SPRINGFIELD ARMORY MEMORIAL PRINT WHICH HUNG IN
THE ARMORY OFFICER’S CLUB - GUARANTEED ARTIFACT FROM THE
FAMOUS US ARMORY: One of very few historic
pieces that survived the closing of the National Armory
in Springfield, Massachusetts, this print of a 19TH
Century pen and ink rendering of the Springfield Armory
headquarters building once hung in the armory’s officer
club.
When the US Army closed the armory and the property was
transferred to the city of Springfield, the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts and the National Park Service, none of
those entities expressed any interest in preserving the
material culture of the armory, and the bulk of those
pieces were perfunctorily consigned to a scrap heap
destined for destruction. This episode was nothing less
than a “perfect storm”, occurring during an era of our
nation’s history when the military was regarded with
distain, and in a location situated in the epicenter of
one of our country’s greatest concentrations of anti-gun
sentiment. Little, if any, thought was given to
preserving intact the most significant keystone in the
history of America’s firearm production, and the
cavalier manner in which these artifacts were treated
leaves little doubt about the attitude held by the
people involved towards firearms and our military
history. This shortsightedness represented a genuine
loss to the community of scholars and collectors, and
was nothing short of a crying shame, but it was done
nonetheless.
Fortunately, a
very few pieces survived due to the awareness of the
last Captain of Ordnance stationed at the Springfield
Armory, R. Stephen Dorsey. Obtained directly from his
estate, Dorsey enjoyed this print and its history as it
hung in his dining room – appropriately, adjacent to his
liquor cabinet. While assigned to the armory in his
primary military specialty as an Ordnance officer, one
of Dorsey’s collateral duties was serving as the “club
officer”. Generally regarded as a less than desirable
assignment, the club officer was responsible for
staffing the club with the various required wait staff –
often off duty enlisted men and civilian employees who
sought these choice jobs as a source of extra income,
ordering the supplies for the dining room and bar, and
performing all the other tasks associated with
maintaining and running any other social club. When the
armory progressed through the process of being closed
and the fixtures were being disposed of, rather than see
this print consigned to the refuse heap as so much of
the armory’s material history, Dorsey removed this print
from the wall of the bar where it had hung for as long
as anyone could remember, and took it with him as he
locked the doors of the club for the last time.
When this
print was produced, and what was the significance of the
signatures that were applied to the surrounding matte,
unfortunately was lost in the passage of time. None of
the long term civilian employees could remember what
event it commemorated, nor when it appeared in the club,
just that it had been there for as long as anyone could
recall. That many of the signatures were written with
ball point pens, and the style of the penmanship, I
would lean towards thinking that this piece was created
sometime between the 1930’s and 1960’s. Perhaps someone
with the time and interest to research the names on this
piece insofar as their association with the armory could
narrow down the date to a more specific range.
With the matte, the print measures 14” high and 11”
wide, with the outside of the frame measuring 20” high
and 16” wide. The frame and glass are characteristic of
the standard institutional frames which have been
available on the commercial market since the early 20TH
Century.
While we
attempted, and succeeded in most cases, to get letters
written to capture the story behind the historical
pieces in Stephen’s collection, this print did not come
to mind until after his passing. So, it is left to me
to provide the story as Stephen shared it with me on one
of the several visits I made to his home. I can attest
to the source of this print and can assure you it was
one of Stephen’s favorite souvenirs of his time at
Springfield Armory.
This is a rare offering of a unique piece of Springfield
Armory memorabilia, and one that enhance a collection of
Springfield arms. The unusual nature of this print and
its history as a piece of “household furnishings”
transcends the normal association with a particular era
or model of rifle, and it will be appropriate displayed
with Springfield arms from any period of the National
Armory’s history. (0938)
$250
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