Policies & Permits

Expressive Activity Policy

The National WWI Museum and Memorial is committed to providing an environment where issues can be openly discussed and explored. The freedom to exchange views is essential to the mission of the Museum and Memorial. This policy is in place to provide a community environment in which open discussion can occur without disrupting the educational mission or daily Museum and Memorial functions, subject to constitutional time, place and manner limitations and without unconstitutionally interfering with the rights of other members of the Museum and Memorial.

Anyone wishing to exercise their rights to free speech must have a permit while on our property. All permit requests must be completely filled-out and submitted 21 days in advance of the requested day. Permit requests should be forwarded to:

National WWI Museum and Memorial
Attention: Museum President & CEO
2 Memorial Drive
Kansas City, MO 64108

Rental Policies & Procedures

In order to maintain the historical integrity of the National WWI Museum and Memorial, certain guidelines must be met. The following is a brief list of guidelines.

Please remember that the National WWI Museum and Memorial is, first and foremost, a historic memorial and museum, and it exists for the benefit of the public, which may place constraints on the facility and its availability.
No implications can be made through written material or media relations that the National WWI Museum and Memorial is sponsoring the event or has endorsed the organization sponsoring the event. Any written materials that are used to promote the event must be approved by the Museum and Memorial in advance.
Alcoholic beverages may be served by the caterer in an open or cash bar setting. Alcohol cannot be taken out of the event area.
A list of all performers, entertainers and other service-related vendors servicing the event must be sent via e-mail to the Events Department a week prior to the event.
Clients renting event or meeting spaces may contact the Events Department on this page
For catering needs, the Over There Café provides catering services for breakfast, lunch, dinner and receptions. Contact Melodie Johnson at 816.888.8130 or mjohnson@afvusa.com for more information. Over There Café catering menu.
If a cancellation is made within 60 days of a scheduled event the deposit will not be returned.
Smoking is not permitted anywhere in the facility.
Food and beverages are not allowed in the Museum and Memorial Galleries or the Auditorium.
Balloons, candles, glitter, rice, birdseed, flower petals, or confetti are not permitted anywhere in the facility.
You are responsible for conveying our policies to any vendors and their failure to respect our guidelines could result in forfeiture of your damage deposit.

Please note that at this time, the Museum and Memorial does not book weddings.

Photography Policy

General Visitors

Personal photography is allowed all throughout the outdoor grounds, the Main Gallery, Memory Hall and Exhibit Hall. This includes cell phones, handheld cameras and video cameras that are set to take non-flash photos. Tripod use is prohibited without special permission.

Photography is permitted for private use only. Photographs may not be published, sold, or otherwise distributed for commercial purposes. Visitors may post images from their visit on personal social media sites, so long as they are not used for profit.

The Museum and Memorial may photograph or videotape visitors for educational and promotional purposes. Attendance on Museum and Memorial property is implied consent for the use of visitors’ likenesses.

The Museum and Memorial reserves the right to withhold or withdraw permission to photograph on the premises. Museum and Memorial staff has the authority to approach and verify the intent of photography, and to enforce the photography policy.

Professional Photography

Outdoor photo shoots on the Museum and Memorial grounds can take place at any time and do not require an escort. Do not sit or stand on the wall of The Great Frieze.

Indoor portrait photography is allowed in the Museum and Memorial without escort if photographs are shot in natural light only (no artificial lights, reflectors or diffusers allowed). Stairwells, stairways and all other spaces in the Museum and Memorial cannot be blocked off or restricted from the public in any way. Large bags, live floral arrangements or other props are not permitted.

The Museum and Memorial reserves the right to halt any photo shoot that is deemed disruptive.

Commercial Photography

Photo shoots for commercial purposes (advertising, music videos, training videos, etc.) must be approved and scheduled a minimum of 72 hours in advance by the Vice President of Marketing and Guest Services, Karis Erwin (kerwin@theworldwar.org). Fees are subject to change depending upon the capacity of the shoot.

All equipment used for the shoot is subject to approval by Museum and Memorial staff and must be approved in advance; any additional equipment will not be permitted in the Museum and Memorial. The use of large equipment such as tracks, dollies or boom mics must be approved in advance. The use battery packs instead of cords is strongly encouraged due to minimal outlet availability.

The National WWI Museum and Memorial reserves the right to use the footage of its properties for in-house publications, for online use or for educational purposes. The photographer or company retains copyright of the images and will be credited in any uses of the images by the museum.

Any photographer that causes damage to property or other persons on the premises of the Museum and Memorial is liable. Photographers assume the risk of personal injury or damage to property while on the Museum and Memorial premises.

Photographers must be respectful of other visitors while taking photographs. The National WWI Museum and Memorial is not responsible for any uses of visitor photography that infringe upon third-party copyrights.

Drone Policy

As a public park, drones are allowed on the exterior grounds of the Museum and Memorial. However, drone operators must be licensed as required by the FAA and must inform the proper authorities as appropriate about operational plans. Further, it is requested that drone operators do not hover their device over people and that, to the degree possible, they any photographs and/or video is limited to the Museum and Memorial instead of people. The Museum and Memorial reserves the right to alter flight patterns or stop any drone photography at any time. All commercial drone photography must follow the steps/guidelines noted above.

