Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Welcome Home is a Willing Warriors and the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run project. The program highlights activities at the Warrior Retreat and issues impacting all Veterans. For questions or feedback, please email us at podcast@willingwarriors.org.
Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
The Hunt for Revolutionary Treasures: A Museum Curator's Tale
Paul Morando, Chief Curator at the National Museum of the United States Army, unveils the fascinating story behind the museum's newest exhibition, "Call to Arms: The Soldier and the Revolutionary War." This meticulously crafted exhibit represents a remarkable four-year journey, bringing together nearly 180 Revolutionary War artifacts from 35 different institutions and collectors across multiple countries.
What sets this exhibition apart is its deeply personal approach to history. Rather than displaying anonymous military equipment, Morando's team specifically sought artifacts with verified connections to individual soldiers. "We know who carried that musket. We know who wore the uniform," Morando explains, highlighting how this connection transforms ordinary objects into powerful storytelling vessels that bridge the 250-year gap between visitors and those who fought for American independence.
The exhibition's centerpiece – George Washington's famous green-hilted sword, which appears in numerous historical portraits – is on temporary loan from the Smithsonian and will return in December 2025. This rare opportunity to see Washington's preferred battle sword exemplifies the exhibition's limited-time treasures that history enthusiasts should prioritize viewing before certain artifacts return to their home institutions.
Beyond the Revolutionary War exhibit, Morando offers insights into the museum's future plans, including a traveling exhibition on Japanese-American Nisei soldiers launching in 2026 and a special exhibit commemorating the 25th anniversary of 9/11. When asked about artificial intelligence's potential impact on museum curation, Morando emphasizes the irreplaceable human element in historical storytelling: "I think you have to do the proper research, bring in all different perspectives and ideas... I think it's disingenuous [to replace that with AI]."
The National Museum of the United States Army, with its stunning architecture and 65,000 square feet of exhibition space, offers free admission and parking. Open daily from 0900 to 1700, the museum provides not just exhibits but also free programming, including lectures, book talks, and online resources. Whether you're a military history buff or simply curious about America's revolutionary beginnings, this exhibition offers a remarkable window into the experiences of those who fought for the nation's founding ideals. Visit thenmusa.org to plan your trip and discover the soldiers' stories behind America's fight for independence.
Good morning. I'm your host, larry Zilliox, Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, and this morning I'm joined by our co-host. He's been traveling a bit, but we're happy to have him sit in for this one. John, how are you?
John Wall:I'm good, larry. It's good to be back, and thanks for inviting me along again.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah. So this week our guest is Paul Morando. He is the chief curator at the National Museum of the United States Army, and I just want to talk a little bit about Paul's background, because I find some of the things very interesting. One you've been with the museum since the opening in 2020. And previously he had been at a museum in New York Fort Hamilton, new York.
Larry Zilliox:And then one of my favorite museums is the Casement Museum down in Fort Monroe, virginia, and, for our listeners here in Virginia, if you're going to be going down to the shore and going down to Virginia Beach, this is the exit right before you go into the tunnel and it's off to the left. There it's a casement. It's a wonderful museum to visit. It's really, really interesting. I will say it's an active installation, so visit it on your way down. Don't try to go through the gate with all the fireworks that you picked up in North Carolina. I encourage everybody who might be vacationing down there this summer to check it out. We're going to get into a number of really cool things that the museum has got going, one of which is this brand new exhibit called Call to Arms the Soldier in the Revolutionary War. I saw a piece on the news about this and it looked fascinating. So, paul, welcome to the podcast.
Paul Morando:Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it.
Larry Zilliox:So, Paul, I just had one question too. I failed to mention that you were prior service as an Army Reserves from looks like 96 to 2003 as a photographer for public affairs. So my first question is why the Army and not the Air Force?
Paul Morando:Well, yeah, so interesting question. You know, after, I would say, during college, I wanted to do something. I wanted to join the Army, you know, my uncle served, I had my grandfather served, so I just kind of wanted to follow in their footsteps to some degree. But also something new Photography, broadcast journalism was quite interesting to me, you know, although I didn't have aspirations to become a journalist. But doing that in the Army to me, um, you know, although I didn't have um aspirations to become a journalist, um, but doing that in the army intrigued me and, um, I'm really glad I did. It gained a lot of experience and a lot, you know, helped in my career as as a curator as well.
Larry Zilliox:Mm-hmm. So let's start by getting some definitions out there. One is what does the chief curator do for?
Paul Morando:all the curatorial content, the exhibit content, the information for the artifacts in the entire museum. So I would, you know, along with my team, determine, you know, how do we tell the Army story through exhibits, how do we interpret Army history and in some ways develop or create, you know, visitor experience when they do come to the museum. What are they learning about and how are they learning about the history?
