U.S. Naval Academy Museum


The United States Naval Academy Museum is a public maritime museum in Annapolis, Maryland, United States. A part of the United States Naval Academy, it is located at Preble Hall within the Academy premises. The museum has an area of with four galleries. The museum is open seven days a week, from 9 am to 5 pm on Mondays through Saturdays, and 11 am to 5 pm on Sundays; it is only closed on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. It is currently headed by Director CDR Claude Berube, PhD USNR.

History

The museum's history dates back to 1845, when it was founded as the Naval School Lyceum. In 1849, President James K. Polk directed the Navy's collection of historic flags be sent to the new Naval School at Annapolis for care and display, establishing one of the museum's oldest collections. After the Civil War, the Navy Department began forwarding many types of objects to the Naval Academy Lyceum, including trophies of war, items from exploration/survey expeditions, diplomatic missions, and naval related art. The Lyceum also became the repository for the collections of the U. S. Naval Lyceum at the New York Navy Yard in 1892, and received an extensive collection from the Boston Naval Library and Institute in 1922, significantly growing the collection.
The Naval Academy Lyceum of the 19th and early 20th centuries was located in several places around the Naval Academy Yard, before the construction of Preble Hall in 1939. From 2007–2008, Preble Hall underwent a complete renovation to turn the building into a modern museum, which officially reopened in the summer of 2009.

Collection

The collection reflects much of American naval history and partly the naval forces of other countries. That includes thousands of two- and three-dimensional objects such as flags, uniforms, weapons, medals, books, instruments and photographs as well as art. Major collections are The Rogers Ship Model Collection, the Naval Academy Art Collection, the Malcolm Storer Naval Medals Collection and The Beverley R. Robinson Collection.

Productions

The museum produced "A History of the Navy in 100 Objects from the Naval Academy Museum" and produces the naval history podcast "Preble Hall."

Other Navy museums