Stars and Stripes Museum hosts Spirit of Democracy Celebration in Cape this fall

The inaugural Spirit of Democracy celebration in Cape Girardeau this fall will shine the spotlight on and raise money for a Bloomfield, Missouri, museum devoted to the nation's Stars and Stripes military newspaper.

Gov. Mike Parson is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the $100-a-plate event, which will be held on Nov. 16 at the Arena Building, starting at 6 p.m. Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe also is slated to attend.

Officials with the National Stars and Stripe Museum and Library hope to draw 500 people to the Spirit of Democracy event. Plans call for making it an annual event.

"We want and need a big turnout for the event," said Jim Martin, president of the museum's board of directors.

Tickets can be purchased through the museum's website, he added.

One of three original copies of the Stars and Stripes military newspaper sits on display Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, at the National Stars and Stripe Museum and Library in Bloomfield, Missouri. The inaugural issue was printed Saturday, Nov. 9, 1861, in Bloomfield.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

Peter Kinder, former Missouri lieutenant governor, will chair the event. "This is a wonderful, worthwhile effort," Kinder said. "I think we need to help it (the museum)."

Martin said the museum operates on a limited budget. It does not receive state or federal money.

It also doesn't charge an admission fee.

Museum founder Jim Mayo of Bloomfield has insisted on free admission to the museum, Martin said.

"Our funding stream in the past has been hold your hand out and see if anybody will hand us a dollar or two," said Martin, adding that the museum has benefited from "so many terrific volunteers."

A military helicopter sits on the lawn Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, outside of the National Stars and Stripe Museum and Library in Bloomfield, Missouri.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

The museum hasn't been able to "fully fund" the position of administrator/curator, he said.

Martin said the curator is "tremendously dedicated" despite the financial constraints. "We have been able to pay her at times, but not constantly," he said.

At this time, "we have been paying her three days a week at virtually minimum wage," said Martin, who lives in Perryville, Missouri.

The museum also is aided by two, unpaid interns including one trained in archival work, he said.

Martin hopes the fundraiser will provide "enough money" to pay the curator/administrator and at least one intern.

Museum founder Jim Mayo reads in the library Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2019, at the National Stars and Stripe Museum and Library in Bloomfield, Missouri.BEN MATTHEWS ~ bmatthews@semissourian.com

Martin said he and others on the board also are looking to better publicize the museum nationally.

"We are really focused on getting the word out about what is essentially a national institution which has kind of been hidden away down at Bloomfield for a number of years," he said.

The museum is located in the Stoddard County town of Bloomfield because the Stars and Stripes newspaper ws founded there by Union soldiers during the Civil War.

The museum's artifacts include the first issue of the paper, dated Nov. 9, 1861.

Organized by Mayo and others in October 1991, the not-for-profit museum opened to the public in a former barbershop in 1996.

In 1998, the museum was moved to a new building, It has since been expanded and is located next to a veterans cemetery along Highway 25.

Donations and grants have been used to pay for the improvements.

Martin said the museum hopes to draw national attention with an exhibition of former Stars and Stripes photographer John Olson's combat photos of the Vietnam War at veterans-related museums and institutions from Virginia to San Francisco.

The Bloomfield museum does not have "suitable space" to house the exhibit, according to Martin.

The museum, he said, has reached out to more than 20 institutions and are in preliminary negotiations with two of the organizations to host the Vietnam War exhibit.

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