Navy War College Museum ranked in Top 10 nationally

Photo By Dan Kuester | John Kennedy, director of education at U.S. Naval War College Museum, explains a display on Japan to students at the college. The museum was named one of the Top 10 college museums in the country and was the only military or government museum in the top 50.  

NEWPORT, RI, UNITED STATES

04.20.2015

Courtesy Story

U.S. Naval War College

By Daniel L. Kuester
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NEWPORT, R.I. – U.S. Naval War College (NWC) Museum in Newport, Rhode Island, has been named one of the Top 10 most amazing college museums in the country by a college ranking website.

The museum was rated ninth nationally and was the only government or military museum recognized by collegerank.net which ranks various aspects of college life to help prospective students select an appropriate college to attend.

Being compared to museums associated with more traditional undergraduate colleges and ranking higher than all but eight of them highlights the special appeal of the Naval War College Museum.

“We have a unique story,” explained John Pentangelo, managing director of the museum. “We are a regional history museum that tells the story of the Navy and Narragansett Bay.”

The museum’s collection includes more than 10,000 individual artifacts and more than 20,000 photographs, negatives and prints, mainly from around Naval Station Newport and nearby Narragansett Bay.

Displays range from armaments to uniforms to photos of life for Sailors from the past 200 years in the area and the naval station.

One unique aspect of the museum is the building in which it is contained.

Built in 1820 to serve as a poor house, the building was the original home of the NWC when it was established in 1884 and was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1964 by the National Park Service.

The building became home to the museum in 1978.

The museum’s collections as well as hosted events are geared to support the mission of NWC to educate service members and civilians.

“What we do here is become part of the life of the college by offering lecture programs on academic topics and books,” said Pentangelo. “Topics of our lectures are all within our mission and are part of the academic life of the college.”

While a Top 10 ranking is good, the museum is still working to improve.

From July 2 to Jan. 4 the museum will be closed as it undergoes a million dollar upgrade to its heating, cooling, ventilation and air conditioning infrastructure funded by the Naval History and Heritage Command.

During the renovation, all items in the collections will be removed and the staff will relocate.

The upgrade is needed to ensure that artifacts housed in the museum are preserved for future generations.

The current building, while historically significant, was never intended to serve as a museum.

“We are making this building do something that it was never designed to do,” said Pentangelo of the needed repairs.

When the renovations are complete, the museum will reopen and feature new interpretations, said Pentangelo.

“What we are going to do,” he said, “is start to look at subjects through the lens of strategy. The museum will start giving exhibits a more strategic bent.”

And that means that over time much of the museum will be re-imagined, according to John Kennedy, director of education at the museum.

“The way the exhibits flow from one to the next will be redone,” said Kennedy. “This upgrade gives us an opportunity to make sure we are getting everything right and making it a better experience for our visitors.”

NWC Museum is one of nine official museums of the Navy and collects, preserves, and exhibits artifacts and documents dating from the 1500s to the present day.

NWC is a one-year resident program that graduates about 600 students and about 1,000 distance learning students a year. Students earn Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) credit and either a diploma or a master’s degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. Established in 1884, U.S. Naval War College is the oldest institution of its kind in the world. More than 50,000 students have graduated since its first class of nine students in 1885 and about 300 of today’s active-duty admirals and generals and senior executive service leaders are alumni.

• Date Taken: 04.20.2015
• Date Posted: 04.20.2015 14:24
• Story ID: 160559
• Location: NEWPORT, RI, US