July 21, 2025 • 32 mins
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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Larry Zilliox (00:00):
Good morning.
I'm your host, larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run, and this morning I'm
joined by our co-host.
He's been traveling a bit, butwe're happy to have him sit in
for this one.
John, how are you?
John Wall (00:16):
I'm good, larry.
It's good to be back, andthanks for inviting me along
again.
Larry Zilliox (00:20):
Yeah.
So this week our guest is PaulMorando.
He is the chief curator at theNational Museum of the United
States Army, and I just want totalk a little bit about Paul's
background, because I find someof the things very interesting.
One you've been with the museumsince the opening in 2020.
(00:41):
And previously he had been at amuseum in New York Fort
Hamilton, new York.
And then one of my favoritemuseums is the Casement Museum
down in Fort Monroe, virginia,and, for our listeners here in
Virginia, if you're going to begoing down to the shore and
(01:03):
going down to Virginia Beach,this is the exit right before
you go into the tunnel and it'soff to the left.
There it's a casement.
It's a wonderful museum tovisit.
It's really, really interesting.
I will say it's an activeinstallation, so visit it on
your way down.
Don't try to go through thegate with all the fireworks that
(01:25):
you picked up in North Carolina.
I encourage everybody who mightbe vacationing down there this
summer to check it out.
We're going to get into anumber of really cool things
that the museum has got going,one of which is this brand new
exhibit called Call to Arms theSoldier in the Revolutionary War
.
I saw a piece on the news aboutthis and it looked fascinating.
(01:47):
So, paul, welcome to thepodcast.
Paul Morando (01:50):
Thank you for having me.
I really appreciate it.
Larry Zilliox (01:52):
So, Paul, I just had one question too.
I failed to mention that youwere prior service as an Army
Reserves from looks like 96 to2003 as a photographer for
public affairs.
So my first question is why theArmy and not the Air Force?
Paul Morando (02:14):
Well, yeah, so interesting question.
You know, after, I would say,during college, I wanted to do
something.
I wanted to join the Army, youknow, my uncle served, I had my
grandfather served, so I justkind of wanted to follow in
their footsteps to some degree.
But also something newPhotography, broadcast
(02:38):
journalism was quite interestingto me, you know, although I
didn't have aspirations tobecome a journalist.
But doing that in the Army tome, um, you know, although I
didn't have um aspirations tobecome a journalist, um, but
doing that in the army intriguedme and, um, I'm really glad I
did.
It gained a lot of experienceand a lot, you know, helped in
my career as as a curator aswell.
Larry Zilliox (02:59):
Mm-hmm.
So let's start by getting somedefinitions out there.
One is what does the chiefcurator do for?
Paul Morando (03:08):
all the curatorial content, the exhibit content,
the information for theartifacts in the entire museum.
(03:29):
So I would, you know, alongwith my team, determine, you
know, how do we tell the Armystory through exhibits, how do
we interpret Army history and insome ways develop or create,
you know, visitor experiencewhen they do come to the museum.
(03:49):
What are they learning aboutand how are they learning about
the history?
Larry Zilliox (03:54):
Mm-hmm, who decides what should be on
exhibit?
Because I'm assuming that yourcollection of artifacts is
larger than your capacity todisplay them all.
So is this something a groupdecides, like a board?
Or how is the process to pickwhat rifles should go in, what
(04:19):
backpacks should go in, whatstories should be told?
Paul Morando (04:23):
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 robustcollection, nearly 500,000
objects in the entire army'scollection.
So we have a lot to pull fromtelling different, different
stories.
But the museum as a whole, likethe permanent galleries, you
know you have historians,curators, you know army, army
historians that kind ofdetermined what the I would say,
(04:48):
the major themes of the museumshould be and ultimately it
focuses on the individualsoldier and their experience
throughout Army's history.
Now, when you develop newexhibits or new ideas that you
know whether they're temporaryexhibits or you know changing
galleries and things like that,it's ultimately left up to me
(05:09):
and my team into figuring outwhat stories we want to tell.
And then, once we have an ideaof what we want to do, you know
kind of get sort of approvalfrom you know leadership that
this is the direction we'regoing to go, and then we start
figuring out what artifactswould make sense and then from
there is that you develop thestory line.
(05:31):
So it's a combination of sortof internal and external groups
trying to figure out you knowwhy we want to tell this story
and how would it resonate withthe public.
Larry Zilliox (05:44):
So are there any artifacts on loan to the museum?
Paul Morando (05:48):
Yes, so if we're staying specific to this new
Revolutionary War exhibit, thereare close to 180 artifacts that
are on loan from variousmuseums and collectors.
So we had to work very closelyand we're partner with almost 35
(06:13):
different institutions to bringin 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 withother museums, a lot of loan
agreements that we had toprocess, a lot of back and forth
in terms of the length of theloan.
(06:35):
Um, you know the care for forthese objects.
I mean, these are 18th centuryartifacts that some require a
lot of care and conservation.
Also, how do you move and movesome of these objects?
Some come from, you know,france, england, canada, and so
(06:55):
navigating through that wastricky but important because of
the stories that these artifactstell and how much it adds to
this exhibit.
Larry Zilliox (07:07):
So thinking about that new exhibit which looks
phenomenal, just so ourlisteners get an understanding
of what it takes to putsomething like that together.
I'm pretty sure there's a fewpeople out there that say, oh,
they decided last week, let'sget a bunch of uniforms together
, we'll slap them on somemannequins here's a musket and
(07:30):
we're good to go.
But it sounds as though, withall the coordination, with all
the getting the items to you,putting it all together, how
long from inception to openingit to the public?
What kind of timeframe are wetalking about?
Paul Morando (07:47):
Yeah, it took about four years from beginning
to end.
So you know, from the initialconception, the idea of what we
wanted to do, to realizing thatwe can actually do this.
You know it's a process youhave to first lock in if you can
get.
You know the artifact.
