Stars and Stripes Museum lays groundwork for major expansion

BLOOMFIELD -- On the outside, The Stars and Stripes Museum/Library doesn't look like much: a couple of metal buildings with a military helicopter and two artillery pieces sitting out front.

On the inside, it is bursting at the seams with nearly 150 years worth of history and artifacts.

Gary Capps, executive director, estimated the museum has around $3 million worth of artifacts -- and not nearly enough space to store them.

"We turn away artifacts," Capps said. "We don't have any place to put them."

With under 8,000 square feet, the museum only has room to display about a tenth of the artifacts it already has at any one time.

But plans are now in the making to change all that.

"We want to make it the museum that this collection deserves," said Bill Prost, director of development for the museum/library.

"We have a three-year plan. Within three years we plan to be constructing about 40,000 additional square feet," Capps said. "If you're going to do something you need to do it right. We think the time is now to do what we have dreamed of for 16 years."

In 1991, a group of men and women formed the Stars and Stripes Museum/

Library Association Inc., a not-for-profit corporation committed to preserving the history of the U.S. armed forces military newspaper, The Stars and Stripes.

Bloomfield was chosen as the location for a facility because it was here the first edition of The Stars and Stripes newspaper was printed on Nov. 9, 1861, at an abandoned newspaper office by Union soldiers of the Illinois 11th, 18th, and 29th Regiments after forcing the Confederates out of town.

Since then, the publication has become "the American soldier's newspaper."

"There are soldiers in Iraq reading it right now," said Prost.

Before the current location, the Stars and Stripes Museum/Library was located first at storefront in Bloomfield and then in an upstairs office at a bank before moving to its present location 10 years ago.

"We opened on Flag Day, June 14, 1997," Capps said.

The current facility houses artifacts ranging from one of the only three surviving copies of the first edition of The Stars and Stripes to military gear from each of the wars that followed.

"And we can't stop growing," Capps said. "We want a facility that will encourage every school within a 170-mile radius to bring their kids here. We want kids to know what previous generations have done."

An initial concept and design was drawn up free of charge by Bill Hanway, vice president of the EDAW architectural firm in London, as a tribute to his late father who was a writer for The Stars and Stripes, according to Capps.

The new facility will be comprised of "several museums within a museum," Prost said, which feature a "nostalgic design."

Artifacts and exhibits focusing on each of wars our nation has fought in will be housed in buildings resembling military barracks.

The design also includes a reception/retail sales area, a film and multipurpose room and a larger exhibit area for current conflicts "all climate controlled under the same roof," Prost said.

The design also incorporates the two existing buildings which will be used as a library administration archive and storage/receiving area for artifacts and other exhibit materials.

Also included will be an outside garden area so all of the museum/library's seven acres will be used.

The goal is to raise $10 million to fund the expansion. Prost said while this amount may seem high to some people, it really isn't that much when comparing it to similar facilities elsewhere.

The Pacific War Museum at Pearl Harbor raised $14 million in six months, Prost said. The Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, Texas, has over the last nine years raised $38 million and is now expanding with a 40,000-square-

foot addition for a total of over 200,000 square feet.

As The Stars and Stripes Museum/Library has an international appeal, "we hope to make it a national campaign," Prost said, "far more than just a southeast Missouri campaign." Prost said the Stars and Stripes Museum/

Library is the only museum in the U.S. which focuses on the nation's armed conflicts from the Civil War to the present and the involvement of all five branches of the military.

There are several tasks to complete before launching the fundraising campaign, according to Prost, including finalizing construction estimates.

"Right now, we just have some preliminary estimates," Prost said.

They are also working on forming an advisory committee for the fundraising campaign as well as "working on our strategy to take it beyond Missouri," Prost said. "We want to have all our ducks in a row."