Southern Museum Raises Money for New Research Center

The Kennesaw Museum Foundation and the Southern Museum of Civil War & Locomotive History raised more than $24,000 during a fundraising gala this weekend.

The money raised during the Heroes and Legends Gala will help fund an expansion to the Museum’s research center. During Saturday’s event, the Foundation also took a moment to honor the Museum’s members for their continued support of the Smithsonian affiliate.

“Our members are vital to the success of the Southern Museum, so it’s only appropriate we take an evening to honor them for their ongoing commitment,” said Dr. Richard Banz, executive director of the Southern Museum. “Because of their support, we continue to provide programming that is educating a new generation of historians about the role the railroad played in helping the South rebuild after the Civil War.”

The Southern Museum will soon break ground on a 15,000-square-foot expansion to its research center. Once complete, the Southern Museum will be home to one of the largest centers for researchers, scholars and historians studying southeastern railroads of the United States.

The Museum’s extensive archives collection includes more than 45,000 rare railroad photographs through the David W. Salter Collection, a one-of-a-kind glass plate negative collection of Glover Machine Works locomotives and thousands of Southern Railway-related documents through the Southern Railway Historical Association Collections.

Groundbreaking for the $1.1 million expansion project is currently scheduled for in 2014.

For more information, visit southernmuseum.org or facebook.com/southernmuseum.