Display of Arms: A Roundtable Discussion about the Public Exhibition of Firearms and Their History

• Published in: Technology and culture Vol. 59; no. 3; pp. 719 - 769
• Main Authors: Tucker, Jennifer, Adamson, Glenn, Ferguson, Jonathan S, Garrett-Davis, Josh, Goldstein, Erik, Hlebinsky, Ashley, Miller, David D, Slavick, Susanne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Johns Hopkins University Press 01.07.2018
• Subjects: Activist art; American history; Armed forces; Art exhibits; Art galleries & museums; Cultural heritage; Curators; Firearms; History; Library collections; Manufacturers; Military bases; Mixed media; Museum exhibits; Politeness; Small arms; Technological change; United States > US; Connecticut
• ISSN: 0040-165X; 1097-3729; 1097-3729
• DOI: 10.1353/tech.2018.0064

In this roundtable moderated by historian of technology Jennifer Tucker, museum and art exhibition curators reflect on the meanings, significance, and practices of gun history and heritage. According to Alex Mackenzie, senior curator at the Armory, Col. James G. Benton established the museum about 1866 and opened it to the public in 1871. (Source: Image courtesy National Park Service, Springfield Armory National Historic Site.) Ordnance Corps also had a small museum one block from the White House from the 1870s until 1903. Among the invited participants for the workshop, which was chaired by Margaret Vining, curator of armed forces history at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, were curators representing varied collecting and research missions, from national collections of firearms (such as the Smithsonian Museum's Firearms Collection) to nongovernmental repositories (such as the Cody Firearms Collection and the three National Rifle Association museums), museums of art and design, museums of western history and popular culture (such as the Autry Museum of the American West), and armories of military weaponry (such as the Royal Armouries in Leeds, UK).