United States Army Center of Military History

Directorate inside the United States Army

United States Army Center of Military History
(CMH)

The United States Army Center of Military History's seal

Agency overview
Formed| July 1943 (1943-07)
Jurisdiction| United States Army
Headquarters| Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Agency executives|

* Charles R. Bowery Jr., Executive Director
* Susan K. Springman, Deputy Director

Parent agency| United States Army Training and Doctrine Command
Website| history.army.mil

The United States Army Center of Military History (CMH) is a directorate within the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command.[1] The Institute of Heraldry remains within the Office of the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army.[1] The center is responsible for the appropriate use of history and military records throughout the United States Army. Traditionally, this mission has meant recording the official history of the army in both peace and war, while advising the army staff on historical matters. CMH is the flagship organization leading the Army Historical Program.

CMH is also in charge of the National Museum of the United States Army, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia.

## Mission

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The center traces its lineage back to historians under the Secretary of War who compiled the Official Records of the Rebellion, an extensive history of the American Civil War begun in 1874. A similar work on World War I was prepared by the Historical Section of the Army War College.

The modern organization of the army's historical efforts dates from the creation of the General Staff historical branch in July 1943, with Lt. Col. John M. Kemper[2] appointed its first chief, and subsequent gathering of a team of historians, translators, editors, and cartographers to record the official history of World War II. They began publication of the United States Army in World War II series, which numbers 78 volumes, in 1946.[3] Working under the direction of former Nazi General Franz Halder, the center's German section became pivotal in the dissemination of the Myth of the clean Wehrmacht in the United States.[4] Since then, the center has produced detailed series on the Army's role in the Korean and Vietnam Wars and has begun a series on the U.S. Army in the Cold War. These works are supplemented by monographs and other publications on a mix of topics.

Since its formation, the center has provided historical support to the Army Secretariat and Staff, contributing background information for decision making, staff actions, command information programs, and public statements by army officials. It has expanded its role in the areas of military history education, the management of the army's museum system, and the introduction of automated data-retrieval systems. The center's work with army schools ensures that the study of history is a part of the training of officers and noncommissioned officers. Much of this educational work is performed at field historical offices and in army museums.

## Historical activities

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Under the direction of the chief of military history and his principal adviser, the army's chief historian, CMH's staff is involved in some 50 major writing projects. Many of these efforts involve new research that ranges from traditional studies in operational and administrative history to the examination of such areas as procurement, peacekeeping, and the global war on terror. Those works underway and projected are described in the Army Historical Program, an annual report to the Chief of Staff on the Army's historical activities. All center publications are listed in the catalog Publications of the United States Army Center of Military History, which explains how to access them.

In addition, army historians maintain the organizational history of army units, allowing the center to provide units of the Regular Army, the Army National Guard, and the Army Reserve with certificates of their lineage and honors and other historical material concerning their organizations. The center also determines the official designations for army units and works with the army staff during force reorganizations to preserve units with significant histories, as well as unit properties and related historical artifacts.

CMH also serves as a clearinghouse for the oral history programs in the army at all levels of command. It also conducts and preserves its own oral history collections, including those from the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and the many recent contingency operations. In addition, the center's end-of-tour interviews within the Army Secretariat and Staff provide a basis for its annual histories of the Department of the Army.

As tangible representations of the service's mission, military artifacts and art enhance the soldier's understanding of the profession of arms. CMH manages a system of more than 120 army museums and their holdings, encompassing some 450,000 artifacts and 15,000 works of military art.[5] The center also provides professional museum training, staff assistance visits, teams of combat artists such as those deployed under the Vietnam Combat Artists Program, and general museum support throughout the army. Current projects include the establishment of a National Museum of the United States Army at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and a complementary Army Heritage and Educational Center at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Paintings by Adolf Hitler stored at the center. The paintings were cited in Price v. United States.

The Chief of Military History is responsible for ensuring the appropriate use of military history in the teaching of strategy, tactics, logistics, and administration. This mission includes a requirement that military leaders at all levels be aware of the value of history in advancing military professionalism. To that end, the center holds a biennial history conference and workshop; publishes Army History, a professional bulletin devoted to informing the larger military history education community; and supplies readings for the army school system, including the ROTC community, and texts and other support for the army's staff ride program. In this effort, the chief of military history is assisted by a historical advisory committee that includes leading academic historians and representatives of the army school system.[6]

The center has a large collection of Nazi art and ephemera collected as part of Denazification efforts after the Second World War. The holdings include four watercolour paintings by Adolf Hitler and several notable propaganda paintings depicting Hitler including In the Beginning Was the Word and The Standard Bearer.[7]

Staff rides enable military leaders to retrace the course of a battle on the ground, deepening their understanding of the recurring fundamentals of military operations. As one of the army's major teaching devices, staff rides are particularly dependent on a careful knowledge of military history. Center historians lead rides directed by the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Staff and attended by senior members of the army Staff.

