Do you have Eliot Ness’s badge? Is Grandpa’s old “billy club” gathering dust in your basement? If you can prove these items are the real thing, you can help build the National Law Enforcement Museum’s collection of historical law enforcement items. Dig through your basement and rummage through your attic; you may have an item we could add to our permanent collection.
We’re seeking:
- Uniforms, gear, equipment, communications tools, badges, vehicles, and weapons, particularly items involved in interesting events or that have historical significance (e.g., first examples, those that show changes in technology, etc.)
- Evidence from significant 19th and 20th century crimes-such as items belonging to notorious criminals
- Pieces of evidence used for the first time or in significant cases utilizing forensic methodology (fingerprints, tread analysis, hair samples, type comparisons, etc.)
- Items showing law enforcement in pop culture (contemporary and historical), including movie posters, comic books, pulp fiction, action figures, general memorabilia
- Academy training manuals, textbooks, videos, and equipment demonstrating the instruction law enforcement officers receive
- Objects or documents from notable law enforcement officers (e.g., Wyatt Earp, Teddy Roosevelt, Eliot Ness)
- Law enforcement gazettes, newspapers, broadsides, unpublished memoirs, and photographs
Items accessioned into the NLEM’s collection will receive the highest standards of care, will be thoroughly researched, and will enable the general public and generations to come to better understand the law enforcement profession and its relationship with American society. All items accepted into the NLEM collection will be acknowledged and will be tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.
For more information, contact Exhibitions Coordinator Kim Hanser at (703) 278-0791 or kim@nleomf.com.
