Museum Guns 'negelected'

[Bill Grist]

Here is one reason for not donating anything to a museum.. I call in 'CAPTIVITY' all guns in a Museum...BILL

Tulsa World: State sued over museum

[Johnnie]

The various branches of the Federal government are just as bad. The U.S. Army Infantry museum has one of the largest collections of military small arms of WW2, including a grouping of the largest known collection of Japanese WW2 small arms known to exist.
You will never see them.
Lack of space means they will be collecting dust in storage for ever.
Tragic,

Johnnie

[Bill Grist]

The various branches of the Federal government are just as bad. The U.S. Army Infantry museum has one of the largest collections of military small arms of WW2, including a grouping of the largest known collection of Japanese WW2 small arms known to exist.
You will never see them.
Lack of space means they will be collecting dust in storage for ever.
Tragic,

Johnnie

Johnny, I saw that collection at Fort Benning in 1968, while going through jump school...BILL

[Johnnie]

In 70 I was instructing at Infantry Hall waiting for orders to Nam. The "Museum" was housed in the old wooden hospital, and actually closed. I wandered in one day and a WAC Lt. whos job was sort of caeretaker let me look around. Evidently they didn't really have any idea of how much stuff they had in storage. I volunteered to catalogue for them and spent two happy months having fun with just about anything that could launch a bullet from both word wars.
I especially remember one crated, mint Lewis! They had stuff stored in the basements of barracks too. I remember particularly a French 81mm mortar that was waffenampted.
Ahhh, those were happy days!
Would sure like to see all of that stuff on display and cared for.

Johnnie

[Dimas]

The same story with the gifts to Estonian musueum. As the museum director says that this guns etc will be awailable for visitors eyes only in 2014 year
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/germa...stonian+museum
But now they are being keept in the open air in military stocks ( In Finnland they was preserved in the dry stocks)....

[Tom2]

Well the NMUSAF(Air Force Museum) in Dayton Ohio has Albert Speer's personal Walther PPk on display. Seemed to be taken care of last time I saw it. Was in it's own sealed case. At some point I would post it if I could get someone up here to photo it for me.

[Johnnie]

Hi Tom. I lived in Fairborn next to WPAF about four years ago. The Air Force museum is simply fantastic. I didn't see this pistol then, but I will be visiting my kids there early next year and will try to photo it and will post then if successful. Thanks for the info.

Johnnie

[Maxrobot]

Another disturbing aspect of donating guns to a museum is that they may decide that some or all of your gifts do not fit in with their collection. They will then sell them off and use the money for other purposes. I was on the staff of a Colonel who told me that his best specimens in his personal gun collection came from museums.
There is also the story of the old lady who donated her husbands collection to a museum. A few years later she visited the museum and asked why none of her husbands stuff was on display. Told that it was all sold or auctioned off she was angry because if she knew it would be disposed of that way, she would have sold the stuff off herself. she only donated the stuff so that her husbands memory would be preserved.

[2002FORD]

I live in fairborn. I will try and get over there in the next week or two. If its still on display i get a photo.

[jeeplake]

when i did my jump course in76 in canada,the airborne museum had a collection of unreal weapons,they had confiscated several handmade stens,thompsons from theyre
service on cyprus.they looked crude but apparently functioned quite well.