The Presidio Army Museum - Collection Assessment and Transfer

Golden Gate NRA, Park Archives, James H. Short Collection, GOGA-1766

Colonel James H. Short, seen here as a young cadet, studies for his classes at the West Point Preparatory School located at Fort Winfield Scott during the late 1930s.

A full inventory of the Presidio Army Museum (PAM) collection was conducted by representatives of the Center of Military History (CMH) and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), with each agency listing which objects it desired. In September of 1993, a Memorandum of Agreement was written between the CMH and the GGNRA outlining the transfer. Archival and photographic items were to be inventoried by item and those which belonged to collections with no known relation to the Presidio, the defense of San Francisco, or San Francisco history were to be returned to the CMH. All objects which did not fit into the GGNRA’s Scope of Collections Statement were to be returned when this evidence was discovered. The Army would continue to assist the GGNRA to tell the Army story with advice, artifact reproductions, and loans.

On October 1, 1993, the Presidio Army Museum officially came under National Park Service management. The Army placed a notice in local newspapers which alerted persons who had loaned or donated materials to the PAM of the collection’s transfer to the NPS, and invited them to retrieve all materials for which they were able to produce documentation of rightful ownership. Ownership claims submitted by the Fort Point and Presidio Historical Association were sent to the Adjutant General’s Office, which awarded the Association ownership of objects and archives with verifiable documentation.

 

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