It administers the army's Command History Program, to provide historical support to army organizations worldwide. In addition, since the first Persian Gulf War, the center has coordinated the deployment of military history detachments and the collection of historical data during peacekeeping and wartime operations, including those in northern Iraq, Somalia, Haiti, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

## Fellowships and publications

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"Army History" redirects here. For a history of armies, see army history.

To stimulate interest in military history in the army and the nation, CMH sponsors professional programs.

* Fellowships: To encourage and support dissertations in military history by graduate students, the center offers up to four dissertation fellowships each academic year. These fellowships carry a $9,000 stipend and access to the center's facilities and expertise. Although the fellowship program broadly defines the history of war on land, it selects winners with a preference for topics on the history of the U.S. Army.[6]
* Publications: The center has over 600 titles in its catalog. It is responsible for writing the official history of the U.S. Army. It is able to facilitate research, provide graphics and editorial support, and carry manuscripts through to publication.[8]
* The center also publishes a quarterly history journal, Army History,[9] known from 1983 to 1988 (No. 1 – No. 12) as The Army Historian.[10] This award-winning magazine currently has a print run of over 10,000 copies and has been in circulation since 1983.[11]

## Historical services to the public

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CMH's art and documents collections, library, and reference services are available to private researchers.[12] Official priorities permitting, its historians, curators, and archivists advise researchers on military history and stand ready to share their expertise concerning the location of sources. The Collections Branch of the Museum Division arranges temporary loans of paintings and drawings from the Army Art Collection to private organizations that agree to display the art publicly in accordance with Army regulations. The army's museums and historical holdings throughout the country and abroad are generally open to the public, and their curators are available to answer reference questions. As a secured facility, as of 2016[update] requests for an appointment at Fort Lesley J. McNair must be made at least a week in advance.[12]

## See also

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* Department of Defense Historical Advisory Committee
* Naval History & Heritage Command
* Air Force Historical Research Agency
* United States Marine Corps History Division
* William Hammond (historian)

## References

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* This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

1. ^ a b Sean Kimmons, Army News Service (March 4, 2019) TRADOC to take responsibility for Army Center of Military History
2. ^ Historical Program Of The U S Army 1939 To Present, United States Army Center of Military History, Retrieved 6 December 2022
3. ^ Adamczyk, Richard D. (1992). United States Army in World War II: Reader's Guide. Washington, DC: Center of Military History. pp. 173. ISBN 978-0160378171. OCLC 813914147. "CMH Pub 11-9"
4. ^ Smelser, Ronald; Davies, Edward J. (2008). The Myth of the Eastern Front: The Nazi-Soviet War in American Popular Culture. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-521-83365-3.
5. ^ Directory of Active Army and National Guard Museums
6. ^ a b "CMH Dissertation Fellowships: General Information". www.history.army.mil. Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
7. ^ Dexter Filkins (4 January 2020). "Inside the U.S. Army's Warehouse Full of Nazi Art". The New Yorker. Retrieved 5 January 2020.
8. ^ "U.S. Army Center of Military History Publications Catalog". www.history.army.mil. Archived from the original on 21 December 2007. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
9. ^ "Complete Collection of Army History Magazine – U.S Army Center of Military History". history.army.mil. Archived from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
10. ^ "The Army Historian on JSTOR". JSTOR. Retrieved 9 May 2018.
11. ^ "Army History Complete Collection". history.army.mil. Archived from the original on 7 June 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
12. ^ a b "Inquiries to CMH". CMH. 1 April 2016. Archived from the original on 3 February 2008. Retrieved 30 September 2016.

## Further reading

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The following publications provide additional information about the activities, services, and products of the Center of Military History:

* U.S. Army History CMH Online Bookshelves
* History of "History" in the U.S. Army
* Publications of the United States Army Center of Military History
* Army Historical Program(by fiscal year)
* Oral History: Techniques and Procedures
* The U.S. Army Art and Photo Collection
* Army History (a professional bulletin)
* Organizational History

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to United States Army Center of Military History.

English Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Category:U.S. Army Center for Military History Documents and images

* Official website
* Gough, Terrence J. "The U.S. Army Center of Military History: A Brief History". United States Department of the Army. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007.
* United States Army Center of Military History at the Wayback Machine (archived 7 June 1997)

* v
* t
* e

United States Army history museums

Organization and history|

* National Guard Memorial Museum (Washington, DC)
* National Museum of the United States Army

Branches (official)|

* U.S. Army Armor and Cavalry Collection
* U.S. Army Aviation Museum
* U.S. Cavalry Museum
* U.S. Army Chaplain Museum
* Harbor Defense Museum
* National Infantry Museum
* U.S. Army Intelligence Museum
* U.S. Army Medical Department Museum
* Army Medical Museum and Library (succeeded by the National Museum of Health and Medicine)
* U.S. Army Ordnance Training and Heritage Center
* U.S. Army Quartermaster Museum
* U.S. Army Transportation Museum
* U.S. Army Women's Museum

Post and unit museums|

* 1st Infantry Division Museum
* 82nd Airborne Division Museum
* Pratt Museum (101st Airborne Division)
* Fort George G. Meade Museum
* Fort Huachuca Museum
* Fort Lewis Military Museum
* General George Patton Museum (Fort Knox, KY)
* Watervliet Arsenal Museum
* West Point Museum
* Rock Island Arsenal Museum

State and private museums
(affiliated with the
Army Museum System)|

* Airborne & Special Operations Museum
* California State Military Museum
* Iowa Gold Star Military Museum
* Jackson Barracks Military Museum
* Kentucky Military History Museum
* Mississippi Armed Forces Museum
* National Guard Militia Museum of New Jersey
* Oregon Military Museum
* Washington National Guard Museum

State and private
(not affiliated with the
Army Museum System)|

* African American Military History Museum
* Fort MacArthur Museum
* General George S. Patton Memorial Museum
* Wisconsin Veterans Museum

Regional history|

* U.S. Army Museum of Hawaii

Other|

* Army Art Program
* Army Heritage Center Foundation
* U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center
* U.S. Army Center of Military History
* Military history of the United States
* Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall and Museum

* v
* t
* e

United States Army

Leadership|

* Secretary of the Army
* Under Secretary of the Army
* Chief of Staff
* Vice Chief of Staff
* 4-star generals
* 3-star generals
* 1798–1959
* 1990–1999
* 2000–2009
* 2010–2019
* 2020–present
* Army Staff Senior Warrant Officer
* Sergeant Major of the Army
* House Armed Services Committee (House Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces)
* Senate Committee on Armed Services (Senate Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces)

Components
and
commands|

* Regular Army
* Army Reserve
* Army National Guard
* Active Units
* Reorganization plan of United States Army

| Commands|

* Forces
* Futures
* Materiel
* Training and Doctrine

|

Service
components|

* Central
* Europe and Africa
* Pacific
* North
* South
* Special Operations
* Surface Deployment and Distribution
* Space and Missile Defense
* Cyber Command

Direct reporting
units|

* Second Army
* Medical
* Intelligence and Security
* Criminal Investigation Division
* Corps of Engineers
* Military District of Washington
* Test and Evaluation
* Military Academy
* Reserve
* Acquisition Support Center
* Installation Management
* War College

Field armies|

* First
* Third
* Fifth
* Sixth
* Seventh
* Eighth
* Ninth

Branches|

* Acquisition Corps
* Adjutant General's Corps
* Air Defense Artillery Branch
* Armor Branch
* Aviation Branch
* Army Band
* Chaplain Corps
* Chemical Corps
* Civil Affairs Corps
* Corps of Engineers
* Cyber Corps
* Dental Corps
* Field Artillery Branch
* Finance Corps
* Infantry Branch
* Inspector General's Corps
* Judge Advocate General's Corps
* Logistics Branch
* Medical Corps
* Medical Service Corps
* Medical Specialist Corps
* Military Intelligence Corps
* Military Police Corps
* Nurse Corps
* Ordnance Corps
* Psychological operations
* Quartermaster Corps
* Signal Corps
* Special Forces
* Transportation Corps
* Veterinary Corps

Installations|

* United States and overseas
* Germany
* Japan
* Kuwait
* South Korea

Training|

* Basic Training
* BOLC
* ROTC (ECP)
* OCS
* WOBC
* WOCS
* Military Academy (West Point)
* MOS

Uniforms and
insignia|

* Awards and decorations
* Badges
* Branch
* Officer
* Warrant
* Enlisted
* World War I
* World War II
* Uniforms

Equipment|

* Crew-served weapons
* Individual weapons
* Vehicles

Premier
ensembles|

* Army Band
* Army Field Band
* Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps
* West Point Band

History and
traditions|

* History
* Continental Army
* Union army
* National Army
* Army of the United States
* Center of Military History
* Institute of Heraldry
* America's Army
* Army Art Program
* Flag
* National Museum
* West Point Museum
* Rangers
* U.S. Army Regimental System
* Soldier's Creed
* "The Army Goes Rolling Along"
* Division nicknames
* Draft
* Service numbers
* Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra

