Carla L. Jordan, Director
Professional Summary
Education/Certification
Southeast Missouri State University, B.S., 2004 Major: Historic Preservation
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 1985-1987
Major: Education
Pittsburg State University-Pittsburg, KS 1980-1982
Major: Education/Pre-Law
Teambuilding/Mentoring Certification Bryan Memorial Hospital, Lincoln, NE 1996
Current Professional Positions
Owner/Administrator, CL Jordan Preservation, Cape Girardeau, MO 2003-Present
A historic preservation business located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, with a mission of promoting, preserving, and documenting the cultural resources of rural America, including: museum development and management; National Register of Historic Places nominations; historic site consultation and administration services; cultural resource mentoring; cultural resource site fund raising services; cultural resource research; volunteer staff training services; grant writing services; cultural site team building seminar services.
Director, Perry County Lutheran Historical Society’s (PCLHS) Lutheran Heritage Center Family Research Library and Museum, Altenburg, MO 2005-Present
Professional responsibilities include directing, with the PCLHS executive board, the 100+ year old Historical Society mission. This mission includes interpretation, promotion, preservation, and educational programming of the state-of-the-art exhibit space, the Log Cabin College National Register site, the Christiane Loeber Cabin site, and their Research Library and Reading Room.
CL Jordan Preservation has sub-contracted with PCLHS for thirteen years. Jordan directs all of the interior design of the interpretation spaces, designs all of the permanent and rotating exhibits, and recruits the museum volunteer staff Jordan is responsible for museum policy development, fundraising, and archival management. These activities are accomplished with support from museum committees. The Starzinger Family Research Library opened in 2010 with state-of-the-art family research programming and an extensive research library collection pertaining to the settlement history and family genealogical resources relating to the immigration history of east Perry County, Missouri.
PCLHS hosts thousands of annual visitors and a biennial International Immigration History Conference including academic paper presentations, cultural presentations, and events.
Director, Cape Girardeau County Historical Society’s (CGCHS) History Center, 102 S. High St., Jackson, MO 63755 from 2015-Present.
CL Jordan Preservation has sub-contracted with the CGHS since 2015. Jordan directs all of the exhibit design, program development, volunteer recruitment, and professional management of the site.
Treasurer/Charter Member WESTRAY Foundation
A public charity designed to mentor and promote the cultural, entrepreneurial, and educational resources of southeast Missouri and the region.
With the support of the WESTRAY Foundation, Jordan managed the fundraising and restoration of the National Register of Historic Brush Creek Bridge near Riverton, KS and the Phillips 66 Visitor’s Center in Baxter Springs, Kansas. Both projects were restorations of National Register of Historic Places sites on Historic Route 66. The restoration was made possible by a grant from the National Park Service; support from Cherokee County, Kansas; the WESTRAY Foundation, and private citizens in Baxter Springs, Kansas.
Jordan co-managed the Altenburg, Missouri to Altenburg, Germany photography project with Jeanie Eddleman. The project was co-sponsored by the Perry County Lutheran Historical Society and the WESTRAY Foundation. It included photography workshops and labs for regional 5th-8th grade public and private school students in the Altenburg, MO, region. The students photographed their homeland and it was shared with students in Altenburg Germany via an exhibit at the Lindenau Art Museum in Germany. The photographic team from WESTRAY and PCLHS then traveled to the Lindenau Art School in Germany and conducted the same workshop with the students of their Art School. The German students photographed their 1,000 year old city for an exhibit at the Lutheran Heritage Center in Altenburg, MO. The German and American students communicated with each other via a webcast at the conclusion of the project.
Consulting/Mentoring Relationships/Preservation Grant Projects
Jordan worked with the owners of The Ritz Theater on Historic Route 66 in Baxter Springs, Kansas to procure Kansas State Preservation Trust Fund cost share dollars to complete the restoration of the only remaining historic theater on Kansas Route 66.
Jordan was a consultant for the Mickey Mantle MuseumTrust planning team, and has conducted development workshop experiences for them in Commerce, OK.
