Gettysburg park gets 3,000 artifacts from Civil War museum

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(05-09-2016 06:14 AM)Jim Garrett Wrote:  The Gettysburg National Military Parks facility is huge and has a full basement underneath. I believe their collection stays at Gettysburg. The storage facilty there is state of the art and there is no shortage of space. They also have space for special exhibits and they will rotate many items through their exhibit areas.

That's great to know, Jim. I remember wandering through the dark enclosures of an NPS facility in Harpers Ferry back in the late-1970s to find Mary Surratt's desk that was in storage (and poor condition) there. A beneficial swap brought it to us and a wonderful restorer, and it has been in Mrs. Surratt's parlor ever since.

I also remember the storage of many of Oldroyd's collection in the attic of Union Station, where the roof leaked. Then, a new facility in Greenbelt, Maryland, was built and then a current one in Landover, Maryland. I sometimes felt like things were saved in the knick of time.

About 25 years ago, several of our park historians and I had the chance to tour the Smithsonian's storage facility in Suitland. What a state of the art, huge, building. Next door to it was the Garber Facility, where historic airplanes were stored and worked on. We actually got nose-to-nose with the Enola Gay -- which now resides in a modern facility near Dulles Airport in Virginia.