THEMES

What can I expect to see at the
Route 66 Spirit of America Museum?

The museum celebrates the dreams and values that are central to America’s spirit and the innovations they have produced. It also highlights the challenges the American spirit has faced in seeking to become the “more perfect union” the Founding Fathers imagined us achieving someday. How journalism helps the public learn what’s possible is celebrated as well, using both real life and fictional examples.

And to give the experience of visiting the museum a unique boost, visitors learn about one big dream we can still achieve and are then invited to add their own stories of who and what inspired them to the museum’s archives (in the museum’s unique “Tell Your Story” room).

The American spirit has been tested in the past and will be tested in the future. This historic pattern is not unlike what most of us go through in our personal lives. The museum’s mission is to help visitors fully explore the nature of “the American experiment,” so they leave appreciating the role we all play in making that “experiment” a success.

Our Dreams Matter

Explore how dreams have driven America forward, in both incremental and transformational ways!

Celebrating Innovation

The American idea of self-rule, the first cross-country road (Route 66), the transcontinental railroad, landing on the Moon. Celebrate these pathbreaking innovations and more!

Positive American Values

Explore the values that have helped Americans work to create a “more perfect union” since 1776 and can help us be the superheroes America needs now!

Challenges to Innovation

Telling people a breakthrough is possible can be as important as the discovery itself. And sometimes the establishment pushes back.

Advocating new Ideas Including the Role of Journalism

The public can’t ask for what it doesn’t know it can have. Explore how journalism has played a critical role in teaching the public what’s possible.

What Dreams are Possible Now?

The museum’s Dream of World Peace exhibit encourages museum visitors to “Think Different” about the future!

What can I expect to see at the Route 66 Spirit of America Museum?