Larry Zilliox:Mm-hmm, who decides what should be on exhibit? Because I'm assuming that your collection of artifacts is larger than your capacity to display them all. So is this something a group decides, like a board? Or how is the process to pick what rifles should go in, what backpacks should go in, what stories should be told?
Paul Morando:Yes, well, yeah, the Army does. Packs should go in. What stories should be told? Yes, well, yeah, the army does. We have a very robust collection, nearly 500,000 objects in the entire army's collection. So we have a lot to pull from telling different, different stories.
Paul Morando:But the museum as a whole, like the permanent galleries, you know you have historians, curators, you know army, army historians that kind of determined what the I would say, the major themes of the museum should be and ultimately it focuses on the individual soldier and their experience throughout Army's history. Now, when you develop new exhibits or new ideas that you know whether they're temporary exhibits or you know changing galleries and things like that, it's ultimately left up to me and my team into figuring out what stories we want to tell. And then, once we have an idea of what we want to do, you know kind of get sort of approval from you know leadership that this is the direction we're going to go, and then we start figuring out what artifacts would make sense and then from there is that you develop the story line. So it's a combination of sort of internal and external groups trying to figure out you know why we want to tell this story and how would it resonate with the public.
Larry Zilliox:So are there any artifacts on loan to the museum?
Paul Morando:Yes, so if we're staying specific to this new Revolutionary War exhibit, there are close to 180 artifacts that are on loan from various museums and collectors. So we had to work very closely and we're partner with almost 35 different institutions to bring in the number of loans, uh, for this exhibit. Um, so it was, it was, you know, sort of this great, I think, way to kind of partner with other museums, a lot of loan agreements that we had to process, a lot of back and forth in terms of the length of the loan. Um, you know the care for for these objects. I mean, these are 18th century artifacts that some require a lot of care and conservation. Also, how do you move and move some of these objects? Some come from, you know, france, england, canada, and so navigating through that was tricky but important because of the stories that these artifacts tell and how much it adds to this exhibit.
Larry Zilliox:So thinking about that new exhibit which looks phenomenal, just so our listeners get an understanding of what it takes to put something like that together. I'm pretty sure there's a few people out there that say, oh, they decided last week, let's get a bunch of uniforms together, we'll slap them on some mannequins here's a musket and we're good to go. But it sounds as though, with all the coordination, with all the getting the items to you, putting it all together, how long from inception to opening it to the public? What kind of timeframe are we talking about?
Paul Morando:Yeah, it took about four years from beginning to end. So you know, from the initial conception, the idea of what we wanted to do, to realizing that we can actually do this. You know it's a process you have to first lock in if you can get. You know the artifact. The artifact, this exhibit is sort of an artifact driven exhibit, meaning that the stories are told primarily through the object. And we wanted to make sure that almost every artifact is tied directly to an individual soldier. We know who carried that musket.
Paul Morando:We know who wore the uniform, and those objects are harder to come by. So internally in the Army's collection we do have a nice collection of Red War material. Majority of them weren't tied directly to an individual, so those artifacts are rare, hard to come by. They usually reside in museums or in homes of collectors. So we had to set out to kind of contact these folks and they had to be willing to loan these objects for two years. So once we realized we can do that, then we started to develop the storyline. We had to, of course, put a contract together to hire a designer and a fabricator for this exhibit. It's a 5,000 square foot exhibit in a very unique space that required a specific design, construction of walls. It's kind of like building a house. You also have to look at electrical requirements. You have to look at ADA compliance. Yeah, you're right, it's not as simple as just putting an object in a case. There are so many different variables to make it a successful exhibit.
John Wall:Hey Paul, this is John. Appreciate you coming on, just want to let you know. You know I'm glad you didn't join the Air Force like Larry, just for our listeners out there. But you know there's only one good branch out of this and that's Navy. So go, navy beat.
Larry Zilliox:Army right.
John Wall:Oh my God, oh boy, here we go. Yeah, you know.
Paul Morando:I just had to throw that out there. It's fine, hey, I mean, the French Navy helped us. That's one way to look at it. Good one, good one.
John Wall:Oh man. Well, it sounds like you've done some amazing work here and it looks like you called arms the Soldier in Revolution of War. You just opened that for the Army's 250th anniversary. I was fortunate to actually go to the Army 250th parade and just seeing some of those them old uniforms and the gear and everything that these guys were wearing. Did you guys have any, I guess? Did you guys help out with those uniforms for those individuals, or was that just all done by the active duty Army folks for the parade?
