(photos by Eleena Fikhman) Conmy Hall, on Sheridan Avenue, is the proposed new location for The Old Guard Museum, tentatively set to open Spring 2009.

‘‘You start with a clean slate when you move into a new building,” he said. ‘‘We can refocus on our mission: to help Soldiers learn the history of their unit and learn about the Soldiers who served before them.”

By expanding the space the museum has, he said, it can ‘‘better illustrate how The Old Guard’s history shadows that of the U.S. Army throughout American history.” In its old location, the museum was limited by its small spaces.

Among the things Heflin wants to do until the museum takes up residence in its new permanent location — most likely Conmy Hall, he said — is to digitize the museum’s extensive archive collection. Among the documents retained are after-action reports from major ceremonies including President John F. Kennedy’s funeral, photos from Old Guard missions dating back to the Civil War and photos of events at Arlington National Cemetery.

Along with making the archives digital, Heflin said, it’d be nice to make the museum more interactive and user-friendly.

‘‘I’d like to take an almost Wikipedia-like approach, so Soldiers and retirees can add their own personal histories to the exhibit,” Heflin said. ‘‘They could look up events and archived documents at a kiosk and add their own comments and information.”

But the road to Conmy Hall hasn’t been an easy one for Heflin. He has faced a number of possibilities, ranging from being assimilated into the National Museum of the U.S. Army to a worst-case scenario of being closed all-together. Conmy Hall is the official destination right now, he said, but a final decision can’t be made until feasibility reports are completed.

‘‘There are a lot of issues, since it’s a multi-use facility. We want to make sure we don’t impact the building’s official ceremonial status; we also want to make sure the building will allow us to keep the artifacts in as good a condition as possible,” he said.

The museum is tentatively scheduled to open in the spring of 2009, though no plans are set in stone at this point, pending the feasibility study.

‘‘Once we have those results, the decision-making process will really get rolling,” Heflin said.

Until then, he’ll continue to work on other outreach programs, including rebuilding the museum Web site and restarting a weekly Old Guard history e-mail list. Some of the displays from the old museum are currently on display on the third floor of Bldg. 406.