Army Chemical Review presents professional information about Chemical Corps functions related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, smoke, flame, and civil support operations.
Issue link: https://chemical.epubxp.com/i/759309
Winter 2016
49
following year, totaling more than 9,000 square feet. The
Regimental Gift Shop, first established at Fort McClellan
in 1985, was operated by the Chemical Corps Regimental
Association (which itself was first formed as the Chemical
Corps Museum Foundation) as the museum's nonappropri-
ated funding entity and soon after began conducting sales in
support of CBRN Soldiers and their Families.
Visitors to the gallery follow a chronological path through
immersion exhibits, taking them from the creation of the
Chemical Corps in 1918 to present day. Artifacts, photo-
graphs, and interpretive text, combined with audio and visu-
al programs, provide an education experience for its visitors,
which average 50,000 Soldiers and civilians annually. The
museum is fully integrated into the training program for
CBRN Soldiers at Fort Leonard Wood. The museum is also
used as a classroom for the historical study of CBRN war-
fare by Service members of other branches who are training
on Fort Leonard Wood.
Today, the U.S Army Chemical Corps Museum houses
and exhibits nearly 7,000 objects from our historic past. The
museum is open to the public from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on
weekdays and from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Saturdays;
it is closed on Sundays and federal holidays. The museum
performs three missions: to serve as a classroom for the ed-
ucation of Dragon Soldiers on the heritage and traditions
of the Chemical Corps; to function as the materiel culture
depository for the Chemical Corps, retaining key items of
Branch-specific technology for future research and develop-
ment; and to serve as a conduit of education and information
between the Army, specifically the Chemical Corps, and the
American public.
Based on lessons learned from mistakes of the past, Army
Regulation 870-20, and Historical Artifacts, was
first introduced in 1976. It outlines the functions of Army
museums and the programs of conservation, preservation,
and accountability required by federal statutes. It serves as
the guiding regulation for the management of the Chemical
Corps Museum and ensures that the tragic loss of irreplace-
able artifacts that occurred through mismanagement and
neglect in the 1970s will not be repeated.
17
The year 2018 will mark not only the 100th Anniversary
of the Chemical Corps, but also herald the centennial of the
museum. In addition, it will signify the beginning of its mis-
sion of collecting, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting
artifacts for the Corps' next 100 years.
Endnotes:
1
"Report of the Director of Chemical Warfare Service, 1919,"
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1920.
2
The present museum retains a listing, dated 10 July 1919,
of 409 objects from the "Museum of Gas Masks and Protective
Equipment" readied for shipment in three crates to Edgewood
Arsenal.
3
"Report of the Director of Chemical Warfare Service, 1920,"
Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C., 1921.
4
Ibid.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Laurence M. Phelps, "A History of the Chemical Corps Mu-
seum Located at the Army Chemical Center, Edgewood, Mary-
land," memorandum, undated, circa 1953.
8
Ibid.
9
Zachary Jaquett, "ACC's Chemical Corps Museum Displays
Large, Varied Collection," Forces Journal,
January 1953.
10
Letter from Brigadier General Watson, Commandant, to
the Chief of Military History, "Request to Establish a Museum,"
2 November 1981.
11
Letter from the Chief of Military History to Brigadier Gen-
eral Watson, "Request to Establish a Museum," approving the
request to establish the museum, January 1982.
12
"Chemical Corps Museum Rededicated," ,
February 1983.
13
Thomas K. Miller, museum director, "Items Transferred
From Ordnance Museum to Chemical Corps Museum, April
1982," memorandum for record, undated.
14
Major Don W. Kilgore, "U.S. Army Chemical Corps Mu-
seum Standing Operating Procedures (SOP)," 20 August 1985.
15
Michaelle Chapman, "Museum Puts You in Battlefield
Trenches," Post-Herald, Birmingham, Alabama, 22 October
1990.
16
Act of 1995, 1 July
1995,