Paul Morando:No, no, the Army has those already in place. Like the old guard, they have units that you know already have those type of reproduction uniforms to display, to showcase to the public and yeah, and they put on an amazing performance and you know when they're marching and they're very involved in, obviously, in their, their own history. But, yeah, they, they visit. We've had them at the museum. I think at the opening of the exhibit we had a few members of the old guard and the army band performing. So, um, yeah, they're very rooted in their own history, which is great to see.
John Wall:Yeah, they are really. Are, you know, actually seeing it in a museum and on TV or in a book or in a photo and then actually seeing someone wearing them in this day and age, it was very impressive. It kind of made me feel like I was back in time at just how sharp they looked and how well taken care of. So they do really try to do that. And speaking of that, I'm assuming actually Larry already talked about this. I wanted to kind of follow up with it. So you had mentioned something about reaching out to folks that have served or had family members serve in different generations, and then you guys asked if they can bring that on for two years. Is that a correct statement?
Paul Morando:Yes, so mostly working with other museums you know, essentially around the world that have Revolutionary War collections and also individual collectors. There are a lot of collectors out there who have done a great job acquiring this material, and so we had to reach out to them, talk with them, talk with curators and historians, to see if they want to be a part of this exhibit for the full two years. So you know, a lot of that involves actually having to visit these individual museums or individual collectors to look over their material also to validate that what they have is indeed original Revolutionary War artifacts, and so that was just a great process because I learned so much, not only about the revolution but about the material culture. You know uniforms, buttons, um, muskets, um. It's amazing how many people out there have you know such this rich collection of material, and, um, I was just blown away by you know how much stuff was actually out there and also how willing they were to contribute to this exhibit.
John Wall:Wow, yeah, that's good stuff. Um, on the follow-up question on that. So just for you know our, our listeners. If someone was interested in um getting connected with you and might have something like this, and you know we have listeners all around the world, so is there a process that you could share if, if you're in need of something?
Paul Morando:Sure, I mean, if there's artifacts they're willing to donate or loan, whether it's for future exhibits or even just to add to the Army's collection, they can go to our website and just sort of track a general email for us to inquire about that. It's wwwmemusaorg. So that'll be a first starting point for folks like that.
Larry Zilliox:So, listeners, that webpage is thenmusaorg and that stands for the National Museum, United States Army, so again it's t-h-e-n-m-u-s-aorg. I encourage everybody in our area, especially in our area, to go to the museum. It's down near Route 1 in Fairfax County Parkway. It's right on the back end of Fort Belvoir and, if for no other reason, go down and take a look at this building. This building is beautiful. I happened to be lucky enough to be invited to a tabling event there last year and the building is just gorgeous. The exhibits are really something.
Larry Zilliox:The gift shop is one of the finest gift shops that the Army has. Let me tell you. This has got everything you need for your enthusiast relative and you're looking for a Christmas present or something. So it's open 9 to 5 daily and of course, the weekends are the busiest. There's plenty of parking guaranteed, but you want to go down and you want to see the building and you want to see the collection and you want to see this new exhibit. I'm looking forward to going down and seeing it in person. I did see it on the news a little bit. I guess one of the questions that comes to my mind is that this is brand new. In June takes four years or so to develop. It's a two-year exhibit, so that means you've got something planned for to replace it in two years that maybe you've been working on for two years. Can you give our listeners a hint of what might be up next?
Paul Morando:Yeah, that's a great question. You know, for that particular space I don't have anything concrete lined up yet. Before we developed this Revolutionary War exhibit, typically we brought in sort of already established traveling exhibits. So prior to the Revolutionary War exhibit, which is the first time that internally we developed this exhibit as the Army Museum beyond the permanent galleries. So that's why it took so long to do, because we developed everything from scratch. We had to work with a designer, a fabricator, you know, collect all those artifacts, as I mentioned.
Paul Morando:So, more than likely to kind of lessen the sort of the stress and the workload, we will probably work with sort of outside museums to bring in sort of a traveling exhibit. So prior to the Rev War exhibit, we did something on the 80th anniversary of D-Day, this sort of interactive you know, ipad-based, you know exhibit, and so we're probably going to sort of do some things on a smaller scale at least for, you know, when we close this exhibit in 2027. And that's not to say we're not working on other projects or other exhibits we are. We are going to launch our first traveling exhibit in February of 2026 on the Nisei soldiers, the Japanese-American soldiers who fought in World War II.
