Culture + Lifestyle

Museum of World War II

Near Boston, More than 6,000 Artifacts Put History into Unforgettable Perspective

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"I bought all kinds of stuff, from uniforms to a homemade scoop to pick up incendiary bombs," says Kenneth W. Rendell.


Rendell's World War II collection started, naturally enough, with documents. It was only in 1990, at an auction to benefit Royal Air Force veterans, that he began acquiring the myriad other artifacts that now populate his museum. "The auction was a gold mine," he says. "Pilots who had fought in the Battle of Britain donated whatever they had, and I bought all kinds of stuff, from uniforms to a homemade scoop to pick up incendiary bombs." Other gold mines brought other treasures: German code machines, a Sherman tank and one of only six surviving LCVP landing crafts.

Rendell decided that Natick, a few minutes west, would be a more accessible location for the museum than downtown Boston. He found just what he wanted—a building near two major highways. He rebuilt it, he says, "after visiting and studying almost every historical 20th-century museum in this country and Europe." A 10,000-square-foot plain stucco box, it has no windows; it is meant to minimize one's external frame of reference.


The exhibits proceed chronologically, beginning with Germany in the 1920s, before Hitler rose to power, and ending with the Japanese surrender and the Tokyo war crimes trials. In the section devoted to the Holocaust, the walkway is narrow, mimicking the confinement that millions endured every day. "I wanted the exhibit to feel cramped and in-your-face," says Rendell. The space opens up again when the United States, with its vast resources, enters the battle.

The museum can accommodate only a limited number of arrivals at a time, and Rendell asks those interested in visiting to make appointments by phone or e-mail. Admission is free, but it is a serious museum with a serious purpose, and Rendell discourages casual visitors. "I want people to have an experience," he says. "Apparently it works. People tell me how wonderful it is."