It was formed over a period of more than 50 years by its founder, Kenneth W. Rendell, one of the world's premier dealers in autographs, letters and manuscripts,[1] who has earned international renown as an authenticator of historic artifacts.

The museum's goal was to preserve the reality of the history of World War II and to provide an educational experience of the lessons to be learned.

[4] The collections include highly important wartime letters, documents and manuscripts of all the major political and military leaders, as well as the papers of officers and soldiers of all ranks, concentration camp inmates and civilians.

Documents and manuscripts of particular importance include an original copy of the announcement of the Treaty of Versailles with Hitler's earliest handwritten antisemitic words; Hitler's draft of the Munich Agreement with his notations as well as those of Neville Chamberlain; the first message alerting the U.S. Navy of the attack on Pearl Harbor; complete German plans for the invasion of England; General Patton's 1942 letter to the Sultan of Morocco announcing American landings in North Africa and warning him of the consequences of resistance by French forces; General Montgomery's address to British troops before El Alamein; Patton's annotated map for the invasion of Sicily; complete plans for the Allies' D-Day landings at Normandy, France; and General Douglas MacArthur's draft of the Japanese surrender terms.

Objects of everyday life during World War II—the posters, the signs, the leaflets, the newspapers, the letters—land on contemporary senses like sparks still smoldering...

"[7] On April 12, 2016, "The Power of Anti-Semitism: The March to the Holocaust, 1919-1939," an exhibition developed by Kenneth Rendell from the museum's collections, debuted at the New York Historical Society and ran through July 31.

The Wall Street Journal described the exhibit as "powerful,"[8] while the director of the New York Historical Society deemed it "a new—and path-breaking—understanding of the trajectory of anti-Semitism in Europe.

"[9] The museum's special exhibitions, based wholly on its own artifacts and documents, have included "Most Secret: Rudolph Hess' Own Archive," "The Reality of the Resistance," "Enigma Code Machines and the Imitation Game," and "Hitler Attacks, Churchill Rises From the Ashes of Appeasement."