(08:07):
The artifact, this exhibit issort of an artifact driven
exhibit, meaning that thestories are told primarily
through the object.
And we wanted to make sure thatalmost every artifact is tied
directly to an individualsoldier.
We know who carried that musket.
We know who wore the uniform,and those objects are harder to
(08:32):
come by.
So internally in the Army'scollection we do have a nice
collection of Red War material.
Majority of them weren't tieddirectly to an individual, so
those artifacts are rare, hardto come by.
They usually reside in museumsor in homes of collectors.
So we had to set out to kind ofcontact these folks and they
(08:53):
had to be willing to loan theseobjects for two years.
So once we realized we can dothat, then we started to develop
the storyline.
We had to, of course, put acontract together to hire a
designer and a fabricator forthis exhibit.
It's a 5,000 square footexhibit in a very unique space
(09:17):
that required a specific design,construction of walls.
It's kind of like building ahouse.
You also have to look atelectrical requirements.
You have to look at ADAcompliance.
Yeah, you're right, it's not assimple as just putting an
object in a case.
(09:38):
There are so many differentvariables to make it a
successful exhibit.
John Wall (09:42):
Hey Paul, this is John.
Appreciate you coming on, justwant to let you know.
You know I'm glad you didn'tjoin the Air Force like Larry,
just for our listeners out there.
But you know there's only onegood branch out of this and
that's Navy.
So go, navy beat.
Larry Zilliox (09:57):
Army right.
John Wall (09:58):
Oh my God, oh boy, here we go.
Yeah, you know.
Paul Morando (10:02):
I just had to throw that out there.
It's fine, hey, I mean, theFrench Navy helped us.
That's one way to look at it.
Good one, good one.
John Wall (10:12):
Oh man.
Well, it sounds like you'vedone some amazing work here and
it looks like you called armsthe Soldier in Revolution of War
.
You just opened that for theArmy's 250th anniversary.
I was fortunate to actually goto the Army 250th parade and
(10:32):
just seeing some of those themold uniforms and the gear and
everything that these guys werewearing.
Did you guys have any, I guess?
Did you guys help out withthose uniforms for those
individuals, or was that justall done by the active duty Army
folks for the parade?
Paul Morando (10:51):
No, no, the Army has those already in place.
Like the old guard, they haveunits that you know already have
those type of reproductionuniforms to display, to showcase
to the public and yeah, andthey put on an amazing
performance and you know whenthey're marching and they're
(11:13):
very involved in, obviously, intheir, their own history.
But, yeah, they, they visit.
We've had them at the museum.
I think at the opening of theexhibit we had a few members of
the old guard and the army bandperforming.
So, um, yeah, they're veryrooted in their own history,
which is great to see.
John Wall (11:30):
Yeah, they are really .
Are, you know, actually seeingit in a museum and on TV or in a
book or in a photo and thenactually seeing someone wearing
them in this day and age, it wasvery impressive.
It kind of made me feel like Iwas back in time at just how
sharp they looked and how welltaken care of.
So they do really try to dothat.
(11:51):
And speaking of that, I'massuming actually Larry already
talked about this.
I wanted to kind of follow upwith it.
So you had mentioned somethingabout reaching out to folks that
have served or had familymembers serve in different
generations, and then you guysasked if they can bring that on
for two years.
Is that a correct statement?
Paul Morando (12:13):
Yes, so mostly working with other museums you
know, essentially around theworld that have Revolutionary
War collections and alsoindividual collectors.
There are a lot of collectorsout there who have done a great
job acquiring this material, andso we had to reach out to them,
(12:35):
talk with them, talk withcurators and historians, to see
if they want to be a part ofthis exhibit for the full two
years.
So you know, a lot of thatinvolves actually having to
visit these individual museumsor individual collectors to look
over their material also tovalidate that what they have is
(12:56):
indeed original RevolutionaryWar artifacts, and so that was
just a great process because Ilearned so much, not only about
the revolution but about thematerial culture.
You know uniforms, buttons, um,muskets, um.
It's amazing how many peopleout there have you know such
(13:19):
this rich collection of material, and, um, I was just blown away
by you know how much stuff wasactually out there and also how
willing they were to contributeto this exhibit.
John Wall (13:33):
Wow, yeah, that's good stuff.
Um, on the follow-up questionon that.
So just for you know our, ourlisteners.
If someone was interested in umgetting connected with you and
might have something like this,and you know we have listeners
all around the world, so isthere a process that you could
share if, if you're in need ofsomething?
Paul Morando (13:52):
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 theArmy's collection, they can go
to our website and just sort oftrack a general email for us to
inquire about that.
It's wwwmemusaorg.
(14:16):
So that'll be a first startingpoint for folks like that.
Larry Zilliox (14:21):
So, listeners, that webpage is thenmusaorg and
that stands for the NationalMuseum, United States Army, so
again it's t-h-e-n-m-u-s-aorg.
I encourage everybody in ourarea, especially in our area, to
(14:45):
go to the museum.
It's down near Route 1 inFairfax County Parkway.
It's right on the back end ofFort Belvoir and, if for no
other reason, go down and take alook at this building.
This building is beautiful.
I happened to be lucky enoughto be invited to a tabling event
(15:06):
there last year and thebuilding is just gorgeous.
The exhibits are reallysomething.
The gift shop is one of thefinest gift shops that the Army
has.
Let me tell you.
This has got everything youneed for your enthusiast
relative and you're looking fora Christmas present or something
(15:26):
.
So it's open 9 to 5 daily andof course, the weekends are the
busiest.
There's plenty of parkingguaranteed, but you want to go
down and you want to see thebuilding and you want to see the
collection and you want to seethis new exhibit.
I'm looking forward to goingdown and seeing it in person.
I did see it on the news alittle bit.
I guess one of the questionsthat comes to my mind is that
(15:50):
this is brand new.
In June takes four years or soto develop.
