The Situation:

We are a public high school with a first-class museum on our campus. Our Museum of the American Presidency has over 50,000 authentic papers and artifacts representing presidential campaigns and administrations from George Washington to Bill Clinton. Open for three years, we have hosted more than 2000 visitors per year. Our collection has been featured in the Associated Press and the Republican National Convention and we led a 30-minute live tour on C-SPAN last year. We have so much material that we are setting up a satellite display in the office of our county registrar of voters. Ninety percent of our items have come in the form of donations from collectors and dealers of political Americana. Students have worked hard to obtain and define materials from the outset.

The Challenge:

Two thousand visitors a year is ridiculously few when our student population on this campus is 1300. We need to expand access and the make this amazing educational opportunity available to many more people each year. We need to go from local unknown to national high profile in one fell swoop. That's where your donation comes in. With our donor base and scholarly input we can develop an "overnight" national presence with small grants from sponsors and individuals.

The Plan:

Using artist's portfolio cases and plexiglas sheeting, we will produce 100 "Campaign 100" display boxes for distribution to all states and the District of Columbia. Initial distribution through state Departments of Education will send between one and four cases per state depending on student population served. Each cases will contain fifty authentic campaign buttons from each of the major candidates for president for the past one hundred years, explanatory and interpretive materials, and a copy of Running for President.

The Numbers:

The cases and plexiglas will cost just short of $200 per. The books almost $100 each. The buttons will primarily come in the form of donations, but $100 each will do to make up the difference. $50 each for shipping costs and $100 for the scholar's stipend put us at a cool $550 each per case. That makes $55,000 the number at the bottom.

The Glory:

Real artifacts of American history, in the hands and on the minds of young people all over the country. Passed from school to school through free mail channels already established, these cases would carry not just the facts, but the feeling of history through the country. The sponsor's logo would figure prominently on each of the cases as they wend their way through America, spreading interest and enthusiasm in their wake.

The Plea:

We hope that you see what we could do with a grant of substantial cash. We have proven over the almost four year run of our museum project that we can accomplish much with little. Imagine what we could do with a focused chunk like this.