West Point Museum

Established in 1854. The mission of the West Point Museum is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret historically significant artifacts pertaining to the United States Military Academy, United States Army and the Profession of Arms. In addition to the main museum building in Olmsted Hall, the Museum also maintains part of its collection on dis... play on West Point with the cannon collection on Trophy Point, the superintendant portraits in the Cadet Mess and artwork in many of the academic and administrative buildings as well as administering historic Fort Putnam. The Museum has six galleries covering the History of Warfare, West Point history, and the History of the US Army in war and peace. It has one of the largest small arms collections in the country on display and a large weaons gallery with rare vehicles and artillery displayed. The West Point Museum was first established as a collection for the education of cadets. In 1843, a letter requesting an artifact for the Musee de Artillerie at West Point was sent to LT James Duncan. This letter is the earliest evidence of a museum operating at West Point. In 1854, under Superintendent Robert E. Lee, the Ordnance Museum, as it was known then, opened to the general public. Until the end of World War II the Army only had one museum, The West Point Museum. Interesting artifacts and trophies of war from the Civil War through World War I were sent directly to the West Point Museum. Now with a mission to educate the Corps of Cadets, the West Point Museum is unique among US Army museums in that it collects artifacts from the entire history of human conflict, from stone age axes and spear points, to modern assualt rifles.Read More