Historical|

* Buffalo Soldiers
* Army Air Forces
* Army Service Forces
* Women's Army Corps
* Rough Riders
* U.S. Cavalry
* United States Colored Troops
* United States Army Hospital Corps
* U.S. Sanitary Commission
* 250th Anniversary Parade

* Category

* v
* t
* e

United States Armed Forces

Legend
A = Army
MC = Marine Corps
N = Navy
AF = Air Force
SF = Space Force
CG = Coast Guard

Leadership|

* President of the United States
* Secretary of Defense
* Deputy Secretary of Defense
* Secretary of Homeland Security
* Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
* Joint Chiefs of Staff
* Chairman
* Vice Chairman
* Committees on Armed Services
* Senate
* House
* Active duty four-star officers
* Active duty three-star officers
* United States military seniority
* National Security Act of 1947
* Goldwater–Nichols Act

Components|

| Military departments|

* Department of Defense
* Secretary
* Department of the Army
* Secretary
* Department of the Navy
* Secretary
* Department of the Air Force
* Secretary
* Department of Homeland Security
* Secretary

|

Service branches
and heads|

* Chief of Staff of the United States Army
* Commandant of the Marine Corps
* Chief of Naval Operations
* Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
* Chief of Space Operations
* Commandant of the Coast Guard

Reserve components|

* Reserves:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* CG
* National Guard:
* A
* AF

Civilian auxiliaries|

* Military Auxiliary Radio System
* Marine Corps Cyber Auxiliary
* Merchant Marine
* Civil Air Patrol
* Coast Guard Auxiliary

Unified combatant
command|

* Africa
* Central
* European
* Indo-Pacific
* Northern
* Southern
* Space
* Cyber
* Special Operations
* Strategic
* Transportation

Structure|

* United States Code
* Title 10
* Title 14
* Title 32
* Title 50
* The Pentagon
* Installations
* Units:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG
* Logistics
* Media
* Unit mottoes

Operations
and history|

* Budget
* Current deployments
* Conflicts
* Wars
* Civil affairs

History|

* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG

Timeline|

* Colonial
* World War II

Demographics|

* African Americans
* Asian Americans
* Buddhist Americans
* Jewish Americans
* Muslim Americans
* Sikh Americans
* Hispanic Americans
* Civil War
* Air Force
* Coast Guard
* Marine Corps
* Navy
* Academy

History centers|

* Army Center of Military History
* Marine Corps History Division
* Naval History and Heritage Command
* Air Force Historical Research Agency

War artists|

* Army Art Program
* Air Force Art Program

Personnel|

| Training|

* Service academies:
* A (prep)
* MC/N (prep)
* AF/SF (prep)
* CG
* Merchant Marine
* ROTC
* A
* MC/N
* AF/SF
* Officer candidate/training school:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF/SF
* Warrant officer:
* A
* MEPS
* ASVAB
* The Basic School (MC)
* Enlisted recruit training:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF/SF
* CG
* Other education

|

Uniforms|

* Uniforms:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG
* Awards & decorations:
* Inter-service
* A
* MC/N
* AF/SF
* CG
* Foreign
* International
* Devices
* Badges:
* Identification
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG

Ranks|

* Officer:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG
* Warrant officers
* Enlisted:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG

Other|

* Oath:
* Enlistment
* Officer
* Creeds & Codes:
* Code of Conduct
* NCO
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* CG
* Service numbers:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* CG
* Military Occupational Specialty/Rating/Air Force Specialty Code
* Pay
* Uniform Code of Military Justice
* Judge Advocate General's Corps
* Military Health System/Tricare
* Separation
* Veterans Affairs
* Conscription
* Chiefs of Chaplains:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* CG

Equipment|

* A (Designations)
* MC:
* vehicles
* weapons
* other
* N
* AF
* CG

| Land|

* Individual weapons
* Crew-served weapons
* Vehicles (active)

|

Sea|

* All watercraft
* Ships:
* A
* N
* active
* future
* AF
* CG
* MSC
* Weapons:
* N
* Reactors

Air|

* Aircraft
* World War I
* active
* future
* Aircraft designation
* Helicopter arms

Other|

* WWII equipment
* Nuclear football
* Electronics (designations)
* Flags:
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG
* Ensign
* Jack
* Guidons
* Food
* WMDs:
* Nuclear
* Biological
* Chemical

* Category
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG
* Navboxes
* A
* MC
* N
* AF
* SF
* CG

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* Germany
* United States
* Czech Republic
* Israel

Other|

* IdRef
* Yale LUX

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