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Museum director previews speaker series, Route 66 quilt trail and grant applications
Summary
Pacific museum staff outlined upcoming programs including an April 17 speaker, a Route 66 Quilt Trail class and an interactive sign, and reported on a museum assessment application and a possible AmeriCorps volunteer partnership; staff also noted several recent deaths of local history volunteers.
Museum staff reported several upcoming public programs and grant efforts and urged the community to help record local histories after the recent deaths of long‑time volunteers.
Kelly, the museum director, told the Pacific History Committee that an April 17 speaker event featuring John Drake is scheduled for 6 p.m.; volunteers are needed to help set up chairs and with teardown, with a request for help around 4:30 p.m. The director also described the Route 66 Quilt Trail initiative: a two‑day class March 22–23 will teach participants to paint quilt‑pattern panels that can be displayed for up to three years; the class fee goes to visiting instructors and not to the city. The museum will publish a map for the Quilt Trail and may hold an additional class later in the season.
Staff said an interactive 12‑foot sign is scheduled to arrive in mid‑April and will be installed between the genealogy office and the Red Cedar building downtown. The director reported the museum applied to the American Alliance of Museums’ Museum Assessment Program to secure a professional review of exhibits and community engagement and that the museum is exploring an AmeriCorps placement to support collections and exhibit work, contingent on partnering museums and approval.
Staff described two grant programs: the Missouri Humanities matching grant application for plaques was not funded; staff said reviewers requested installation dates and associated public‑program commitments that the committee could not supply at application time. Members were told smaller matching grants ($5,000 and $15,000) may be available next year and that in‑kind research time could count toward match requirements.
The director closed by asking the community to help preserve local memory: several community historians and longtime volunteers recently died, including Jim Reed (husband of author Sue Reed), Jim Schringendorp, Mr. Brocato and Palmer Lawson. Committee members urged residents with historical knowledge to contact museum staff to arrange recordings or interviews.
The committee also confirmed its next meeting date as April 9.