It's a two-year exhibit, sothat means you've got something
planned for to replace it in twoyears that maybe you've been
working on for two years.
Can you give our listeners ahint of what might be up next?
Paul Morando (16:10):
Yeah, that's a great question.
You know, for that particularspace I don't have anything
concrete lined up yet.
Before we developed thisRevolutionary War exhibit,
typically we brought in sort ofalready established traveling
(16:31):
exhibits.
So prior to the RevolutionaryWar exhibit, which is the first
time that internally wedeveloped this exhibit as the
Army Museum beyond the permanentgalleries.
So that's why it took so longto do, because we developed
everything from scratch.
We had to work with a designer,a fabricator, you know, collect
all those artifacts, as Imentioned.
(16:53):
So, more than likely to kind oflessen the sort of the stress
and the workload, we willprobably work with sort of
outside museums to bring in sortof a traveling exhibit.
So prior to the Rev War exhibit, we did something on the 80th
anniversary of D-Day, this sortof interactive you know,
(17:15):
ipad-based, you know exhibit,and so we're probably going to
sort of do some things on asmaller scale at least for, you
know, when we close this exhibitin 2027.
And that's not to say we're notworking on other projects or
other exhibits we are.
We are going to launch ourfirst traveling exhibit in
(17:37):
February of 2026 on the Niseisoldiers, the Japanese-American
soldiers who fought in World WarII.
Wow, so that will be, which is amajor exhibit.
It's going to travel around theUnited States.
So that's one project we'reworking on.
The next, more smaller exhibitthat will go on our third floor
(18:01):
will honor the 25th anniversaryof 9-11, which will be obviously
September of next year.
Sure, yeah, so we're working onthat and you know that'll be
something new, probably in latesummer of 2026.
So, yeah, for the larger,bigger, you know, sort of 5,000
square foot exhibit, you knowthat space, sometimes what we do
(18:24):
is we break it up.
We, you know, we have theability to make it smaller.
Um, we have some flexibility indoing that.
So we probably won't have, um,you know, a major exhibit after
the war closes um because of thetime and effort to do that, um,
but we're certainly going tobring some new stories to the
(18:46):
music.
Larry Zilliox (18:47):
So is there a chance that at the end of this
two-year period that this willturn into a traveling exhibit,
or do you really have to givepretty much everything back?
Paul Morando (18:58):
Yeah, that's hard.
We thought about doing that.
You're right.
The majority of those loanshave to go back to those
institutions.
Very hard to travel.
You know 18th century material.
They're more fragile.
Yeah, it makes sense and plusthe institutions, you know they
want their objects back.
You know, and some of them aregoing to go back earlier than
(19:22):
that.
So for your listeners, you know, if you want to see and all
this stuff is really cool, butif you want to really see some
of the you know, the premierpieces, I would encourage they
come before December of 2025.
There are some items that haveto go back to their institutions
after being on display for sixmonths.
One of them is GeorgeWashington's sword that came to
(19:48):
us from the Smithsonian Museumof American History.
Larry Zilliox (19:51):
Wow.
Paul Morando (19:52):
So this is his famous green-hilted sword, the
ones you see on him duringportraits.
It was his most favorite swordduring the war and it's
currently on display, but thatwill be going back to the
Smithsonian sometime in December.
Larry Zilliox (20:10):
Is there a reason why they only gave it to you
for such a short period?
Paul Morando (20:14):
Well, it's such an important piece to their
collection, you know, so theydon't want it to be out longer
than that.
Typically, museums loan sort ofsensitive objects like textiles
or clothing or flags for alimited period of time to reduce
(20:38):
the time that it's on display.
Right, the lights, you know,could you know, if it's not
properly controlled, could bedamaging to the artifact.
But for Smithsonian, I thinkthey want to use it in their own
exhibit or their own way tocommemorate the 250th
anniversary of the United States, right for next year.
(20:59):
So that's probably what they'rethinking, and other
organizations are thinking thatas well.
So some of these are theirtreasures, 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 theseare their treasures, right,
their pieces in their, in theircollection.
So you know they, they don'twant it to be gone for such a
long time.
Yeah, um, so yeah, but we'rethankful for the smithsonian,
(21:20):
we're thankful for all the otherinstitutions, 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 (21:32):
I'm sure there's a lot of folks out there that not
just from the value of it, youknow, but history and monetary
but there's a lot of folks thatprobably go from real to normal
and want to see these articlefacts right.
So they got to put it back inits home so it's available to
everybody and not on a special,you know exhibit somewhere else.
Larry Zilliox (21:50):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, so to get these specialpieces from these museums, is
there a lot of horse tradinggoing on?
Do you have to pony up uh, Idon't know some hitler wig or
something to to get them to giveyou something?
Paul Morando (22:05):
um, yes and no, it's more about building
relationships.
Of course, in the future, ifthey need an artifact from the
Army's collection, you know thatobviously we'd be more willing
to help because they helped usearly on.
But for the majority it reallyisn't about that.
(22:25):
It was really wanting to bepart of this landmark exhibit.
You got to remember.
This is for many.
Some of these objects are beingput on display for the very
first time, certainly alltogether in one exhibit.
So I think for the majority of,I would say, institutions to
(22:46):
include the Smithsonian andcollectors, they just want to be
part of it.
Right, they wanted to showcasetheir artifacts in this special
exhibit.
But there are organizations youknow and it makes sense to want
to partner with the Armybecause they know of our rich
sort of military collection,rich sort of military collection
, and I think it's great that ifthey loan objects to us, in
(23:12):
response we can loan some of ourgreat pieces to them as well.
It not only helps their museumbut it helps the Army and people
knowing that you know whetherit's a weapon or whatever it may
be came from the Army and it'sall loaned to this.
for this exhibit be came fromthe Army and it's on loan for
this exhibit, so yeah, it's alsogood, you know, sort of
(23:32):
professional development andsupport of you know, a variety
of different museums, but youmentioned, you know.
