U.S. Army Ordnance Museum - Aberdeen, Maryland

- photos taken month year, TMC.

Historically, the Ordnance Museum traces its origin back to the Calibre Board which was convened in France on 11 December 1918, under BG Westervelt. The mission of the Calibre Board, or Westervelt Board as it is sometimes known, was to evaluate the lessons learned in World War I in regard to the use of artillery and to make recommendations concerning future policies pertaining to its development by the U.S. Army.

In the performance of its work, the Calibre Board gathered all kinds of artillery equipment and subjected these items to a tactical evaluation. However, in order to obtain a technical evaluation the equipment was shipped to Aberdeen Proving Ground for careful scrutinizing by weapons engineers.

After the Calibre Board submitted its report, the Ordnance Department established an office known as the Technical Staff, to implement its recommendations. In order to stay abreast of all Ordnance developments, the Technical Staff organized a repository at Aberdeen Proving Ground to store and catalogue the various equipment being acquired from France and other sources. As the collection grew, steps were taken to place it in a large shop building at Aberdeen. Building 314 became the Museum's home for the next 41 years.

On his own initiative, Major Marsh took the policy decision of expanding the Museum's collection from purely artillery equipment to include small arms, military vehicles, aircraft bombs, fire control equipment and armored fighting vehicles. Between the years 1925 and 1939, the collection continued to grow at a moderate pace as new items of equipment were tested at Aberdeen and later transferred to the Museum.

In 1940, when the limited National Emergency was declared and the Armed Forces were rapidly expanded, the Museum building had to be remodeled for classroom use and the collection was stored out of doors, where they quickly deteriorated. In 1942 most of these items were scrapped.

In September 1942 a Foreign Material Section was established at Aberdeen to study and report on foreign equipment. During the war years enormous amounts of foreign equipment was forwarded to Aberdeen for evaluation. Later, this equipment became the nucleus for the current collection. Within a year after the termination of hostilities in 1945, the Foreign Material Branch was disestablished, however the Museum section survived and became known as the Aberdeen Proving Ground Museum

In the years between 1945 and 1950, important work was done by the Museum in the area of cataloguing Ordnance equipment. In addition, a number of impressive manuscripts were published. Notable among these were the reports prepared by Mr. Karl Kempf on the subject of Russian equipment. Mr. Kempf, who later served as curator during the years 1967-1971, was fluent in the German language and used captured German reports to prepare in-depth studies on Russian equipment. In 1950, Kempf's work became invaluable when U.S. forces in Korea were called upon to confront an enemy equipped by the Soviet Union. exhibit activities continued and each year more visitors came to Aberdeen as its reputation became better known.

In 1967, as the buildup of U.S. forces for the commitment in Southeast Asia advanced at an alarming rate, facilities to house important Army agencies again became acutely short. As a result, the Museum's home, Building 314, once again had to be remodeled for subsequent use as a headquarters for the Army's Test and Evaluation Command. At that time, since it appeared that the Army might be forced to liquidate the collection in order to avoid the cost of maintaining it, a group of local citizens formed a tax-free foundation for the purpose of building and donating a new home for the Museum.

Since 1973, when the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum "reopened" to the public, the Museum staff, in cooperation with other elements of the Ordnance Center and School, has continued to prepare and present new displays. These efforts have resulted in fabrication of meaningful and educational displays that illustrate the development evolution of Ordnance material. In addition to providing instruction to Army personnel, it is estimated in excess of 200,000 visitors arrive each year.

-from the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum Foundation website.

-page last updated September 2006, TMC.