6

EUROPEAN MILITARY

MUSEUMS

the public its entire collection. There is a great temptation to do

the latter, for military museums often acquire extensive collec
tions of the same type of weapon, with each item in the collection
having only slight variations from the others. The museum staff
may feel that the public will be properly impressed by the museum's
inventory only if it shows all or most of such items in its
possession. Often this is the convenient way to solve the problem
of storage, for many museums have a large number of objects and
very limited space in which to place them. It is logical to assume
that the custodial function is the one emphasized in most military
museums, for the viewer enters expecting to see weapons and the
other paraphernalia of warfare. He is usually not disappointed.
Often he is inundated and gets the impression he has come into
an armory.
Educational.

military museum

Regardless of the form its exhibition takes, the

attempting to tell a story. The story may be,

is

and often is, very simple. A collection of arms used

ticular war may be displayed without any references
of the war itself. The same may be done for uniforms
A visitor to the museum might be able to discover

during

par

to the history
and insignia.
the evolution

of the cannon or other types of artillery by examining a display

In this manner he is
which has been arranged chronologically.
able to achieve a familiarity with objects somewhat apart from
any context of military history. This is the simplest educative
technique and about the extent to which it is attempted by some
very impressive museums.
Experience has shown that museums must exercise some

restraint in fulfilling their educational responsibilities to the general

public. All semblance of deliberateness must be avoided, for the
average visitor develops a certain amount of natural resistance
when he detects that an obvious attempt is being made to in
struct him. The museum must employ considerable subtlety in
presenting the information it desires to convey to the visitor.
This is largely accomplished through attractive displays which
present ideas through tested visual educational techniques, ac
companied by explanatory material which is both brief and con
cise. Dr. Walter Havernick, director of the Museum fur Hamburgische Geschichte in Hamburg, Germany, spoke of this to his
colleagues attending the First Congress of Museums of Arms and
Military Equipment at Copenhagen in May 1957 :