The Army Plans to Close Over Half of Its Museums

Trainling facilities, logistical storage and housing for soldiers and their families aren’t the only things you’ll find at U.S. Army bases across the country and overseason. Some bases also contain museums — spaces in which active-duty military personnel, retired service members and civilians can learn more about the Army’s long history. By the end of this decade, however, the number of these facilities might be dropping by a substantial margin.

This week, the U.S. Army Center of Military History announced dramatic plans to reduce the number of museums under its purview. Between now and the 2029 fiscal year, the Army plans to go “from 41 museum activities at 29 locations to 12 field museums and four training support facilities at 12 locations.”

Writing at Task & Purpose, Matt White has more about the planned museum closures — including a list of bases that could have facilities affected, including Fort Bliss, Fort Drum, Fort Leavenworth and Fort Stewart. An official told Task & Purpose that the list remained “pre-decisional.”

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The reasons cited for these planned closures? According to the announcement, it was a combination of “substantial maintenance backlog and insufficient staffing.” Based on what James Vizzard of the U.S. Army Center for Military History told Task & Purpose, part of the issue is operating museums requires a very different skill set than military operations.

“You need to have exhibit technicians and educators and those are where we tend to skimp, frankly, and that gets back to that museum experience,” Vizzard told Task & Purpose. “You’re not getting the right museum experience if you just have curators.”