Latest News & Updates

2012 CARTHAGE ROUTE 66 CALENDARS ARE SOLD OUT!

As of early February, our calendars have sold out.  Each month on Facebook we post the image for a particular month and at the end of the year, we will have an album with all the images posted to one of our website pages on Route 66.

We have already started planning 2013's calendar so if interested in it, please email and we will notify you when it is ready. Hopefully it will be available by late summer.  All Powers Museum Friends who donate $25 or more to museum, receive their calendars FREE.   2/08/2012

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UPDATE on fund-raising for HVAC replacement project

As of late January, we have received notice of a $50,000 grant from the Kent Steadley & Mary Steadley Memorial Trust for this project for which we are extremely grateful.  Along with a private pledge of $10,000 along with smaller donations and sales during November-January, we are almost at our goal.  We need to raise approximately $6,000 more for the installation and approximately $2,000 for some storage modifications and clean-up expenses that will be necessary once the HVAC installation (three systems) has been completed. 

Thank you museum supporters!    1/18/2012

New HVAC Systen Needed for Collections Storage

Help out with our Friends Form

THANK YOU to donors to date who have pledged or donated $12,000 as of December 6.

After 24 years of service, the equipment maintaining the proper museum storage environment for storage, the archives and some other behind-the- scenes support areas, has stopped functioning and replacement parts are no longer available which means the museum is facing a total replacement.  While the museum board had been aware of the three aging HVAC systems used in the museum building and had started to plan for their replacement, we were not aware that Airedale North America had been bought out and its successor was not stocking parts any longer.  Nor did the board expect to face this problem during the hottest summer experienced in recent history.  The rebuilding situation in Joplin is impacting the ability to replace the system quickly, so we have taken some short-term steps to safeguard more sensitive portions of the collection like artwork and have moved those collections to controlled environments.  

The Powers Museum Board is now facing the task of raising the money necessary to get the system installed and do some other slight modifications of the storage system that will be necessary.  In over two decades of operation, the museum has "made its own way" supplemented with occasional fund-raising projects (1995 Jasper County Courthouse Quilt, 2001 Arcadia Images of America picture book, etc.), revenue from our small gift shop,  admission box donations, small grants from local foundations and gifts from the board and former board members.  We have never solicited the community for operational or maintenance support before.  But now we need your help to make this repair possible.

If you would like to assist with our HVAC project, please send your donation check to the Powers Museum, PO Box 593, Carthage MO 64836 (please mark check HVAC project).  Once museum board selects a bid (which they are currently reviewing bids now), we will post projected cost here.  In the meantime, any gift, no matter what size, will be used for this purpose and will be appreciated greatly and publicly acknowledged (unless donor or donors state otherwise).

If you have any questions about this project or would like further details, please call 417-237-0456 during regular business hours or email powersmuseum@att.net.

In addition to donations, you may want to consider a purchase from the Museum's Gift Shop (on-site) or via mail order, as proceeds from these purchases also go to assist the museum's operations.

Michele Hansford, Director