OZ Museum

Goal: $10,000.00

Specific Need

Every year, the OZ Museum welcomes 40,000 to 45,000 visitors to Wamego, driving local business and sharing a beloved American story. Behind the scenes, however, our team faces a daily challenge: navigating a narrow, curving staircase built in the mid-1800s.

Right now, our dedicated staff—ranging from high school and college students to retirees—must haul heavy boxes of merchandise up and down these historic stairs. Looking ahead, we are expanding to include second-floor offices and meeting room. To make our full space safe, functional, and accessible to everyone, we need a modern solution.

We are launching a campaign to fund and install a platform manlift connecting the basement (where many of our archives are stored), main floor, and second floor (where our backstock merchandise is stored and future administrative office and meeting room will be located).

Why This Project Matters

Accessibility for All: Ensures staff and stakeholders with mobility challenges can reach our second-floor meeting rooms and spaces safely.
Safety & Support: Protects our hardworking staff and volunteers from injury caused by carrying heavy inventory up steep, narrow stairs.
Sustaining Wamego’s Growth: Keeps our museum running efficiently as a prime economic engine for the local community.

Mission

Our mission is to create a high quality, artistic and entertaining environment that supports the exhibition of the Collection, to inform and educate patrons of all ages about the creations that trace their roots to the Oz fairy tale created by L.Frank Baum, and to celebrate the inextricable linkage of Kansas and Oz.

Profile

The OZ Museum was built with a major grant from the State of Kansas and the generosity of the people of this small community, who also provided thousands of hours of volunteer time. Today, the OZ Museum still heavily relies on the support of its loyal fan base and donors. The OZ Museum is dedicated to all things OZ, offering an experience that attracts visitors from around the globe. The OZ Museum is home to exclusive exhibits featuring the unimaginable, from the earliest Baum books and OZ Parker Brothers board games to today's collectibles, which can be purchased from the Official OZ Museum Store.