Jacques Littlefield (November 21, 1949 – January 7, 2009) was the founder of the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation (MVTF), also called the Littlefield collection.

Collection

Jacques Littlefield collected many vintage military vehicles including a

Panther tank The Panther tank, officially ''Panzerkampfwagen V Panther'' (abbreviated PzKpfw V) with Sonderkraftfahrzeug, ordnance inventory designation: ''Sd.Kfz.'' 171, is a German medium tank of World War II. It was used on the Eastern Front (World War ...

, several

M4 Sherman tanks M4 or M-4 most often refers to: * M4 carbine, an American carbine * M4 Sherman, an American World War II medium tank M4, M04, or M-4 may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''M4'' (EP), a 2006 EP by Faunts * ''M4'' (video game), a 1992 ...

, a

SS-1 Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to th ...

launcher, and a propeller of the ship '' Lusitania''. He had over 220 military vehicles to his name.

Biography

Littlefield was born on November 21, 1949, in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. He was the son of Edmund Wattis Littlefield and Jeannik Méquet Littlefield. His father was

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especiall ...

Utah Construction Company The Utah Construction Company was a construction company founded by Edmund Orson Wattis Jr., Warren L. Wattis and William. H. Wattis in 1900. History A short four years after its founding, the company was awarded the contract to build the Fea ...

, his mother is a strong supporter of the arts and a member of the Chairman's Council of the

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

. Littlefield's fascination with military vehicles started as a child, when he started building

plastic model :''In art and architecture, plastic model may also be any three-dimensional physical model, regardless of material.'' :''In mechanical engineering, a plastic model is a mathematical model of a material which incorporates plasticity.'' 300px, A 4-y ...

s of them. In college he built his first

remote control In electronics, a remote control (also known as a remote or clicker) is an electronic device used to operate another device from a distance, usually wirelessly. In consumer electronics, a remote control can be used to operate devices such as ...

scale model A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototype ...

tank. He obtained his first full-size military vehicle in 1975, a World War II era

M3 Scout Car The M3 Scout Car (known as the White Scout Car in British Commonwealth service) was an American-produced armored car. The original M3 Scout Car was produced in limited numbers, while the improved M3A1 Scout Car saw wide service during World War ...

. In 1998 he set up the Military Vehicle Technology Foundation to manage his collection of over 150 vehicles and restore more. He grew up in Burlingame and attended Norma Moore Grade School in Burlingame, the Carey School in San Mateo, and the

Cate School Cate School is a highly selective, coeducational university-preparatory school for boarding and day students in grades 9-12 located in Carpinteria, California, Carpinteria, California, eleven miles from Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara. T ...

Carpinteria Carpinteria (; es, Carpintería, meaning " Carpentry") is a small seaside city in southeastern Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast of California, it had a population of 13,264 at the 2020 census. Carpinteria is a p ...

before studying at Stanford University, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1971 and an MBA two years later. He worked for

Hewlett Packard The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...

for five years as a manufacturing

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

before focusing solely on building his museum and restoration facility. Littlefield served on the boards of the General George Patton Museum, the Cate School, the Coyote Point Museum for Environmental Education, the

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes Economic liberty, personal and economic liberty, Free ...

, the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, California, that is among the largest museums of natural history in the world, housing over 46 million specimens. The Academy began in 18 ...

, and the Filoli Center. He was a member of the

Bohemian Club The Bohemian Club is a private club with two locations: a city clubhouse in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco, California and the Bohemian Grove, a retreat north of the city in Sonoma County. Founded in 1872 from a regular meeting of jou ...

where he was a Captain of the

Sempervirens In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

camp. Following a decade-long battle with

colon cancer Colorectal cancer (CRC), also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is the development of cancer from the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Signs and symptoms may include blood in the stool, a change in bowel ...

, Littlefield died on January 7, 2009. On July 11 and 12, 2014, 160 vehicles of the Littlefield collection were auctioned off to fund the creation of a new museum to display the collection. The

American Heritage Museum The American Heritage Museum is a military history museum located on the grounds of the Collings Foundation in the town of Stow, Massachusetts, west of Boston. The collection consists of over 100 artifacts, most of which were formerly part o ...

at the

Collings Foundation The Collings Foundation is a private non-profit educational foundation located in Stow, Massachusetts, with a mission dedicated to the preservation and public display of transportation-related history, namely automobile and aviation history. The ...

headquarters in

Stow, Massachusetts Stow is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The town is located west of Boston, in the MetroWest region of Massachusetts. The population was 7,174 at the 2020 United States Census. Stow was officially incorporated in 1683 ...

, had its grand opening in May 2019 and displays over 85 vehicles of the Littlefield collection.

References

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External links

Military Vehicle Technology Foundation
(archive.org)
The Almanac: Military tank collector dies at 59
{{DEFAULTSORT:Littlefield, Jacques 1949 births 2009 deaths People from San Francisco People from Burlingame, California Stanford University alumni Hewlett-Packard people Hoover Institution people People associated with the California Academy of Sciences Military vehicle preservation