Abstract. In §2 the spaces L 2 (Σ, H) are described; this is a solution of a problem posed by M. G. Kreȋn.In §3 unitary dilations are used to illustrate the techniques of operator measures. In particular, a simple proof of the Naȋmark dilation theorem is presented, together with an explicit construction of a resolution of the identity. In §4, the multiplicity function N Σ is introduced for an arbitrary (nonorthogonal) operator measure in H. The description of L 2 (Σ, H) is employed to show that this notion is well defined. As a supplement to the Naȋmark dilation theorem, a criterion is found for an orthogonal measure E to be unitarily equivalent to the minimal (orthogonal) dilation of the measure Σ.In §5 it is proved that the set Ω Σ of all principal vectors of an arbitrary operator measure Σ in H is massive, i.e., it is a dense G δ -set in H. In particular, it is shown that the set of principal vectors of a selfadjoint operator is massive in any cyclic subspace.In §6, the Hellinger types are introduced for an arbitrary operator measure; it is proved that subspaces realizing these types exist and form a massive set.In §7, a model of a symmetric operator in the space L 2 (Σ, H) is studied.