But it's also a lot ofnegotiating back and forth as
well.
You know there are someorganizations who weren't
willing initially to loan theseobjects but then, when they see
(23:52):
other museums or they see whatthe size and scope of this
exhibit is, what it's all about,they were more willing to open
up and then enter into that sortof loan process and that
negotiation.
So some of it took a while.
You know it took a while.
There was some that worked onfor over a year to get a yes
from an organization and otherorganizations, um, and you just
(24:17):
gotta, you know, just keep upand just keep talking to them
and um, but I liked that process.
I, like you, know the thrill ofthe hunt to fight, finding these
artifacts you know the back andforth and then, um, you know
the thrill of the hunt tofinding these artifacts.
You know back and forth andthen you know finally being
successful.
Larry Zilliox (24:31):
Yeah, wow, well, listeners, you got to go see
this museum.
I mean, it's really something.
The building is beautiful, thecollection is amazing.
This is what 65,000 square feetof exhibits.
So, you know, plan on maybe afull day, maybe two, easily, you
(24:52):
know, because there's a lot tosee.
And also, too, when you talkabout military museums or
museums in general, this area isa target-rich environment.
Everything from the MarineCorps Museum, the Army Museum,
the Cold War Museum at Vent Hillis fascinating.
(25:13):
It's small but it's really gota lot of artifacts and there's
some great stories in there.
You've got the Americans inWartime Museum, which will be
coming, which is the old tankfarm that we would set up a
table at every year.
They're not doing it this yearbecause they're moving their
(25:34):
tanks and heavy artillery andeverything else.
They got to the actual site, sohopefully that'll be open soon.
But if you plan on a vacation,you want to come to Northern
Virginia, to DC.
There is a tremendous amount todo here and these museums
should be on your list of stopsbecause, especially if you're a
(25:57):
veteran and you want to go andyou want to take your family and
you want to show them, you know, hey, I remember going with
friends and relatives todifferent museums and saying,
you see that I had to wear that,that flak vest, that leftover
stinky flak vest from Vietnam.
(26:19):
I had to wear that.
And then I had to carry that.
And you see, that radio withthat big antenna.
It would get caught in thejungle and I'd fall on my butt
and your friends and relativeswill get a real understanding of
what your service meant andwhat you went through to do that
.
And there's no bigger tribute toour service members and our
(26:45):
active duty soldiers today thanthe amount of work, the amount
of thought and what the wholeteam at the Army Museum has put
into this facility, this museum.
It's outstanding facility, thismuseum, it's outstanding.
(27:06):
And you know, paul, I don'tthink we can thank you enough
for the time and the dedicationthat you all and your staff and
everybody down there puts in tomake this such an amazing place.
So if you would, please pass onour you know our thank you to
your staff and to everybody else, because it's a special place
(27:27):
and I wasn't even in the Armybut I do really like it down
there.
So, yeah, please tell everybodywe really appreciate all the
work that they do.
Paul Morando (27:37):
Sure, definitely.
Thank you for saying that.
Larry Zilliox (27:39):
Well, one last question Do you think AI will
have an impact on museums of thefuture and how you do your job?
Paul Morando (27:50):
Yeah, that's a great question, Maybe a tough
question to answer.
Now you know I will say that noAI 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 andwriting to the use of AI in
(28:13):
terms of developing exhibitcontent, developing, you know
writing and things like that.
I, you know, a bit old schoolwhen it comes to that.
I think you have to do theproper research, bring in all
(28:37):
different perspectives and ideasand you know, and I don't how,
how you can replace that withwith ai yeah um, you know, to me
I I think it's disingenuous.
I think you have to um, put thetime and effort and you're going
to get to me a better, betterproduct.
Now there may be some helpfulresources or helpful things that
(28:59):
ai can do to speed up certainthings.
You know, my team and I haven'treally looked at that at all.
You know, we and you know, butit's an interesting conversation
that museums are going to, Ithink, start looking into and,
if they haven't already, but youknow, certainly at the National
(29:19):
Army Museum.
We're not ready yet to do that,so but I'd be fascinating to
see where the National ArmyMuseum.
We're not ready yet to do that,but I'd be fascinated to see
where museums go and how theydeal with AI.
Larry Zilliox (29:30):
You know, I kind of think that it'll have more of
an impact on the back of thehouse than really the exhibits
themselves.
I would still want that humaninteraction and that human touch
in developing the story and thelayout and everything like that
.
But when it comes to thecurating the collection and you
(29:52):
know, just keeping track ofeverything and looking for
connections between somethingthat you have in a collection
and somebody wants to donate,and all of a sudden the AI is
able to say, hey, we have thisover here and that was probably
the same year and the same placeand the same unit that that
piece just got donated andthere's a connection there.
(30:12):
So hopefully it stays like thatand it just doesn't replace
people, because I don't thinkyou and your team can be
replaced by a machine.
I think things would be tooboring.
I think you just put stuff incases and it would write up a
nice, using proper grammar, anice little story about it, but
(30:35):
that would be about it.
So well, listen, thank you.
I can't thank you enough forcoming on and telling us all
about the museum.
Again, listeners, the webpageis thennmusaorg.
And one last thing.
I just want to confirm this,and I'm almost certain it's free
(30:56):
to get in right.
There's no charge to get in.
Paul Morando (30:59):
Absolutely Total free museum, free parking, and
we're open 364 days a week, fromnine to five.
So, um, yes, uh, you know, youcan come at any time during
those hours.
Um, and we also have freeprogramming throughout.
You know, depending on the day,there's all different types of,
you know, lectures, book talks,you know um, and, and online
(31:19):
programs, and everything that isis free to the public.
Larry Zilliox (31:23):
Wow, Well, great, Well.
Thanks again.
I really appreciate it.
You're welcome For ourlisteners.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
You can find us on most podcastplatforms.
We're also on YouTube andWreaths Across America Radio.
Thanks for listening.
Good morning.
