Donna Reed Heritage Museum

Penny Stigers, Tony Owen, Jr., Violet Lindsay, and Kerry Remsen open the Donna Reed Heritage Museum in 2004.

Donna Reed Heritage Museum

In the town where she was born and raised, Donna Reed has a museum dedicated to preserving her memory and the lives and achievements of all Iowans. It resides in the Donna Reed Center for the Performing Arts along with the historic theatre, soda fountain, and chamber of commerce.

At a ribbon cutting on June 25, 2004, the first exhibits of the museum were revealed to the public, including many of Donna’s awards and honors, as well as personal letters from Donna’s pen pal of 48 years, Violet Lindsay.

Future exhibits will showcase treasures from Donna’s life as an actress, such as original scripts notated by Donna, vintage costumes, movie posters, Donna’s personal scrapbooks, and much more about Donna and her native Iowa.

Current work of the museum includes a focus on preservation, organization, and archiving of contributed materials from across the nation. The museum and archive is also shared with other special-event organizations throughout Iowa and the country.