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Shaking Your Family Tree

July 01, 1999
	"Stripes" Returns to its Roots by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
Read by millions who served in the armed forces of the United States and their families during the past 137 years The Stars and Stripes is going home to its roots. The formal opening of the Stars and Stripes museum/library takes place Oct. 16. The opening will be in conjunction with the annual reunion of the Stars and Stripes Association in Bloomfield, a small town in Stoddard County located in southeastern Missouri, where the first issue of the newspaper was published on Nov. 9, 1861. One of the original copies of the newspaper, now owned by the Stoddard County Historical Society, is on loan to the museum. The Stars and Stripes flourished during each of the five major wars this country has fought. First produced by 10 Illinois Union soldiers who used the vacated press of The Bloomfield Herald, it was named after the American flag. Many famous people have been connected with "Stripes", as it is affectionately called by staff members and readers. Andy Rooney and Steve Kroft of "60 Minutes'' were former Stripers, as was columnist Jack Anderson, Harold K. Ross, founder of the New Yorker magazine; Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Bill Mauldin; and Shelby "Shel'' Silverstein, cartoonist, playwright, songwriter and poet. Other well-known personalities who worked for Stars and Stripes include: Grantland Rice, the New York sportswriter, who wrote for Stripes during World War I. Ken Zumwalt, editor of European Stars and Stripes from 1946-1955 and author of the book Stars and Stripes. Jerry Siegal, Superman writer. David Stern, creator of "Francis the Talking Mule." Walter Cronkite and Ernie Pyle were among the war correspondents who contributed to the newspaper. Several former Stripers and various war veterans have donated personal letters, unpublished behind-the-scenes reports, back issues of the newspapers and various other war-related items. Some of these are currently displayed at the museum/library while others will be available as reference material. Founded in 1991, the Stars and Stripes Museum/Library Association, Inc., raised sufficient funds to construct its first building. The complete complex will cost about $3 million. The Stoddard County Commissioners granted the association 7.5 acres of land just south of Bloomfield. The museum/library houses the print shop display, has a reading/research/display room and showcases some of its most important artifacts. In addition to an authentic period print shop, which includes an 1866 printing press and a military teletype machine, there are more than 5,000 copies of the newspaper, including an original Nov. 9, 1861 edition and several complete sets of the 71 issues from World War I. "We really need Vietnam-era artifacts and copies of the Stars and Stripes,'' Deloris May, the archivist and office manager of the museum/library said. The museum/library is a 10-year project and is being developed in five phases in increments at a cost of about $500,000 each. The association is a 501(c)3 corporation and additional information about it is on the Web at: http://www.sheltonbbs.com/stripes/welcome.html or contact The Stars and Stripes Museum/Library Association, P.O. Box 1861, Bloomfield, MO 63825; phone: (573) 568-2055; e-mail: stripes@sheltonbbs.com. Names and biographical information about the first Stripers can be found at http://www.sheltonbbs.com/stripes/stripers1.html. (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
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