Research & Collections

Our Museum has two departments that manage curatorial functions: the Collections and Exhibits Department which is responsible for 3-dimensional artifacts and the Library and Archives Department which is responsible for 2-dimensional artifacts. Their work in procuring, preserving, preparing, and presenting precious artifacts so that the public can understand the story of WWII in the Pacific is pivotal to the Museum experience.

Our existing assets and continued growth of our collections, archives, and library provide rich resources for students of history, researchers, and families who are searching for information about their loved ones’ service in WWII.


Center for Pacific War Studies

The center is a premier destination for scholars of Pacific War history.

Research Now

Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas

The National Museum of the Pacific War archives contains a wealth of unique resources that reflect the wartime experiences of service members and their loved ones. In order to increase access to this material we have partnered with the Portal to Texas History at the University of North Texas. This effort is ongoing and a sampling from the initial wave of material from our archives that is free to access and download from the Portal.

Access Portal

Finding Aids

This is your primary resource to finding what you are looking for, whether it be an oral history, photograph, document, or book.

Explore Finding Aids

Oral History Spotlight

FORMER PHM2C LEE SOUCY’S MEMORIES OF DECEMBER 7, 1941

On 7 December 1941, during the beginning of the destruction at Pearl Harbor, U.S.S. Utah (BB-31) was struck by two torpedoes, capsized and quickly sank. Most of the fifty-eight officers and enlisted men from Utah’s crew that died are still entombed where the remains of the ship rest on the northwest side of Ford Island. What was it like to be on U.S.S. Utah and survive the attack?

Listen Now