MISSOURI – Check your storage bins. One Missouri organization is looking for memorabilia to showcase in celebration of Route 66’s centennial anniversary.
The State Historic Society of Missouri has launched an initiative to collect memorabilia well before Route 66 turns 100 years old on April 30, 2026.
According to the SHSMO, organizers hope to collect items such as photographs, postcards, home videos along the route, records of roadside business, anything that pertains to Route 66.
Springfield, Missouri,, is oftentimes recognized as the birthplace of Route 66. It’s one of the first original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System, and it received its number assignment via a telegram sent on April 30, 1926.
Route 66 was significant in the nation’s transportation history as the main artery connecting Chicago to Los Angeles by the late 1920s.
At present, Route 66 is a vacation destination with different roadside attractions along its route. For example, the St. Louis Arch, Meramec Caverns: Stanton, Mo., and the Jesse James Wax Museum: Stanton, Mo. Check out more Route 66 stops in Missouri here.
There is also a section along the highway that was created by the Mexico Department of Transportation and National Geographic in 2014 that plays music.
The singing stretch of road is outside the town of Tijeras, N.M., east of Albuquerque on eastbound Route 66.
To donate to the SHSMO, follow this link and the steps. The historical society is taking items such as:
- Photographs
- Postcards
- film and home videos along the route
- Records of roadside businesses
- Oral histories of people who traveled or worked along the road
- Small souvenirs or artifacts.
- Artwork
- Architectural drawings of iconic structures and places.