examples of History. Museums are leaning to more Disney Land draws, instead of Historical artifact displays.

Only the Historical purists tend to be drawn to 'the real deal' instead of some 'gee-whiz' digital interactive display.

Meanwhile the decay of large scale artifacts continue, soon to be too far gone to save, only to be scrapped for razor blades.....

Just my slightly bitter, humble opinion....
Regards
Don

blackdog · ***Power User*** Offline Joined: Jan 11, 2010 Posts: 58

From what I've heard, there is a MILCOM project in the works to build a new building in which all of the "other" Quantico artifacts are to be stored. As a part of this, it sounded as though there was some kind of a plan to allow the public to view the stored vehicles (through glass or something). Supposedly there are other plans (non-museum) for the buildings the artifacts are currently stored in. But don't quote me on any of that.

Brian

vagabond

We stopped by the USMC Museum the other day and checked out the new exhibits (Thanks for the heads up, Neil!)

I took these photos of the King Armored Car.

Enjoy!

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