The proposed National Museum of American Religion in the US has launched a funding appeal to purchase its first major artifact – a train car that once served as a travelling chapel in the US.
The car, named the Good Will, was formerly owned by the American Baptist Publication Society and was among numerous “chapel cars” used by various Christian denominations in the late 19th and early 20th century as travelling chapels which brought clergy to people living along railroad routes.
The chapel cars commonly featured living quarters for a missionary couple and a chapel capable of seating about 70. Some were even fitted with stained glass windows. The Good Will car was dedicated in 1895 and, from Texas, was used throughout the western states before it was retired in 1938.
The museum, which is slated to open in Washington, DC, in 2025, is seeking $US25,000 by 31st December this year to purchase the car and move it to a railyard with any excess funds raised in the campaign used to restore the car before its relocation at the museum.
The museum’s backers say there is a “very real chance” the car, which is currently located on the west coast of the US, could be taken apart unless they are able to preserve it.
The proposed National Museum of American Religion will feature three major narrative strands – religious liberty, religious diversity and social reform – organised by chronology and will house an education centre and research library.
~ www.generosity.com/education-fundraising/help-nmar-save-the-chapel-car-good-will
