Firearms — 20th century — 1930s
About this product
About this collection
This collection covers 172 firearms from the 1930s, delivered across 410 images in 37 ZIP assets. The interwar period saw rapid innovation driven by the lessons of WWI and the looming prospect of another major conflict — the development of the first practical sub-machine guns for police and military use, refinement of self-loading pistols, and the beginning of assault rifle development that would reach maturity in the 1940s.
Why it matters
The 1930s produced some of the most influential weapons designs of the 20th century — weapons developed by designers like John Browning, Georg Luger, and John Garand that would define the next decade of warfare. The Royal Armouries' interwar holdings provide rare institutional documentation of this formative period.
Use cases & time to value
- Game & film production design: Accurate period reference for 1930s-era weapons in historical games, film, and television
- AI training data: Large labelled firearms dataset for object-recognition, period-classification, and type-identification models
- Military history research: Primary visual source for comparative study of 1930s firearms technology and design evolution
- Publishing & editorial: Ready-to-license imagery for histories, encyclopaedias, and military reference works
- Museum education: Accessible digital collection for academic and public programming on 1930s arms development
Data schema
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| object_number | string | Royal Armouries catalogue number (XII. prefix + sequence) |
| object_name | string | Standardised object type name as catalogued |
| class | string | XII (Firearms) |
| period | string | 1930s |
| image_filename | string | Original filename as catalogued by the museum |
| image_format | string | tif (archival high-res), jpg (catalogue), or bmp (legacy) |
| width_px | integer | Image width in pixels |
| height_px | integer | Image height in pixels |
| file_size_bytes | integer | Uncompressed file size in bytes |
Collection stats
37 assets · 172 objects · 410 images · 1930s
Assets (0)
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