I'm your host, larry Zilliox,Director of Culinary Services
here at the Warrior Retreat atBull Run, and this morning I'm
joined by our co-host.
He's been traveling a bit, butwe're happy to have him sit in
for this one.
John, how are you?
John Wall (00:16):
I'm good, larry.
It's good to be back, andthanks for inviting me along
again.
Larry Zilliox (00:20):
Yeah.
So this week our guest is PaulMorando.
He is the chief curator at theNational Museum of the United
States Army, and I just want totalk a little bit about Paul's
background, because I find someof the things very interesting.
One you've been with the museumsince the opening in 2020.
(00:41):
And previously he had been at amuseum in New York Fort
Hamilton, new York.
And then one of my favoritemuseums is the Casement Museum
down in Fort Monroe, virginia,and, for our listeners here in
Virginia, if you're going to begoing down to the shore and
(01:03):
going down to Virginia Beach,this is the exit right before
you go into the tunnel and it'soff to the left.
There it's a casement.
It's a wonderful museum tovisit.
It's really, really interesting.
I will say it's an activeinstallation, so visit it on
your way down.
Don't try to go through thegate with all the fireworks that
(01:25):
you picked up in North Carolina.
I encourage everybody who mightbe vacationing down there this
summer to check it out.
We're going to get into anumber of really cool things
that the museum has got going,one of which is this brand new
exhibit called Call to Arms theSoldier in the Revolutionary War
.
I saw a piece on the news aboutthis and it looked fascinating.
(01:47):
So, paul, welcome to thepodcast.
Paul Morando (01:50):
Thank you for having me.
I really appreciate it.
Larry Zilliox (01:52):
So, Paul, I just had one question too.
I failed to mention that youwere prior service as an Army
Reserves from looks like 96 to2003 as a photographer for
public affairs.
So my first question is why theArmy and not the Air Force?
Paul Morando (02:14):
Well, yeah, so interesting question.
You know, after, I would say,during college, I wanted to do
something.
I wanted to join the Army, youknow, my uncle served, I had my
grandfather served, so I justkind of wanted to follow in
their footsteps to some degree.
But also something newPhotography, broadcast
(02:38):
journalism was quite interestingto me, you know, although I
didn't have aspirations tobecome a journalist.
But doing that in the Army tome, um, you know, although I
didn't have um aspirations tobecome a journalist, um, but
doing that in the army intriguedme and, um, I'm really glad I
did.
It gained a lot of experienceand a lot, you know, helped in
my career as as a curator aswell.
Larry Zilliox (02:59):
Mm-hmm.
So let's start by getting somedefinitions out there.
One is what does the chiefcurator do for?
Paul Morando (03:08):
all the curatorial content, the exhibit content,
the information for theartifacts in the entire museum.
(03:29):
So I would, you know, alongwith my team, determine, you
know, how do we tell the Armystory through exhibits, how do
we interpret Army history and insome ways develop or create,
you know, visitor experiencewhen they do come to the museum.
(03:49):
What are they learning aboutand how are they learning about
the history?
Larry Zilliox (03:54):
Mm-hmm, who decides what should be on
exhibit?
Because I'm assuming that yourcollection of artifacts is
larger than your capacity todisplay them all.
So is this something a groupdecides, like a board?
Or how is the process to pickwhat rifles should go in, what
(04:19):
backpacks should go in, whatstories should be told?
Paul Morando (04:23):
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 robustcollection, nearly 500,000
objects in the entire army'scollection.
So we have a lot to pull fromtelling different, different
stories.
But the museum as a whole, likethe permanent galleries, you
know you have historians,curators, you know army, army
historians that kind ofdetermined what the I would say,
(04:48):
the major themes of the museumshould be and ultimately it
focuses on the individualsoldier and their experience
throughout Army's history.
Now, when you develop newexhibits or new ideas that you
know whether they're temporaryexhibits or you know changing
galleries and things like that,it's ultimately left up to me
(05:09):
and my team into figuring outwhat stories we want to tell.
And then, once we have an ideaof what we want to do, you know
kind of get sort of approvalfrom you know leadership that
this is the direction we'regoing to go, and then we start
figuring out what artifactswould make sense and then from
there is that you develop thestory line.
(05:31):
So it's a combination of sortof internal and external groups
trying to figure out you knowwhy we want to tell this story
and how would it resonate withthe public.
Larry Zilliox (05:44):
So are there any artifacts on loan to the museum?
Paul Morando (05:48):
Yes, so if we're staying specific to this new
Revolutionary War exhibit, thereare close to 180 artifacts that
are on loan from variousmuseums and collectors.
So we had to work very closelyand we're partner with almost 35
(06:13):
different institutions to bringin 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 withother museums, a lot of loan
agreements that we had toprocess, a lot of back and forth
in terms of the length of theloan.
(06:35):
Um, you know the care for forthese objects.
I mean, these are 18th centuryartifacts that some require a
lot of care and conservation.
Also, how do you move and movesome of these objects?
Some come from, you know,france, england, canada, and so
(06:55):
navigating through that wastricky but important because of
the stories that these artifactstell and how much it adds to
this exhibit.
Larry Zilliox (07:07):
So thinking about that new exhibit which looks
phenomenal, just so ourlisteners get an understanding
of what it takes to putsomething like that together.
I'm pretty sure there's a fewpeople out there that say, oh,
they decided last week, let'sget a bunch of uniforms together
, we'll slap them on somemannequins here's a musket and
(07:30):
we're good to go.
But it sounds as though, withall the coordination, with all
the getting the items to you,putting it all together, how
long from inception to openingit to the public?
What kind of timeframe are wetalking about?
Paul Morando (07:47):
Yeah, it took about four years from beginning
to end.
So you know, from the initialconception, the idea of what we
wanted to do, to realizing thatwe can actually do this.
You know it's a process youhave to first lock in if you can
get.
You know the artifact.
