Harold L. Peterson: The Park Service’s Arms-and-Armor Expert, and His Papers

The Harold L. Peterson Papers in the Park Service's NPS History Collection at Harpers Ferry Center document the career of one of its most influential curators — a nationally recognized authority on arms and armor. This summary draws on the collection's finding aid.

His life

Harold Leslie Peterson was born on May 22, 1922, in Peekskill, New York, to Leslie Chauncey and Mildred (Croft) Peterson. He graduated magna cum laude from Drew University in New Jersey in 1945, the year he married Dorothy Parker; they had two children.

After working for the Wisconsin Historical Society in 1946, he earned a master's in history at the University of Wisconsin in 1947, writing his thesis on military material culture — in a department that openly doubted whether objects could count as historical documents.

At the Park Service

In sixteen years with the History Division he built cooperation between curators and historians and greatly expanded the division's collections of historical objects. He also advised on military reconstructions and displays for the U.S. Bicentennial.

Beyond the Park Service

• Writer: hundreds of magazine articles and 23 books on arms and armor, military and social history, four of them for children, including How Do You Know It's Old? and Interiors: Americans at Home.
• Adviser: to Colonial Williamsburg, Plymouth Plantation, the Henry Ford Museum and the West Point Museum.
• Leader: president of the Company of Military Historians (1960–1963); officer of the International Association of Museums of Arms and Military History and the Washington Regional Conservation Guild; several terms as board chairman of the Eastern National Park and Monument Association.
• Lecturer: at the Williamsburg Antiques Forum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New-York Historical Society and elsewhere.
• Collector and musician: he kept his own collection of arms, armor and antiques and a large library, and played — and recorded — military music.

Peterson died on January 1, 1978, at 55.

The collection

The papers hold reports, memos, notes, newsletters, correspondence and publications from the many organizations Peterson worked with — among them the Eastern National Park and Monument Association — and on preserving furniture, weapons and archeological objects. There is correspondence with people seeking his expertise on arms and armor, the Bicentennial and weapons questions; reports of the Historical Evaluation and Research Organization; drafts and research notes for his books; park research notes, exhibit plans and photographs from his years as chief curator; personal letters, lecture notes and slides; and many photographs of weapons, uniforms and military objects, most cropped and captioned for his publications. The material is arranged alphabetically by topic, then by year.

To arrange an in-person research visit, contact the NPS History Collection archivist; other NPS History Collection finding aids are online.

Sources

Based on "Guide to the Harold L. Peterson Papers," NPS History Collection, Harpers Ferry Center, National Park Service; a work of the United States government in the public domain.