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The Virginia Military Institute Museum
By Mary Price
The newly renovated VMI Museum may be the only place in the world where a kangaroo keeps watch over a stuffed horse.
Inside VMI’s Jackson Memorial Hall, the kangaroo—in actuality, a suit once worn by cadets portraying the school’s mascot, Moe the kangaroo--stands as a silent sentry over Little Sorrel, the horse ridden by Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson during the Civil War.
The kangaroo, the horse and countless other artifacts telling the VMI story are now safely back in their old home after a $3.3 million renovation of Jackson Memorial Hall that forced the museum into temporary quarters for over two years. From the spring of 2004 to the summer of 2006, visitors who’d come to see Moe or Little Sorrel had to find them in a wing of the George C. Marshall Foundation building, located across the VMI post from Jackson Memorial Hall.
Late in the summer of 2006, construction crews moved out and the museum moved back in. Visitors now have a choice of descending to the museum, which occupies the second level of Jackson Memorial Hall, via the stairs or a newly installed elevator. Once there, they are greeted by a 65-foot-long glass wall offering a tantalizing glimpse of the museum’s contents. Natural light pours into the adjacent museum shop from the building’s gothic windows. For the first time, it’s possible to walk from the shop into the garden outside.
For Keith Gibson, executive director of museum operations, everything old is new again—and the renovations were completed just in time for the museum to mark an important milestone. “We were very excited about getting back into this building in 2006 because it was our 150th anniversary,” he said. The VMI Museum, Gibson noted, began in 1856, making it the oldest public museum in the state.
Today, though, the oldest item in the museum’s collection—a piece of body armor from the Civil War battlefield at Port Republic—bears an accession date of 1870. “The collection, like the rest of VMI, was ravaged during Hunter’s Raid in June 1864,” Gibson explained. “Ravaged” isn’t too strong of a word: all of VMI’s buildings, with the exception of the superintendent’s quarters, were burned at that time.
In the over 140 years that have passed since the Civil War, the VMI Museum’s collection has expanded to include everything from Little Sorrel’s mounted hide (the horse’s bones were given to the taxidermist as payment) to the shiny helmet worn by Gen. George S. Patton, VMI class of 1907, during World War II. The museum is now home to over 15,000 items, although only a small number are on display at this time.
Over the next two years, though, the thousands of artifacts that are now in storage will be coming out. The museum’s move back into Jackson Memorial Hall—affectionately called “JM Hall” by cadets—was just the first step toward a greatly expanded exhibit space. The third floor of JM Hall is now home to a snack bar and relaxation area, which will be moving into the barracks expansion once that is completed.
When that occurs, said Gibson, the third floor will be home to the world-famous Henry Stewart firearms collection, plus an assortment of memorabilia and mementoes from VMI alumni.
The firearms collection came to VMI in 1988 after the death of Stewart, a member of VMI’s class of 1935. Among the rarities that will soon be on display are an Artemis Wheeler, the first U.S.-patented multi-chamber firearm, and 25 Colt revolvers made in Colt’s Patterson, N.J., factory before production moved to Hartford, Conn.
The alumni memorabilia collection includes items that once belonged to polar explorer Richard Evelyn Byrd, a member of VMI’s class of 1908 and one of seven Medal of Honor recipients to have attended VMI; Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, the Marine Corp’s most decorated veteran; and John deButts, who served as chairman of AT&T when it was the world’s largest company.
The promise of more exhibits, though, shouldn’t deter visitors from coming to the museum now. “The things that we know people travel thousands of miles to see we do have on exhibit,” said Gibson.
In addition to Moe and Little Sorrel, the VMI Heritage exhibits now on display include the uniform Jackson was wearing when he earned his nickname, as well as the raincoat the general was wearing when he was shot by his own men near Chancellorsville on May 2, 1863. A gaping bullet hole is still visible in the left shoulder area.
There’s also a collection of very rare North Vietnamese prisoner of war artifacts donated by James R. “Jim” Berger, a member of VMI’s class of 1961 and current Lexington resident. Berger, a fighter pilot, was shot down by the North Vietnamese in 1966 and held until 1973. Upon leaving, he was allowed to take his items with him, whereas prisoners released later generally were not.
At the center of the room is a poignant reminder that not all veterans come home: arranged on a small table are photographs of the 10 VMI graduates who have lost their lives in the war on terror—a number that has grown in recent years.
Encircling the exhibits is the Robert A. Raeburn Civil War art collection, which is made up of 25 battlefield paintings by Civil War veterans. Raeburn, a member of VMI’s class of 1951, donated the artwork in 2001 on the occasion of his 50th reunion.
Adjacent to the VMI Heritage exhibit space is a newly expanded museum store, which offers everything from toy cannons for children to Civil War tomes for serious history lovers. The museum’s best-selling item, though, is a simple charcoal gray sweatshirt with a VMI logo that was used from 1910 to 1940. Another popular sweatshirt is a replica of the one Ronald Reagan wore in the 1939 movie “Brother Rat,” which was set at VMI.
The museum’s hours, it should be noted, will accommodate even visitors who’ve already had a long day and a late dinner. Because there’s no barrier between the snack bar area on the third floor and the museum on the second, the museum is open from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week. It’s a situation that may change once a temporary barrier is in place, but for right now, the museum’s staff has been forced to adapt the night-owl habits of college students.
“You know that movie, ‘Night at the Museum’?” Gibson asked. “Well, we’re like that. We’re open until 11 p.m. every night.”
Phone: (540) 464-7234
Website: http://www.vmi.edu/museum