VA HISTORY CENTER
An exterior view of Building 129, the Clubhouse, seen in 1871 as Veterans march past in formation. The Clubhouse is one of two buildings on the Dayton VA Medical Center campus being refurbished to serve the National VA History Center (NVAHC).
ADVANCING THE MISSION TO PRESERVE VA HISTORY History was in the making in early 2020 as the nation experienced the start of a pandemic, creating a “new normal” of social distancing while wearing face masks. It also marked Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Robert Wilkie’s declaration on April 10, 2020, establishing an official VA History Office (VAHO), and within that, the National VA History Center (NVAHC). VA had been one of the few Cabinet-level federal agencies without a program institutionalizing its history. A few months earlier, in July 2019, VA welcomed Col. Michael Visconage, USMC-Ret., as the first-ever chief historian. Once Visconage took the helm of VAHO, his top priorities were building the VA History Program and overseeing development of
62
Veterans Health Administration 75
the NVAHC on the 400-acre campus of the Dayton VA Medical Center (VAMC) in Ohio. Opened in 1867, this medical facility, now a National Historic Landmark, was one of 14 “branches” of National Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers (NHDVS) established after the Civil War. Thousands of Veterans lived, worked, and received medical care in the Central Branch Home, and were interred in the adjoining National Cemetery. SAFEGUARDING ARTIFACTS AND DOCUMENTS
The NVAHC will consist of two historic buildings remaining from the NHDVS Central Branch, now treasured parts of
the Dayton VAMC. The Old Headquarters (Building 116), a two-story, 10,800-squarefoot French Second Empire-style building constructed in 1871, will house a museum with public exhibitions, educational areas, and administrative space for staff. The second structure is the Clubhouse (Building 129), a two-story Renaissance Revival-style brick building built in 1881. The Clubhouse is slated to provide VA’s History Program with 18,300 square feet of space to be used for artifact storage and the public archives. Both buildings are currently undergoing significant renovations that will convert them into state-of-the-art exhibit and archival facilities. In August 2020, Wilkie marked the official establishment of the NVAHC – and
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAYTON VAMC
By VA History Office Staff
