Paul Harvey Museum Opens In Branson

Paul Harvey

A Branson, MO museum space devoted to the life and family of iconic radio broadcaster Paul Harvey opened Friday.

The World's Largest Toy Museum Complex now has a "multi-room" exhibit devoted to Harvey, known for a down-home style of delivery and for peppering his broadcasts with expressions like "Good heavens!"

Harvey's shows including "The Rest of the Story" once reached more than 20 million listeners per day via 1,100 ABC radio stations plus 400 more in the Armed Forces Radio Network. The heyday of Harvey's career began in the 1950s, and he continued broadcasting until shortly before his death in 2009.

Harvey's son, Paul Harvey Jr., told the Sprinfield, MO News-Leader that the new museum at 3609 W. Highway 76 is "really the first time ever that my family's story has been told in detail, anywhere in the world."

"My parents never told their story when they were around," he said, referring to his father and his mother, radio producer Lynne "Angel" Harvey, who died in 2008.

"They were always very outward-looking and modest people," Harvey Jr. said.
Harvey Jr. said the new museum would include a number of Harvey-related artifacts, not just things related to his father's career, which began in 1933 at KVOO-AM in Tulsa.

The museum also completely recreated the nursery where Harvey Jr. spent his infancy in Chicago, the city where his parents got their big breaks in the radio business.

Harvey Jr., who did a lot of writing and research for his father's broadcasts, said he visited Branson for several days last week to set up the Paul Harvey museum.