(08:07):
The artifact, this exhibit issort of an artifact driven
exhibit, meaning that thestories are told primarily
through the object.
And we wanted to make sure thatalmost every artifact is tied
directly to an individualsoldier.
We know who carried that musket.
We know who wore the uniform,and those objects are harder to
(08:32):
come by.
So internally in the Army'scollection we do have a nice
collection of Red War material.
Majority of them weren't tieddirectly to an individual, so
those artifacts are rare, hardto come by.
They usually reside in museumsor in homes of collectors.
So we had to set out to kind ofcontact these folks and they
(08:53):
had to be willing to loan theseobjects for two years.
So once we realized we can dothat, then we started to develop
the storyline.
We had to, of course, put acontract together to hire a
designer and a fabricator forthis exhibit.
It's a 5,000 square footexhibit in a very unique space
(09:17):
that required a specific design,construction of walls.
It's kind of like building ahouse.
You also have to look atelectrical requirements.
You have to look at ADAcompliance.
Yeah, you're right, it's not assimple as just putting an
object in a case.
(09:38):
There are so many differentvariables to make it a
successful exhibit.
John Wall (09:42):
Hey Paul, this is John.
Appreciate you coming on, justwant to let you know.
You know I'm glad you didn'tjoin the Air Force like Larry,
just for our listeners out there.
But you know there's only onegood branch out of this and
that's Navy.
So go, navy beat.
Larry Zilliox (09:57):
Army right.
John Wall (09:58):
Oh my God, oh boy, here we go.
Yeah, you know.
Paul Morando (10:02):
I just had to throw that out there.
It's fine, hey, I mean, theFrench Navy helped us.
That's one way to look at it.
Good one, good one.
John Wall (10:12):
Oh man.
Well, it sounds like you'vedone some amazing work here and
it looks like you called armsthe Soldier in Revolution of War
.
You just opened that for theArmy's 250th anniversary.
I was fortunate to actually goto the Army 250th parade and
(10:32):
just seeing some of those themold uniforms and the gear and
everything that these guys werewearing.
Did you guys have any, I guess?
Did you guys help out withthose uniforms for those
individuals, or was that justall done by the active duty Army
folks for the parade?
Paul Morando (10:51):
No, no, the Army has those already in place.
Like the old guard, they haveunits that you know already have
those type of reproductionuniforms to display, to showcase
to the public and yeah, andthey put on an amazing
performance and you know whenthey're marching and they're
(11:13):
very involved in, obviously, intheir, their own history.
But, yeah, they, they visit.
We've had them at the museum.
I think at the opening of theexhibit we had a few members of
the old guard and the army bandperforming.
So, um, yeah, they're veryrooted in their own history,
which is great to see.
John Wall (11:30):
Yeah, they are really .
Are, you know, actually seeingit in a museum and on TV or in a
book or in a photo and thenactually seeing someone wearing
them in this day and age, it wasvery impressive.
It kind of made me feel like Iwas back in time at just how
sharp they looked and how welltaken care of.
So they do really try to dothat.
(11:51):
And speaking of that, I'massuming actually Larry already
talked about this.
I wanted to kind of follow upwith it.
So you had mentioned somethingabout reaching out to folks that
have served or had familymembers serve in different
generations, and then you guysasked if they can bring that on
for two years.
Is that a correct statement?
Paul Morando (12:13):
Yes, so mostly working with other museums you
know, essentially around theworld that have Revolutionary
War collections and alsoindividual collectors.
There are a lot of collectorsout there who have done a great
job acquiring this material, andso we had to reach out to them,
(12:35):
talk with them, talk withcurators and historians, to see
if they want to be a part ofthis exhibit for the full two
years.
So you know, a lot of thatinvolves actually having to
visit these individual museumsor individual collectors to look
over their material also tovalidate that what they have is
(12:56):
indeed original RevolutionaryWar artifacts, and so that was
just a great process because Ilearned so much, not only about
the revolution but about thematerial culture.
You know uniforms, buttons, um,muskets, um.
It's amazing how many peopleout there have you know such
(13:19):
this rich collection of material, and, um, I was just blown away
by you know how much stuff wasactually out there and also how
willing they were to contributeto this exhibit.
John Wall (13:33):
Wow, yeah, that's good stuff.
Um, on the follow-up questionon that.
So just for you know our, ourlisteners.
If someone was interested in umgetting connected with you and
might have something like this,and you know we have listeners
all around the world, so isthere a process that you could
share if, if you're in need ofsomething?
Paul Morando (13:52):
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 theArmy's collection, they can go
to our website and just sort oftrack a general email for us to
inquire about that.
It's wwwmemusaorg.
(14:16):
So that'll be a first startingpoint for folks like that.
Larry Zilliox (14:21):
So, listeners, that webpage is thenmusaorg and
that stands for the NationalMuseum, United States Army, so
again it's t-h-e-n-m-u-s-aorg.
I encourage everybody in ourarea, especially in our area, to
(14:45):
go to the museum.
It's down near Route 1 inFairfax County Parkway.
It's right on the back end ofFort Belvoir and, if for no
other reason, go down and take alook at this building.
This building is beautiful.
I happened to be lucky enoughto be invited to a tabling event
(15:06):
there last year and thebuilding is just gorgeous.
The exhibits are reallysomething.
The gift shop is one of thefinest gift shops that the Army
has.
Let me tell you.
This has got everything youneed for your enthusiast
relative and you're looking fora Christmas present or something
(15:26):
.
So it's open 9 to 5 daily andof course, the weekends are the
busiest.
There's plenty of parkingguaranteed, but you want to go
down and you want to see thebuilding and you want to see the
collection and you want to seethis new exhibit.
I'm looking forward to goingdown and seeing it in person.
I did see it on the news alittle bit.
I guess one of the questionsthat comes to my mind is that
(15:50):
this is brand new.
In June takes four years or soto develop.
It's a two-year exhibit, sothat means you've got something
planned for to replace it in twoyears that maybe you've been
working on for two years.
