Collections

Local children enjoy a visit to an underground launch control center in the 1960s.

NPS Photo / MIMI 2617

Minuteman Missile National Historic Site currently has thousands of artifacts in our museum collection. The majority of these artifacts were the furnishings and other miscellaneous items that were transferred from the United States Air Force along with structures of Launch Control Facility Delta-01 and Launch Facility (Missile Silo) Delta-09.

These collections items range from the couches in the day room to the water testing equipment used to monitor the well water. The proper management and storage of these artifacts is an essential part of our cultural resources program. Visitors have the opportunity to see many of these items on a ranger guided tour of Launch Control Facility Delta-01.

Our collection continues to grow. As former Air Force personnel, civilian contractors and other employees find out about the site, they have either saved these items for an eventual donation to the museum or kept them as souvenirs of their service. Finding Aids exist for some of the archival collections.

 

Missile Field Photographs

Photograph collections that illustrate operations in the South Dakota missile field during the Cold War.

Civil Defense Materials

Civil Defense materials in the park's museum collection

Object Collections

Material objects in the park's museum collection

Oral History Interviews

First hand accounts of from individuals who experienced the Cold War.