Jordan has conducted museum and house museum development workshops for: The Baxter Springs, Kansas, Cultural Heritage Center & Museum; the Wright Mansion House Museum, Altamont, Illinois; The Saxon Lutheran Memorial, Frohna, Missouri; the Catholic Heritage Center in Apple Creek, MO, the Randolph County Museum in Red Bud, Illinois, the Perry County Historical Society in Perryville, and the Military Museum in Perryville, MO.
Jordan has written and managed grant funded projects from the National Parks Service, Route 66 Preservation Corridor, The National Endowment for the Humanities, The Kansas Humanities Council, The Missouri Arts Council, and numerous private cultural resource endowments.
Jordan, along with the PCLHS executive board, received a $130,000. project approval from the Missouri Neighborhood Assistance Program of the Missouri Department of Economic Development in 2008.
Jordan, in collaboration with the Baxter Springs Heritage Center & Museum, has written multiple successful grant applications including: funds to archive a lead and zinc mining collection, and funds to conduct oral history interviews with business owners and citizens along historic Route 66 in Kansas.
Jordan, with the support of PCLHS, and the CGCHS has supervised numerous interns from Southeast Missouri State University and also Truman State University in the academic disciplines of: historic preservation, foreign language, public relations, archives administration, and history.
National Register of Historic Places Listings by CL Jordan Preservation:
Commerce City Hall, Commerce, Missouri
605 East 12th Street, Nile Riles House, Baxter Springs, Kansas
Anderson-Bailey House, Commerce, Missouri (mentored owner)
Ritz Theater, Baxter Springs, Kansas
Publications
Stepenoff, Bibb, Jordan. From French Community to Missouri Town: Ste. Genevieve in the Nineteenth Century, (chpt. 8). University of Missouri Press: Columbia, Missouri. 2006.
Stepenoff, Bibb, Jordan. “Three Mothers of Racially Blended Families in Ste. Genevieve, 1780-1890.” Gateway, 2008.
Professional Awards
Arthur Mattingly Award for Outstanding Achievement in Historic Preservation, from Southeast MO St. Univ. 2011
Lifetime Membership Award-Historic Kansas Route 66 Association, 2009.
Achievement Award, Baxter Springs Heritage Center & Museum, 2007.
Lifetime Membership Award, Baxter Springs Historical Society, 2005.
Lifetime Membership Award, Cat Ranch Art Guild, 2010.
Nyle H. Miller, Preservation Award, for “Outstanding Achievement in Historic Preservation” from the Kansas State Historical Society, to the Baxter Springs, Kansas Heritage Center, for a project directed by Carla Jordan, 2004.
Outstanding Graduate Award, Southeast Missouri State University, 2005
Warren Schmidt – Executive Board President
Warren Schmidt is a retired Lutheran School educator. He and his wife, Sandi chose Altenburg as their retirement location, and purchased an ancestral farm east of Altenburg, at the original site of the Log College Seminary. Warren enjoys gardening, spending time with grandchildren, woodworking, and leading group tours at the museum.
Carolyn Schmidt – Executive Board Secretary
Carolyn is a retired elementary school teacher and is a charter member of the Lutheran Heritage Center & Museum Advisory Council. She helped design the new museum concept, exhibits, and was vital in restoring the cases and Wittenberg church pieces. She enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren, gardening, and traveling with her husband, Ray.
Carol Wunderlich – Treasurer
Carol works at the local Gas-A-Mat station and Café in Altenburg, which she formerly owned with her husband, Duane. Carol also serves a leadership role in our City Council. She enjoys spending time with her children and grandchildren.
Lynn Degenhardt – Executive Board Vice-President
Lynn wears many hats on the team: Research Library team, creator of the ‘German Family Tree’ family research database, building committee chairman, and Executive Board VP. Lynn enjoys working on the family farm, designing features at the Lutheran Heritage Center–including our beautiful exhibition cases.
