The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center in Saratoga Springs opened to the public on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
The museum was closed during September for the construction of a new entryway. The museum’s new glass doors will allow easier access to the facility.
Several new items were put on exhibit while the museum was closed. A British naval swivel gun from the 1700s found off of Valcour Island in Lake Champlain has been added to the Revolutionary War gallery. The New Acquisitions Gallery has several recent additions, including a World War I era YWCA worker’s uniform, a painted tin insignia of the 247th Communication Squadron, New York Air National Guard, circa 1955, two original Thomas Nast military cartoons (1868), a collection of Civil War Union and Confederate belt plates and a uniform jacket and a Protestant chaplain’s kit of a New York chaplain who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The museum houses more than 10,000 artifacts dating from the Revolutionary War to the Global War of Terror that relate to New York state’s military forces, the state’s military history and the contributions of New York’s veterans. The artifacts include uniforms, weapons, artillery pieces and art.
The museum also owns the largest collection of state battle flags in the country and the largest collection of Civil War flags in the world.
The library and archive holdings in the Veterans Research Center include a 2,000-volume library of military and New York history, more than 6,000 photographs, unit history files, broadsides, scrapbooks, letters and maps.
Highlights of the library and archives material include more than 2,300 Civil War photographs, a collection of Civil War era newspaper clippings arranged by New York units, and New York National Guard service cards and service records dating from the 1880s to 1965.
The Veteran Research Center operates and archives the New York State Veteran Oral History Program and the Veteran Questionnaire Program. The Oral History Program actively collects interviews of state veterans from all eras. The largest part of this collection is of World War II veteran interviews. The Veteran Questionnaire Program, similar to the Oral History Program, solicits and preserves the written and photographic record of the state’s veterans.
The museum’s hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.
The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center is at 61 Lake Ave., Saratoga Springs. The phone number is 581-5100.`