The International Spy Museum has introduced a remodeled gallery space known as 'The Vault' to display its extensive collection of espionage artifacts, which previously remained in long-term storage. The collection tripled in size after the donation of over 5,000 items by historian H. Keith Melton in 2017. With an estimated 10,000 to 11,000 artifacts, the museum's team is taking inventory and aims to complete the process by year's end. The collection features mundane items transformed into spy equipment, exemplifying the ordinary life of espionage.
A good spy blends in, so they thrive in the mundane. So much of our collection is like, 'Oh, this is just a briefcase that everybody carried in the '80s,' and it's not that interesting until you open it up and see that there's a camera in it.
Starting in 2022, we really started this project of formalizing this space as where our collection would live.
Hicken estimates that there are between 10,000 and 11,000 artifacts in the Vault today. Her team is currently taking inventory and hopes to be done by the end of the year.
One of Hicken's favorites is the Welbike-a comically tiny motorcycle that was mass-produced by the British for use by the Special Operations Executive during World War II.
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