Arsenals of History 2026
26–28 August
Buffalo Bill Center of the West
Cody, Wyoming
Presentations
Day 1 (26 August)
Introductory Remarks
Danny Michael (Curator, Cody Firearms Museum)
The Battles of the Wabash and Fort Recovery: Further Lessons on Arming Post-Revolutionary Troops in the Ohio River Valley
Zachary Distel, (Curator & Director of Collections, Sons of the American Revolution)
Guinea Arms to Louisbourg: African Trade Guns for Massachusetts Provincials in 1745
Jim Mullins (independent researcher)
Sleeping with an Elephant: A NY 1st Regiment Musket
Khan Rooney (Intendant, Château Ramezay)
Diana and the Dragon: Ornamental Symbolism in English & French Trade Gun Design Patterns
Nathan Bender (Reference Assistant, McCracken Research Library)
Reconstructing Virginia’s Revolutionary War Armoury
Kenneth Schwarz (Master of the Blacksmith Shop, Colonial Williamsburg)
Matchlocks & Musket Rests: Firearms and Related Artifacts from 17th-century James Fort
Janene Johnston (Associate Curator, Jamestown Rediscovery)
“April the 19, 1775...then the battel be gun”: Arms, Objects & Their Stories from the First Day of the American Revolution
Joel Bohy (independent researcher)
Hidden Guns: Combination Weapons of Renaissance France
Marina Viallon (Assistant Curator - Arms & Armor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Day 2 (27 August)
Let’s Read Muskets Instead of Books
Mathieu Willemsen (Curator, Nationaal Militair Museum)
The Art, History & Relevance of the Famous ‘Foot Guard’ Winchester Rifle
John Byck (Curator - Arms & Armor, The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
The Most Handy Weapon of Any a Soldier Carries: Musket Bayonets of the 18th Century
Erik Goldstein (Senior Curator of Mechanical Arts, Metals, & Numismatics, Colonial Williamsburg)
Tales from the Warehouse: Conservation Projects from My First Year with the Navy
Isabelle Lobley (Assistant Conservator of Arms & Mechanical Arts, Naval History & Heritage Command)
Indigenous Ingenuity: Native American Repurposing of Metallic Cartridges, 1866–1880
Douglas D. Scott (Supervisory Archaeologist, National Park Service (retd.))
Zündnadelgewehr: The Technology & Tactics of the First Bolt-action Rifle
Brett Gibbons (independent researcher)
Pre-World War I National Match 1903 Rifles
Andrew Stolinski (Archival Research Group)
The Oldest Survivor: S&W Serial Number 5 and the Hidden Origins of an American Icon
Michael Helms (Secretary, Smith & Wesson Historical Foundation)
Day 3 (28 August)
Glock or Not a Glock? [virtual presentation]
Dr Rachel Bolton-King (Associate Professor of Forensic Science, Nottingham Trent University)
Salvage & Supplemental Assemblers: New Insights into Wartime Imperial German Rifle Production
Christopher Clemons (independent researcher)
Soldiers of Average Intelligence: How the Infantry School’s Department of Experiment Helped Shape Inter-War Firearms Development
Jonathon Krisko (Major, United States Army)
Rifles of the High North: Specialised Bolt-action Rifles for Arctic Operations
Dr N.R. Jenzen-Jones (Director, Centre for the Study of Arms History) & Justin Baird (independent researcher)
Manufacturing, Metallurgy & Myths: Why the U.S. Truly Swapped from the Krag–Jørgensen to the Model 1903 Springfield
Justin Baird (independent researcher)
Ukraine: Vintage Weapons in a Modern War
Matthew Moss (independent researcher)
Carbine Chimera: Enfield’s Suppressed M1
Jonathan Ferguson (Keeper of Firearms & Artillery, Royal Armouries)
Hallucinating History: An Examination of the Pros and Cons of Using AI in Historical Research
Ashley Hlebinsky (Executive Director, Firearms Research Center, University of Wyoming)
Publications in Armax
Presenters are strongly encouraged to submit their research as an article or shorter ‘note’ for possible publication in Armax: The Journal of Contemporary Arms, the CFM’s journal published by Helios House Press. For those of you who represent an institution with a small arms collection or research focus, please also consider subscribing to the journal at: armaxjournal.org.
Symposium Report
Danny Michael, ‘Report: The 2026 Kurt Swanson Bucholz Arsenals of History Symposium’, Armax: The Journal of Contemporary Arms, Vol. XII No. 2 (Autumn–Winter 2026).
Forthcoming.
Other Publications
A list of other publications arising from or otherwise connected to research presented at this symposium is provided below. This list is based on submissions from participants and may be incomplete.
Joel Bohy & Douglas Scott, Bullet Strikes From the First Day of the American Revolution (Woonsocket, RI: Mowbray Publishing, 2025).
LINK
Douglas Scott, Uncovering History: Archaeological Investigations at the Little Bighorn (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2014).
LINK