Can you give our listeners ahint of what might be up next?
Paul Morando (16:10):
Yeah, that's a great question.
You know, for that particularspace I don't have anything
concrete lined up yet.
Before we developed thisRevolutionary War exhibit,
typically we brought in sort ofalready established traveling
(16:31):
exhibits.
So prior to the RevolutionaryWar exhibit, which is the first
time that internally wedeveloped this exhibit as the
Army Museum beyond the permanentgalleries.
So that's why it took so longto do, because we developed
everything from scratch.
We had to work with a designer,a fabricator, you know, collect
all those artifacts, as Imentioned.
(16:53):
So, more than likely to kind oflessen the sort of the stress
and the workload, we willprobably work with sort of
outside museums to bring in sortof a traveling exhibit.
So prior to the Rev War exhibit, we did something on the 80th
anniversary of D-Day, this sortof interactive you know,
(17:15):
ipad-based, you know exhibit,and so we're probably going to
sort of do some things on asmaller scale at least for, you
know, when we close this exhibitin 2027.
And that's not to say we're notworking on other projects or
other exhibits we are.
We are going to launch ourfirst traveling exhibit in
(17:37):
February of 2026 on the Niseisoldiers, the Japanese-American
soldiers who fought in World WarII.
Wow, so that will be, which is amajor exhibit.
It's going to travel around theUnited States.
So that's one project we'reworking on.
The next, more smaller exhibitthat will go on our third floor
(18:01):
will honor the 25th anniversaryof 9-11, which will be obviously
September of next year.
Sure, yeah, so we're working onthat and you know that'll be
something new, probably in latesummer of 2026.
So, yeah, for the larger,bigger, you know, sort of 5,000
square foot exhibit, you knowthat space, sometimes what we do
(18:24):
is we break it up.
We, you know, we have theability to make it smaller.
Um, we have some flexibility indoing that.
So we probably won't have, um,you know, a major exhibit after
the war closes um because of thetime and effort to do that, um,
but we're certainly going tobring some new stories to the
(18:46):
music.
Larry Zilliox (18:47):
So is there a chance that at the end of this
two-year period that this willturn into a traveling exhibit,
or do you really have to givepretty much everything back?
Paul Morando (18:58):
Yeah, that's hard.
We thought about doing that.
You're right.
The majority of those loanshave to go back to those
institutions.
Very hard to travel.
You know 18th century material.
They're more fragile.
Yeah, it makes sense and plusthe institutions, you know they
want their objects back.
You know, and some of them aregoing to go back earlier than
(19:22):
that.
So for your listeners, you know, if you want to see and all
this stuff is really cool, butif you want to really see some
of the you know, the premierpieces, I would encourage they
come before December of 2025.
There are some items that haveto go back to their institutions
after being on display for sixmonths.
One of them is GeorgeWashington's sword that came to
(19:48):
us from the Smithsonian Museumof American History.
Larry Zilliox (19:51):
Wow.
Paul Morando (19:52):
So this is his famous green-hilted sword, the
ones you see on him duringportraits.
It was his most favorite swordduring the war and it's
currently on display, but thatwill be going back to the
Smithsonian sometime in December.
Larry Zilliox (20:10):
Is there a reason why they only gave it to you
for such a short period?
Paul Morando (20:14):
Well, it's such an important piece to their
collection, you know, so theydon't want it to be out longer
than that.
Typically, museums loan sort ofsensitive objects like textiles
or clothing or flags for alimited period of time to reduce
(20:38):
the time that it's on display.
Right, the lights, you know,could you know, if it's not
properly controlled, could bedamaging to the artifact.
But for Smithsonian, I thinkthey want to use it in their own
exhibit or their own way tocommemorate the 250th
anniversary of the United States, right for next year.
(20:59):
So that's probably what they'rethinking, and other
organizations are thinking thatas well.
So some of these are theirtreasures, 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 theseare their treasures, right,
their pieces in their, in theircollection.
So you know they, they don'twant it to be gone for such a
long time.
Yeah, um, so yeah, but we'rethankful for the smithsonian,
(21:20):
we're thankful for all the otherinstitutions, 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 (21:32):
I'm sure there's a lot of folks out there that not
just from the value of it, youknow, but history and monetary
but there's a lot of folks thatprobably go from real to normal
and want to see these articlefacts right.
So they got to put it back inits home so it's available to
everybody and not on a special,you know exhibit somewhere else.
Larry Zilliox (21:50):
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Yeah, so to get these specialpieces from these museums, is
there a lot of horse tradinggoing on?
Do you have to pony up uh, Idon't know some hitler wig or
something to to get them to giveyou something?
Paul Morando (22:05):
um, yes and no, it's more about building
relationships.
Of course, in the future, ifthey need an artifact from the
Army's collection, you know thatobviously we'd be more willing
to help because they helped usearly on.
But for the majority it reallyisn't about that.
(22:25):
It was really wanting to bepart of this landmark exhibit.
You got to remember.
This is for many.
Some of these objects are beingput on display for the very
first time, certainly alltogether in one exhibit.
So I think for the majority of,I would say, institutions to
(22:46):
include the Smithsonian andcollectors, they just want to be
part of it.
Right, they wanted to showcasetheir artifacts in this special
exhibit.
But there are organizations youknow and it makes sense to want
to partner with the Armybecause they know of our rich
sort of military collection,rich sort of military collection
, and I think it's great that ifthey loan objects to us, in
(23:12):
response we can loan some of ourgreat pieces to them as well.
It not only helps their museumbut it helps the Army and people
knowing that you know whetherit's a weapon or whatever it may
be came from the Army and it'sall loaned to this.
for this exhibit be came fromthe Army and it's on loan for
this exhibit, so yeah, it's alsogood, you know, sort of
(23:32):
professional development andsupport of you know, a variety
of different museums, but youmentioned, you know.
But it's also a lot ofnegotiating back and forth as
well.
