CONTACT: Master. Sgt. Corine Lombardo (518) 786-4581

FOR RELEASE: Tuesday, Sep 30, 2008

The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, Saratoga Springs, will reopen to the public on Wednesday, October 1. The museum was closed for the month of September for the construction of a new entryway. The museum's new glass doors will allow easier access to the facility. The museum's hours are: Tuesday-Saturday, 10-4; Sunday, 12-4. Admission is free. The New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center is located at 61 Lake Avenue, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 or by phone at (518) 581-5100. The museum houses over 10,000 artifacts dating from the Revolutionary War to the Global War of Terror that relate to New York State's military forces, the state's military history and the contributions of New York's veterans. The artifacts include uniforms, weapons, artillery pieces, and art. The museum also owns the largest collection of state battle flags in the country and the largest collection of Civil War flags in the world. The library and archive holdings in the Veterans Research Center include a 2000 volume library of military and New York State history, over 6,000 photographs, unit history files, broadsides, scrapbooks, letters and maps. Highlights of the library and archives material include over 2300 Civil War photographs, a collection of Civil War era newspaper clippings arranged by New York units, and New York National Guard service cards and service records dating from the 1880's to 1965. The Veteran Research Center operates and archives the New York State Veteran Oral History Program and the Veteran Questionnaire Program. The Oral History Program actively collects interviews of New York State veterans from all eras. The largest part of this collection is of World War II veteran interviews. The Veteran Questionnaire Program, similar to the Oral History Program, solicits and preserves the written and photographic record of the state's veterans.