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Charlie Webb, a volunteer with Museum Support Center-Anniston, examines the situation of a British water-cooled machine gun previous to labelling and photographing it at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, March 3, 2026.
Charlie Webb, a volunteer with Museum Support Center-Anniston, locations an artifact on a stand earlier than photographing it at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, March 3, 2026.
Charlie Webb, a volunteer with Museum Support Center-Anniston, prepares to {photograph} a army medal at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, March 9, 2026.
The Museum Support Center-Anniston (MSC-A), situated at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, is considered one of two repositories for the Army Museum Enterprise, with practically 83,000 sq. toes of climate-controlled house.
Christel Sanchez, MSC-A’s Museum Curator, discusses labeling army medals with Charlie Webb, MSC-A volunteer, at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, March 9, 2026.
Erik Lesniak, MSC-A Museum Curator, helps arrange an artifact to be photographed at Anniston Army Depot, Alabama, March 9, 2026.
This telegram dated April 18, 1865, to the commander of Watervliet Arsenal, New York, directs motions to take for the day of President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral. (Photo courtesy of Museum Support Center-Anniston)
This telegram dated April 18, 1865, to the commander of Watervliet Arsenal, New York, directs motions to take for the day of President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral. (Photo courtesy of Museum Support Center-Anniston)
By Pachari Middleton
Anniston Army Depot Public Affairs
Charlie Webb works amongst the field-worn memorabilia of conflict on the Museum Support Center-Anniston. With a digital camera, cautious eye and regular hand, Webb spent 15,000 hours over the previous decade photographing and cataloging historic army memorabilia for MSC-A.
After retiring from the Army in 1993, Webb ultimately made his solution to Anniston Army Depot, the place he labored on the incinerator advanced for 14 years. Webb was requested by a museum worker to assist {photograph} artifacts for the MSC-A as soon as they arrived, and he’s been volunteering with the repository ever since.
“For a retired guy, I couldn’t have fallen into a better opportunity. I get to see the stuff. I can hold it. Occasionally, though, it makes you feel old when you open up a crate and there’s clothing you used to wear,” Webb stated.
On one event, Webb opened a container and located himself confronted with the guidon flag from his previous unit at Fort Bliss, Texas. “It was like seeing an old friend,” he recalled.
Over the years, he has dealt with artifacts that span conflicts, continents and many years and the work typically brings stunning discoveries.
“The stuffed cayman alligator from Manuel Noriega’s office was interesting,” he stated. “The Abraham Lincoln letter is high on the list.”
The letter he refers to is a telegram dated April 18, 1865, to the Watervliet Arsenal commander with directions for Abraham Lincoln’s funeral.
The MSC-A is considered one of two repositories for the Army Museum Enterprise (AME) to retailer parts of the Army Artifact Collection, with practically 83,000 sq. toes of climate-controlled house. From cavalry saddles and German fight helmets to Vietcong uniforms and Spanish War Service medals, the MSC-A is the most important storage facility for the AME.
“The MSC-A stores approximately 122,000 artifacts, to include around 11,000 small arms,” stated Christel Sanchez, MSC-A’s Museum Curator.
According to Sanchez, Webb’s images immediately advantages the AME’ s Army Historical Collection Accountability System (AHCAS) database.
“AHCAS is used by Army Museum curators and staff to help them identify artifacts for creating new exhibits or updating existing displays. These photographs help curators research collections remotely. Charlie’s photography captures the physical condition of artifacts and has even helped us correct records,” Sanchez defined.
Behind each {photograph} and catalog entry is a quiet dedication to preserving the previous. Through endurance, analysis and respect for the historical past in his fingers, Webb stated he’s serving to make sure the tales behind these artifacts are usually not misplaced to time, however as a substitute stay accessible to those that come trying to perceive the folks and moments that formed historical past.
“Photography is actually a time machine. You take a picture of stuff today and years from now, people are going to say, let’s go look at that,” he stated.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.army.mil/article-amp/292063/history_in_his_hands_volunteer_preserves_the_past_at_anad
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