Military Manuals & Publications

Military print arrives in estates more often than any other specialist category, because nearly every American family of a certain generation has some. It is also the category families are most reluctant to discard and least sure what to do with.

What we take

Technical and field manuals of every series and era, in any condition. These were printed in quantity and treated as consumables, so survival is uneven and largely accidental — a manual for a common vehicle may be everywhere, while the manual for the equipment beside it exists in a handful of copies.

Unit histories, cruise books, and yearbooks, which are frequently the only published record of a specific unit’s service and were printed in runs measured in hundreds.

Training publications, identification guides, pocket manuals, base newspapers, service magazines, and camp publications.

Personal papers

Service papers, letters, orders, and photographs frequently accompany this material. We handle them as archival records rather than curiosities: documented, stored properly, and — if the family prefers — attributed to no one. Anonymity in our public records is available to any source, permanently, and needs no explanation.

If any part of a collection should be returned to the family rather than accessioned, say so and it will be. That request is common and entirely reasonable.

What we cannot take

Ordnance, of any description, in any condition. Paper only. If a box contains something that was once explosive, do not send it and do not open it — contact your local authorities.

Sending us this material

Photographs are enough to begin — a wide shot of the shelves or boxes and two or three closer frames. There is no fee, no obligation, and no expectation that you know what you have. Collections are purchased outright or contributed for preservation, whichever suits you, with terms documented in writing before anything moves.

Request a collection review if this is your material or your family’s. If you are clearing a property professionally, see Estate Services — free pickup, bulk welcome, scheduling confirmed in writing.