L to R: Sara Halpert, Kristee Copley, Anne C. Armstrong, Ryan Trainor
On March 3, 2015, the NGEF Staff and Interns visited the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, VA. NGEF is fortunate to host Ms. Sara Halpert from the graduate school program in Museum Studies at George Washington University and Ms. Kristee Copley from the iSchool at the University of Maryland in Library Sciences. Both ladies will graduate with Masters Degrees this May. (Anne and Ryan secretly hope for invitations to the graduations.)
On the one hand, the team visited Quantico for sheer enjoyment of the experience. However, on the other, we did have a professional motive: We wanted to see a military museum with a different theme, goal and funding source than the National Guard Memorial Museum. Quantico serves at a significant level as recruiting tool for the active duty Marine Corps and to that end, they have practically unlimited resources and cater to a younger audience. The National Guard Memorial Museum, located in the heart of Washington, DC and neighboring the Smithsonian Institution, is less a recruiting tool and more of an elegant tribute to the history of the National Guard for guardsmen, members of the Capitol Hill community, families and students.
Both Museums rightly serve as homage to their respective military services. The long, illustrious history of the Marine Corps is one that clearly deserves careful and thorough attention. The longer and more locally-oriented service of the National Guard of the United States deserves the same. We were just as delighted to experience the grand exhibitions at Quantico as we were to come home to our beautiful gem housed with the National Guard Association of the United States. It was our second trip to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in as many years and we look forward to visiting again!