Paul Morando:Wow, so that will be, which is a major exhibit. It's going to travel around the United States. So that's one project we're working on. The next, more smaller exhibit that will go on our third floor will honor the 25th anniversary of 9-11, which will be obviously September of next year. Sure, yeah, so we're working on that and you know that'll be something new, probably in late summer of 2026. So, yeah, for the larger, bigger, you know, sort of 5,000 square foot exhibit, you know that space, sometimes what we do is we break it up. We, you know, we have the ability to make it smaller. Um, we have some flexibility in doing that.
Paul Morando:So we probably won't have, um, you know, a major exhibit after the war closes um because of the time and effort to do that, um, but we're certainly going to bring some new stories to the music.
Larry Zilliox:So is there a chance that at the end of this two-year period that this will turn into a traveling exhibit, or do you really have to give pretty much everything back?
Paul Morando:Yeah, that's hard. We thought about doing that. You're right. The majority of those loans have to go back to those institutions. Very hard to travel. You know 18th century material. They're more fragile.
Paul Morando:Yeah, it makes sense and plus the institutions, you know they want their objects back. You know, and some of them are going to go back earlier than that. So for your listeners, you know, if you want to see and all this stuff is really cool, but if you want to really see some of the you know, the premier pieces, I would encourage they come before December of 2025. There are some items that have to go back to their institutions after being on display for six months. One of them is George Washington's sword that came to us from the Smithsonian Museum of American History.
Larry Zilliox:Wow.
Paul Morando:So this is his famous green-hilted sword, the ones you see on him during portraits. It was his most favorite sword during the war and it's currently on display, but that will be going back to the Smithsonian sometime in December.
Larry Zilliox:Is there a reason why they only gave it to you for such a short period?
Paul Morando:Well, it's such an important piece to their collection, you know, so they don't want it to be out longer than that. Typically, museums loan sort of sensitive objects like textiles or clothing or flags for a limited period of time to reduce the time that it's on display. Right, the lights, you know, could you know, if it's not properly controlled, could be damaging to the artifact. But for Smithsonian, I think they want to use it in their own exhibit or their own way to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States, right for next year. So that's probably what they're thinking, and other organizations are thinking that as well.
Paul Morando:So some of these are their treasures, right, they're pieces in their collection. They're, you know, thinking, and other organizations are thinking that as well. So they, you know some of these are their treasures, right, their pieces in their, in their collection. So you know they, they don't want it to be gone for such a long time. Yeah, um, so yeah, but we're thankful for the smithsonian, we're thankful for all the other institutions, um, whether it's six months, a year or two years, um, just having their objects are very important to us, yeah, and I can understand why they would want that back right.
John Wall:I'm sure there's a lot of folks out there that not just from the value of it, you know, but history and monetary but there's a lot of folks that probably go from real to normal and want to see these article facts right. So they got to put it back in its home so it's available to everybody and not on a special, you know exhibit somewhere else.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah, so to get these special pieces from these museums, is there a lot of horse trading going on? Do you have to pony up uh, I don't know some hitler wig or something to to get them to give you something?
Paul Morando:um, yes and no, it's more about building relationships. Of course, in the future, if they need an artifact from the Army's collection, you know that obviously we'd be more willing to help because they helped us early on. But for the majority it really isn't about that. It was really wanting to be part of this landmark exhibit. You got to remember. This is for many.
Paul Morando:Some of these objects are being put on display for the very first time, certainly all together in one exhibit. So I think for the majority of, I would say, institutions to include the Smithsonian and collectors, they just want to be part of it. Right, they wanted to showcase their artifacts in this special exhibit. But there are organizations you know and it makes sense to want to partner with the Army because they know of our rich sort of military collection, rich sort of military collection, and I think it's great that if they loan objects to us, in response we can loan some of our great pieces to them as well. It not only helps their museum but it helps the Army and people knowing that you know whether it's a weapon or whatever it may be came from the Army and it's all loaned to this.
Paul Morando:for this exhibit be came from the Army and it's on loan for this exhibit, so yeah, it's also good, you know, sort of professional development and support of you know, a variety of different museums, but you mentioned, you know. But it's also a lot of negotiating back and forth as well. You know there are some organizations who weren't willing initially to loan these objects but then, when they see other museums or they see what the size and scope of this exhibit is, what it's all about, they were more willing to open up and then enter into that sort of loan process and that negotiation. So some of it took a while. You know it took a while. There was some that worked on for over a year to get a yes from an organization and other organizations, um, and you just gotta, you know, just keep up and just keep talking to them and um, but I liked that process.
