STARS AND STRIPES MUSEUM TO EXPAND

BLOOMFIELD -- Troops arrived here at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 7, 1861. Looting began among the Confederate soldiers as the Union troops converged forcing the confederates South.

Union soldiers crossed the immense swamp expeditiously while establishing a police force which would slow the confederate looting.

Ten Union soldiers, who had been printmakers and newspapermen before the war, found the abandoned printing office of the old Bloomington Herald.

They spent nights designing a newspaper that would come to be known as The Stars and Stripes. The Stars and Stripes Museum and Library opened June 1998 to preserve The Stars and Stripes military newspaper, according to the mission statement.

Its objective is to collect files, records, photos, cartoons and other memorabilia to promote studies relevant to The Stars and Stripes, the statement reads.

Today the museum can display only about one-third of its memorabilla due to space limitations. To remedy that the museum and library will be adding several new buildings according to a 10-year plan.

The plan begin in 2000 with a library, said Deloris May, museum office manager. Every two years the museum plans to add another building. After the library is completed, the museum will construct two artifacts buildings. The museum will also add a 200-seat theater and a multipurpose room with a variety of displays.

May said the additions will be paid for through private funding and possibly grants. She said the museum is trying to get grants and corporate funding along with money donated at the museum by visitors.

The newspaper's first publication was on Nov. 9, 1861, in Bloomfield. It was published to provide military personel information about the Civil War.

It has continued to be published through WWI, WWII, the Korean war, Vietnam war, Desert Storm and today. It is printed today in Darmstadt, Germany and Toyko, Japan to give military personel something to read Jim Mayo, organizer of the museum said.

"It is so important for the boys overseas who have nothing but Japanese newspapers (to read)," Mayo said. It is not printed in the U.S. today because of legal reasons with the name of the paper.

The newspaper was home to a number of famous writers. Grantland Rice, who was a reporter for the Stars and Stripes, is famous for coining "... not that you won or lost -- but how you played the game."

Jerry Siagel, who is famous for the creation of Superman, also wrote for the newspaper. Harold Ross, second editor of The Stars and Stripes, founded the New Yorker Magazine.

David Stern, "Peter Sterling," created Francis the Talking Mule and wrote for the paper.

The museum has a copy of the only known picture of one of the original creators of The Stars and Stripes. May said she is proud of a picture of Sgt. John W. Schell, which was taken after the Spanish-American War for pension records.

Schell was wounded by a mini-ball as a Vicksburg prisoner of war. He served as brigade wagon master in the Spanish American War.

Museum displays range from Civil War memorabila to paraphernalia from Desert Storm. The museum houses Civil War letters, swords, money and cannon balls.

The museum also has items from WWI, WWII, Korea and Vietnam. The displays are sectioned off by the different conflicts.

May said the museum has hosted a number of children who come there on school field trips or with the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.

There are about 300 students who have visited the museum since its opening. May said, "The kids get a kick out of some" of the old WWI items. She said they find it humorous there was no radio.

May said she hopes the museum will eventually get old tanks, aircraft and watercraft.