Privacy Policy

Privacy is of great concern to the National WWI Museum and Memorial. It is the policy of the National WWI Museum and Memorial that personal information such as your name, postal and e-mail addresses, telephone number, credit card number, donation details, etc. is private and confidential. Accordingly, the personal information you provide is stored in a secure location, accessible only by designated staff, and is used only for the purpose for which you provided the information (such as to reply to your request or to handle your donation payment).

For example, when you make a donation, the personal information you provide will be used to process your donation. The National WWI Museum and Memorial may also use your information for future communications with you regarding donations. Personal information will not be released to third parties except to further the purpose for which you provided the information, such as sending your credit card information to our bank for processing of your donation, or seeking expert opinion from advisors regarding a gift planning intent you may have indicated, or if release is required by law or is pertinent to judicial or governmental investigations or proceedings.

The National WWI Museum and Memorial has created this Privacy Statement to explain why we collect particular information and how we will protect your personal privacy within our website. The following discloses our information gathering and dissemination practices for the website (Site) located at the URL www.theworldwar.org.

In order to fully understand your rights we encourage you to read this Privacy Statement carefully. The National WWI Museum and Memorial reserves the right at any time and without notice to change this Privacy Statement simply by posting such changes on our Site. Any such change will be effective immediately upon posting.

Because we want to demonstrate our commitment to your privacy, this Privacy Statement notifies you of:

What personally identifiable information of yours is collected through the Site
Who collects such information
How such information is used
With whom your information may be shared
What choices you have regarding collection, use and distribution of your information
What kind of security procedures are in place to protect the loss, misuse or alteration of information under our control
How you can correct any inaccuracies in your information

Questions regarding this statement should be directed to the National WWI Museum and Memorial by sending an email to info@theworldwar.org. Please reference "Privacy Statement" in your subject line.

What Information We Collect and How We Use That Information

Our membership forms require users to give us contact information that may include name, e-mail address, format preference (HTML vs. text), address, interests and similar information. We do not request or store sensitive information from our visitors, such as credit card or social security numbers.

Help Us Keep Your Personal Information Accurate

If your personal information changes or you would like to review the personal information we may have on file, please e-mail us with the new information or your review request at info@theworldwar.org. Let us also know what led to your submission of personal information so we may efficiently locate your information.

Internet Protocol Address

We collect an IP address from all visitors to our Site. An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer when you use the Internet. We use IP addresses to help diagnose problems with our server, administer our Site, analyze trends, track users’ movement, gather broad demographic information for aggregate use in order for us to improve the Site, and deliver customized, personalized content. IP addresses are not linked to personally identifiable information.

Use of “Cookies”

Our Site may use cookies to enhance your experience while using our Site. Cookies are pieces of information that some Web sites transfer to the computer that is browsing that website and are used for record-keeping purposes at many websites. Use of cookies makes Web-surfing easier by performing certain functions such as saving your passwords, your personal preferences regarding your use of the particular website and to make sure you don’t see the same ad repeatedly. Many consider the use of cookies to be an industry standard.

Your browser is probably set to accept cookies. However, if you would prefer not to receive cookies, you can alter the configuration of your browser to refuse cookies. If you choose to have your browser refuse cookies, it is possible that some areas of our Site will not function properly when you view them.

Security

All information provided to the National WWI Museum and Memorial is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encryption. SSL is a proven coding system that lets your browser automatically encrypt, or scramble, data before you send it to us. We also protect account information by placing it on a secure portion of our Site that is only accessible by certain qualified employees of the National WWI Museum and Memorial. Unfortunately, however, no data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot ensure or warrant the security of such information.

Other Web Sites

Our Site contains links to other Web sites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are entering another Web site for which the National WWI Museum and Memorial has no responsibility. We encourage you to read the privacy statements on all such sites as their policies may be different than ours.

Use of Information on the Web Site

All information including text, photographs, graphics, etc. are protected under the United States copyright laws. No materials may be copied, reproduced, distributed, displayed or downloaded without the written consent of the National WWI Museum and Memorial.

Contacting Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Statement, the practices of this Site, or your dealings with this Site, you can contact the National WWI Museum and Memorial at info@theworldwar.org or at 816.888.8100.

Social Media Policy

The National WWI Museum and Memorial supports the free exchange of ideas on its social media pages – which include Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Threads.

We reserve the right to delete, or hide any of the following types of content, and block or restrict users who share such content:

Violent, obscene, profane, sexually explicit, hateful or racist posts, links or images.
Comments that threaten or defame any person or organization.
Solicitations, advertisements or endorsements of any organization unrelated to the Museum and Memorial, including contests or promotions.
Successive off-topic posts by a user, spam, account impersonation and other repetitive posts duplicated by users.
Content that violates the third-party platform’s Terms of Use, Terms of Service or Code of Conduct.

Posts, comments, and replies on Museum channels should be respectful and suitable for all ages.