You know there are someorganizations who weren't
willing initially to loan theseobjects but then, when they see
(23:52):
other museums or they see whatthe size and scope of this
exhibit is, what it's all about,they were more willing to open
up and then enter into that sortof loan process and that
negotiation.
So some of it took a while.
You know it took a while.
There was some that worked onfor over a year to get a yes
from an organization and otherorganizations, um, and you just
(24:17):
gotta, you know, just keep upand just keep talking to them
and um, but I liked that process.
I, like you, know the thrill ofthe hunt to fight, finding these
artifacts you know the back andforth and then, um, you know
the thrill of the hunt tofinding these artifacts.
You know back and forth andthen you know finally being
successful.
Larry Zilliox (24:31):
Yeah, wow, well, listeners, you got to go see
this museum.
I mean, it's really something.
The building is beautiful, thecollection is amazing.
This is what 65,000 square feetof exhibits.
So, you know, plan on maybe afull day, maybe two, easily, you
(24:52):
know, because there's a lot tosee.
And also, too, when you talkabout military museums or
museums in general, this area isa target-rich environment.
Everything from the MarineCorps Museum, the Army Museum,
the Cold War Museum at Vent Hillis fascinating.
(25:13):
It's small but it's really gota lot of artifacts and there's
some great stories in there.
You've got the Americans inWartime Museum, which will be
coming, which is the old tankfarm that we would set up a
table at every year.
They're not doing it this yearbecause they're moving their
(25:34):
tanks and heavy artillery andeverything else.
They got to the actual site, sohopefully that'll be open soon.
But if you plan on a vacation,you want to come to Northern
Virginia, to DC.
There is a tremendous amount todo here and these museums
should be on your list of stopsbecause, especially if you're a
(25:57):
veteran and you want to go andyou want to take your family and
you want to show them, you know, hey, I remember going with
friends and relatives todifferent museums and saying,
you see that I had to wear that,that flak vest, that leftover
stinky flak vest from Vietnam.
(26:19):
I had to wear that.
And then I had to carry that.
And you see, that radio withthat big antenna.
It would get caught in thejungle and I'd fall on my butt
and your friends and relativeswill get a real understanding of
what your service meant andwhat you went through to do that
.
And there's no bigger tribute toour service members and our
(26:45):
active duty soldiers today thanthe amount of work, the amount
of thought and what the wholeteam at the Army Museum has put
into this facility, this museum.
It's outstanding facility, thismuseum, it's outstanding.
(27:06):
And you know, paul, I don'tthink we can thank you enough
for the time and the dedicationthat you all and your staff and
everybody down there puts in tomake this such an amazing place.
So if you would, please pass onour you know our thank you to
your staff and to everybody else, because it's a special place
(27:27):
and I wasn't even in the Armybut I do really like it down
there.
So, yeah, please tell everybodywe really appreciate all the
work that they do.
Paul Morando (27:37):
Sure, definitely.
Thank you for saying that.
Larry Zilliox (27:39):
Well, one last question Do you think AI will
have an impact on museums of thefuture and how you do your job?
Paul Morando (27:50):
Yeah, that's a great question, Maybe a tough
question to answer.
Now you know I will say that noAI 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 andwriting to the use of AI in
(28:13):
terms of developing exhibitcontent, developing, you know
writing and things like that.
I, you know, a bit old schoolwhen it comes to that.
I think you have to do theproper research, bring in all
(28:37):
different perspectives and ideasand you know, and I don't how,
how you can replace that withwith ai yeah um, you know, to me
I I think it's disingenuous.
I think you have to um, put thetime and effort and you're going
to get to me a better, betterproduct.
Now there may be some helpfulresources or helpful things that
(28:59):
ai can do to speed up certainthings.
You know, my team and I haven'treally looked at that at all.
You know, we and you know, butit's an interesting conversation
that museums are going to, Ithink, start looking into and,
if they haven't already, but youknow, certainly at the National
(29:19):
Army Museum.
We're not ready yet to do that,so but I'd be fascinating to
see where the National ArmyMuseum.
We're not ready yet to do that,but I'd be fascinated to see
where museums go and how theydeal with AI.
Larry Zilliox (29:30):
You know, I kind of think that it'll have more of
an impact on the back of thehouse than really the exhibits
themselves.
I would still want that humaninteraction and that human touch
in developing the story and thelayout and everything like that
.
But when it comes to thecurating the collection and you
(29:52):
know, just keeping track ofeverything and looking for
connections between somethingthat you have in a collection
and somebody wants to donate,and all of a sudden the AI is
able to say, hey, we have thisover here and that was probably
the same year and the same placeand the same unit that that
piece just got donated andthere's a connection there.
(30:12):
So hopefully it stays like thatand it just doesn't replace
people, because I don't thinkyou and your team can be
replaced by a machine.
I think things would be tooboring.
I think you just put stuff incases and it would write up a
nice, using proper grammar, anice little story about it, but
(30:35):
that would be about it.
So well, listen, thank you.
I can't thank you enough forcoming on and telling us all
about the museum.
Again, listeners, the webpageis thennmusaorg.
And one last thing.
I just want to confirm this,and I'm almost certain it's free
(30:56):
to get in right.
There's no charge to get in.
Paul Morando (30:59):
Absolutely Total free museum, free parking, and
we're open 364 days a week, fromnine to five.
So, um, yes, uh, you know, youcan come at any time during
those hours.
Um, and we also have freeprogramming throughout.
You know, depending on the day,there's all different types of,
you know, lectures, book talks,you know um, and, and online
(31:19):
programs, and everything that isis free to the public.
Larry Zilliox (31:23):
Wow, Well, great, Well.
Thanks again.
I really appreciate it.
You're welcome For ourlisteners.
We'll have another episode nextMonday morning at 0500.
You can find us on most podcastplatforms.
We're also on YouTube andWreaths Across America Radio.
Thanks for listening.
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