In Preparation for the Big Move

 

In Preparation for the Big Move

A helmet that I previously 

            As I have stated in my previous post, I am currently interning at the Maryland Museum of Military History at the Fifth Regiment Armory in Baltimore, Maryland. I have been interning at this facility for almost a year and have yet to be left with a large project to complete as most of my job includes accomplishing smaller tasks such as cataloguing. However, for the past few months I, along with my coworkers, have been working towards helping the museum accomplish its largest project ever, moving. 

To allow you to understand the large project my coworkers and I are in the process of completing I must first explain the layout of the museum and some problems that we experience in our workplace. To begin, our facility is a three-story building and includes a basement. Our museum and archives are on the first floor in a small room that barely fits all the objects and documents that we have and have not cataloged. In fact, some of the objects and documents are stored in various closets around the building where they are not receiving the treatment they deserve. These conditions have caused my boss, Barbara Taylor, to search for new rooms within the facility so our archives can flourish. A couple of months ago, we found those rooms in the basement, in what are currently known as Classrooms 2 and 4. These two spaces are much larger than our current room, can accommodate our increasing workforce, and will allow room for our new archival storage units.

One of the most important tasks that will support our move is acquiring proper shelving, cabinets, mobile storage cabinets, storage racks, and other items that are needed to help our museum. My boss and I have accomplished this by obtaining archival storage items from Fort Meade, an army base whose archives are no longer in use. After visiting Fort Meade numerous times, we have not only gained the approval of Fort Meade’s previous archives directors but collected a couple of new historical items like panoramas of various troops from the 29th Division. Yes, I did have to catalog those right when got back from those trips. While I did have to store those photos and items in storage closets and tight spaces within the archives, I am relieved by the thought that our facility will soon be upgraded with professional archival storage cabinets. I understand that it may seem like I am fawning over a couple of cabinets, but I cannot emphasize the importance of this agreement and these new archival cabinets. These units provide more space for us workers by consolidating the number of objects on a shelf and creating an area where we can safely store the history of the National Guard. Not only that, but it will allow us to better track the location of each historical object and incorporate that into PastPerfect.

We may have completed other tasks that better prepared us for this move such as painting the classrooms, acquiring proper safety regulations and air conditioning, and obtaining new flooring. Our largest accomplishment for this moves so far is the transfer agreement that helps set our museum on the right path to professionally and safely store our collection.

An Overview of My Internship at CECOM

Image 1: Lab Test of cargo courier used by the Signal Corps Antarctic Research Team (1956-57).

     This summer I am an intern with the CECOM Historical Office of the United States Army (http://www.cecom.army.mil/historian/) at Aberdeen Proving Ground. CECOM is the U.S. Army Communications and Electronics Command, which is tasked with the development, testing, and sustainment of C4ISR systems (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance) throughout the Department of Defense. CECOM traces its history to the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was originally headquartered at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, but was moved to Aberdeen Proving Ground under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). During World War I, the need for a dedicated Signal Laboratories led to the development of Fort Monmouth on the site of a former horse racing track.

     In addition to the laboratories and training school constructed on the site, other facilities were constructed on Fort Monmouth (then known as Camp Alfred Vail) to consolidate the operations of the Army Electrical Development Division to develop and test radio equipment and establish a pigeon breeding and training facility. In 1919, all Signal Corps Schools were relocated to Fort Monmouth, ensuring that the facility would survive the demobilization of the Army following the end of the war. Many of the technologies that would be used by the U.S. during World War II were developed by the Signal Corps Laboratories in the years between the wars. These developments included improved radio equipment such as the “walkie talkies” and field telephones used throughout World War II. Most importantly, the Signal Corps Laboratories worked significantly on the development of RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging) after the project was transferred from the Ordnance Corps in 1930. The project was top secret, and so in early Field Manuals, RADAR was defined as a term used for communications radio sets.

     During World War II, the Signal Corps played an important role in the U.S. war effort, both in the United States and on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific. The Signal School trained men for communications roles throughout the Army and the Signal Laboratories continued to develop new technologies for the war effort, including the first synthetically-produced large quartz crystals, a development which eliminated the U.S.’s reliance on imported quartz for use in communications devices. Following the end of the war, the Signal Corps continued to make important discoveries and innovations, such as Project DIANA, a radar antenna constructed at Fort Monmouth that was capable of transmitting and receiving signals bounced off of the moon. This development paved the way for future developments in artificial satellites such as the first communications satellite, Project SCORE. It was launched in December of 1958 and broadcasted a Christmas message from President Eisenhower back to Earth.

Image 2: Sphere Spotter antenna of DIANA moon radar in 1957.

      The Signal Corps as an institution continued to change in the years following World War II, adapting to the challenges faced in the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the overall challenges faced during the Cold War. Reorganization in the military led to new responsibilities and new names for the Signal Corps Laboratories, including ECOM (Electronics Command-1962), CERCOM (Communications-Electronics Readiness Command-1978), and, in 1981, it became CECOM following its merger with CORADCOM (Communications Research and Development Command).

     As an intern at the CECOM Historical Office, I will be working with the digitalization and indexing of a collection of photographs from the Communications-Electronics Museum Collection. These images span the history of the Command, but are primarily from World War I through the 1990s. The collection covers many different subjects, from images of personnel, commanding officers, and buildings at Fort Monmouth to equipment in the lab and in the field. Although I am primarily working with photographic prints, I am also learning about the identification and preservation of photographic negatives. As I continue with my work at APG, I will also learn more about how the Army, and the federal government in general, work with and preserve historical artifacts. I am interested in seeing how the Army’s policies regarding history differ from the policies of the National Park Service, where I had previously held an internship.

Image 3: Mule with radio pack, c1912. (Rear View)

Bibliography:

CECOM LCMC Historical Office, A Concise History of Fort Monmouth, NJ and the U.S.

Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command (U.S. Army CECOM Life Cycle Management Command, 2009).

Image 1: Image #2605, “US Army Photo collection, C-E Museum Acquisition” from the

CECOM Historical Office archive, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.

Image 2: Image #2681, “US Army Photo collection, C-E Museum Acquisition” from the

CECOM Historical Office archive, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.

Image 3: Image #2076, “US Army Photo collection, C-E Museum Acquisition” from the

CECOM Historical Office archive, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD.