Jacques M. Littlefield Story

Jacques Littlefield’s fascination with military vehicles began in childhood. From his earliest days, he studied and created intricate models of tanks and military machines. His first remote-controlled scale model tank was completed in college. Jacques acquired a full size military vehicle in 1975, a World War II era M3 Scout car. By 1998, his collection had grown to over 200 tanks and vehicles. To manage these, and to restore more, Littlefield established the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation in Portola Valley, California. Following a decade-long battle with cancer, Jacques died on January 7, 2009. Over his lifetime, Littlefield amassed the world’s largest privately held collection of tanks and military vehicles.

The American Heritage Museum is housed in a 66,000 + square foot building located at the Collings Foundation’s headquarters in Stow, Massachusetts. The concept of the American Heritage Museum began when the Foundation was selected to receive the massive collection of tanks, armored vehicles and military artifacts from the family of Jacques M. Littlefield in 2013.

Receiving this historically important and extensive collection was a tremendous honor for the Collings Foundation. Exhibiting these artifacts in the most meaningful way possible is our goal. We designed the American Heritage Museum to fully engage people in understanding our turbulent past. In this remarkable place, American history will be explored, studied and most of all, remembered. Through educational interpretation, and a chronologically arranged series of dioramas and exhibits, the American Heritage Museum brings the history of our veterans to life.

Among the staggering variety of rare relics, the American Heritage Museum features over eighty tanks and major artifacts with several that are the only ones on public display in North America. These include: M1A1 Abrams Tank, T-34 Tank, Kommandogerrat 40 German Rangefinder, Leichter Panzerspähwagen SdKfz 222 Armored Vehicle, Matilda MK.II Tank, Jumbo Sherman Tank, IS-2 Tank, Vickers Mk. VI A, Panzer 1 Tank, SCUD B Missile and Launcher, Ho-Ro mobile artillery and many more.