Paul Morando:I, like you, know the thrill of the hunt to fight, finding these artifacts you know the back and forth and then, um, you know the thrill of the hunt to finding these artifacts. You know back and forth and then you know finally being successful.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, wow, well, listeners, you got to go see this museum. I mean, it's really something. The building is beautiful, the collection is amazing. This is what 65,000 square feet of exhibits. So, you know, plan on maybe a full day, maybe two, easily, you know, because there's a lot to see.
Larry Zilliox:And also, too, when you talk about military museums or museums in general, this area is a target-rich environment. Everything from the Marine Corps Museum, the Army Museum, the Cold War Museum at Vent Hill is fascinating. It's small but it's really got a lot of artifacts and there's some great stories in there. You've got the Americans in Wartime Museum, which will be coming, which is the old tank farm that we would set up a table at every year. They're not doing it this year because they're moving their tanks and heavy artillery and everything else. They got to the actual site, so hopefully that'll be open soon.
Larry Zilliox:But if you plan on a vacation, you want to come to Northern Virginia, to DC. There is a tremendous amount to do here and these museums should be on your list of stops because, especially if you're a veteran and you want to go and you want to take your family and you want to show them, you know, hey, I remember going with friends and relatives to different museums and saying, you see that I had to wear that, that flak vest, that leftover stinky flak vest from Vietnam. I had to wear that. And then I had to carry that. And you see, that radio with that big antenna. It would get caught in the jungle and I'd fall on my butt and your friends and relatives will get a real understanding of what your service meant and what you went through to do that.
Larry Zilliox:And there's no bigger tribute to our service members and our active duty soldiers today than the amount of work, the amount of thought and what the whole team at the Army Museum has put into this facility, this museum. It's outstanding facility, this museum, it's outstanding. And you know, paul, I don't think we can thank you enough for the time and the dedication that you all and your staff and everybody down there puts in to make this such an amazing place. So if you would, please pass on our you know our thank you to your staff and to everybody else, because it's a special place and I wasn't even in the Army but I do really like it down there. So, yeah, please tell everybody we really appreciate all the work that they do.
Paul Morando:Sure, definitely. Thank you for saying that.
Larry Zilliox:Well, one last question Do you think AI will have an impact on museums of the future and how you do your job?
Paul Morando:Yeah, that's a great question, Maybe a tough question to answer. Now you know I will say that no AI was used in the development of the museum's exhibits, certainly not the Red War exhibit. We did it the old school way. And research and reading and writing to the use of AI in terms of developing exhibit content, developing, you know writing and things like that. I, you know, a bit old school when it comes to that. I think you have to do the proper research, bring in all different perspectives and ideas and you know, and I don't how, how you can replace that with with ai yeah um, you know, to me I I think it's disingenuous.
Paul Morando:I think you have to um, put the time and effort and you're going to get to me a better, better product. Now there may be some helpful resources or helpful things that ai can do to speed up certain things. You know, my team and I haven't really looked at that at all. You know, we and you know, but it's an interesting conversation that museums are going to, I think, start looking into and, if they haven't already, but you know, certainly at the National Army Museum. We're not ready yet to do that, so but I'd be fascinating to see where the National Army Museum. We're not ready yet to do that, but I'd be fascinated to see where museums go and how they deal with AI.
Larry Zilliox:You know, I kind of think that it'll have more of an impact on the back of the house than really the exhibits themselves. I would still want that human interaction and that human touch in developing the story and the layout and everything like that. But when it comes to the curating the collection and you know, just keeping track of everything and looking for connections between something that you have in a collection and somebody wants to donate, and all of a sudden the AI is able to say, hey, we have this over here and that was probably the same year and the same place and the same unit that that piece just got donated and there's a connection there. So hopefully it stays like that and it just doesn't replace people, because I don't think you and your team can be replaced by a machine. I think things would be too boring. I think you just put stuff in cases and it would write up a nice, using proper grammar, a nice little story about it, but that would be about it.
Larry Zilliox:So well, listen, thank you. I can't thank you enough for coming on and telling us all about the museum. Again, listeners, the webpage is thennmusaorg. And one last thing. I just want to confirm this, and I'm almost certain it's free to get in right. There's no charge to get in.
Paul Morando:Absolutely Total free museum, free parking, and we're open 364 days a week, from nine to five. So, um, yes, uh, you know, you can come at any time during those hours. Um, and we also have free programming throughout. You know, depending on the day, there's all different types of, you know, lectures, book talks, you know um, and, and online programs, and everything that is is free to the public.
Larry Zilliox:Wow, Well, great, Well. Thanks again. I really appreciate it. You're welcome For our listeners. We'll have another episode next Monday morning at 0500. You can find us on most podcast platforms. We're also on YouTube and Wreaths Across America Radio. Thanks for listening.
