solicited items to create an Institute museum to inspire and educate cadets. Superintendent Smith accepted a donation of a Revolutionary War musket in 1856, thus establishing the first public museum in the Commonwealth of Virginia. For the first 75 years the museum was a "special collection" administered by the VMI library, a common model still in use by many colleges and universities.
In the early 20th century, the collection was organized as a public resource and took the form of a modern museum. In 1970, the museum was recognized as its own department, and was professionally accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. Today the VMI Museum System consists of the VMI Museum on the VMI Post, the Virginia Museum of the Civil War located at the 300-acre New Market Battlefield State Historical Park; and the Jackson House, interpreting the life of VMI Professor Thomas J. (later "Stonewall") Jackson and his household on the eve of Civil War.
=== Civil War period ===
VMI cadets and alumni played instrumental …
