New York Museums Offer Benefit to Military Families

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (06/14/2013)-- As New York State celebrates museum week from June 10-16, military families planning for the start of summer this month will receive the added benefit of free membership at more than 1,800 museums across the nation this summer, saluting their service.

Joining the rolls of the Blue Star Museums, with free admission year-round, is the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The Military Museum has been a free-admission visitor's destination in Saratoga since opening its doors in 2001.

The New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs operates and maintains the Military Museum on the site of a former National Guard armory, displaying a collection of artifacts and information about New York's military veterans of all eras.

The Blue Star Museums initiative is a collaboration between the Department of Defense, Blue Star Families and the National Endowment for the Arts. Museums agree to offer free or discounted admission to all active duty and reserve forces personnel and their families from Memorial Day, May 27 through Labor Day, September 2, 2013.

Each admission is also includes entry for up to five family members.

"Blue Star Museums is a way for the arts community to say 'thank you' to our military families, and forge stronger connections as well," said NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman at the end of the 2012 season.

History museums, children's museums, fine art, science and nature centers are among the variety of participants in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and American Samoa.

Currently, some 20 museums across New York State, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Children's Museum of Manhattan, West Point Museum, Frederick Remington Museum in Ogdensburg and Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, N.Y., participate in the Blue Star Museum program.

Many museums, like the Military Museum, offer free admission year-round and join the Blue Star Museum effort to salute the troops and welcome them as vacation destinations across New York State this summer.

The New York Military Museum preserves the story, history and records of New York State's military forces and veterans. The collection, housed in a historic armory in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., began in 1863 and includes more than 10,000 artifacts.

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. Of the over 1,700 flags in the collection, more than 60% are from the Civil War. The flags date from the War of 1812 through the 1991 Gulf War.

Part of the museum flag collection is also on display at the New York State Capitol. An exhibit of newly conserved Civil War battle flags titled "1862: Red, White and Battered," highlights nine battle flags significant in the second year of the war – when the deadly consequences of the war began to hit home.

"This is a fantastic display and I'm pleased that Governor Cuomo has made room in the Capitol so that visitors there can learn about our military heritage," said Major General Patrick Murphy, the New York State Adjutant General, following the exhibit's opening in September 2012.

The DOD estimates that there are approximately 1 million children who have had at least one parent deployed. This program and partnership with the National Endowment of the Arts offers these families a chance to visit museums this summer when many will have limited resources and limited time to be together.

For more information about the New York State Military Museum, visit http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/mil-hist.htm.

For other Blue Star Museum destinations around New York or the nation, visit http://www.arts.gov/national/bluestarmuseums/index-ongoing.php?over=yes