The Route 66 Spirit of America Museum opened Saturday in downtown Stroud, Oklahoma, and it’s a different cat from other Route 66 museums. It pays tribute to the people who make an impact “to the larger scheme of things,” its founder says.
Route 66 author and artist Jerry McClanahan, who lives in nearby Chandler, visited the museum Saturday and posted a few photos:
Steve Brant, who moved from New York to the Sooner State to open the museum at 220 W. Main St. (aka Route 66), explained to the Tulsa World how the museum was created. He grew up in a troubled household amid the tumult of the 1960s.
“But at the same time, I was watching Walter Cronkite report on the space program because I was kind of a science nerd more than anything else,” Brant said. “I gravitated towards this idea of us going through the moon and we were doing it for real. It wasn’t like a science fiction movie that I was watching. … And so I knew as a kid that, as desperate as things looked, there was still some good going on.”
Fast forward to the present, where we are still dealing with tumult, and Brant wants the Route 66 Spirit of America Museum to offer examples — some from the pop culture realm, some from the real world — of hope for a better future. […]
“It’s on Route 66 and Route 66 is a great example of … we’re going to do something new. We’ve got the ability. We are going to finally connect the country up with a road. This was the first time doing it. And we are going to finally go to the moon. We’re going to finally do all these dreams. I can only celebrate a certain number of them, but I want that process of what dreams are still to be fulfilled to be a part of what the museum talks about.”
Brandt also told the newspaper he was inspired by the story of Dawn Welch and her Rock Cafe in Stroud. He briefly considered taking over Supertam on 66 in Carterville, Missouri, but ultimately wanted to pursue his own vision. He chose Stroud after seeing its small-town charms during its annual Summerfest.
The museum contains a recreation of Clark Kent’s Daily Planet newspaper office, “Star Trek” memorabilia and a Wonder Woman theater. More details on the museum’s displays:
Brant can explain if you visit, but there are shout-outs to Jimmy Stewart, Steve McQueen, the Wright Brothers and the films “Easy Rider” and “Star Wars” in the museum. There’s also a wall display that acknowledges the positive impact R. Buckminster Fuller (author of “Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth”), Russell L. Ackoff and W. Edwards Deming had on Brant’s life.
A story room features waist-up statuettes of DC’s “big three” characters — Henry Cavil’s Superman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and Ben Affleck’s Batman. There are tablets of blank paper in the story room so visitors can tell their story for the museum’s story archive project.
Visitors’ stories eventually will be posted on the museum’s website, route66spiritofamericamuseum.org (the site isn’t yet live).
A news release from the museum states:
Celebrating America’s innovative history — as well as the stories we tell that help us be constructive members of society — the Route 66 Spirit of America Museum seeks to inspire people to find ways they can help America take its next Big Leap forward.
Our democracy is called “the great American experiment” because the Founding Fathers knew their dream would be achieved only by continuously improving how we organize ourselves: as people, as communities and as by a nation. Their genius came in not just the vision that gave us (a nation that recognizes “all are created equal” and have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”) but the process as well … one in which even the Constitution can be amended.
The hours are from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Tours by appointment can be arranged by calling 646-221-1933 or 918-968-0057.
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