The American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, Ohio, maintains, archives, and displays a collection of signs. The museum also features equipment used in the design and manufacture of signs. Tod Swormstedt started working at the museum in 1999. Opened to the public in 2005.
Video American Sign Museum
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The Swormstedt family has a trade industry journal signs of the Times Signs, which have been published since 1906. Swormstedt's grandfather, H.C. Menefee, was the first editor of the publication, and bought it himself in 1911. Swormstedt has worked in the journal for over twenty years before becoming inspired to start the museum mark in 1999. His family provided $ 1 million for the project, and the figures of the board industry contributed their own. The museum was founded as a non-profit company. Swormstedt consider building a museum in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Memphis, and other sites, but eventually settled in Cincinnati, the operating base for the Times Signs .
Maps American Sign Museum
Collection
More than 200 signs and other objects are on display in the museum, and over 3,800 items have been cataloged. Collections range from the late nineteenth century to the 1970s. Highlights from the collection include examples of gold leaf letters on glass, Sputnik-like plastic balls from the Anaheim shopping center, a spinning neon windmill from a Denver donut shop, a Las Vegas showcase, and a Big Boy fiberglass Frisch statue with a slingshot in his pocket. (The slingshot is removed from the Big Boy sculpture model later on.) One can also find signs from businesses such as Big Bear Stores, Howard Johnson, and Earl Scheib. Above the museum entrance, visitors are greeted by a 20 foot (6.1 m) fiberglass jin from the Los Angeles carpet cleaning company.
In 2008, the museum earned the 1963 McDonald's emblem from Huntsville, Alabama. This sign features the character of McDonald's Speedee, which was removed for Ronald McDonald in the 1960s. In 2009, the museum added a neon sign from Johnny's Big Red Grill, which used to be a popular restaurant among Cornell University students.
2007-2012: Growth
Many of the signs possessed by the museum are too large to fit the original exhibition space. To better accommodate the collection, the museum began purchasing a 42,000 square foot (3,900 m 2 ) property at Camp Washington, Cincinnati, in 2007. The new location is part of the Oesterlein-Fashion Machinery Company Frocks, Inc. Complex, a List of National Historic Sites. The museum opened in his new home in June 2012, and the building features about 500 signs and artifacts, many of which are on fake street in a town called "Signville".
Neonworks of Cincinnati moves its business to a new location of the museum and displays live exhibits that show visitors how they return fluorescent lights.
See also
- Neon Museum at Fremont Street Experience in Las Vegas
References
External links
- Official Homepage of the American Flag Museum
Source of the article : Wikipedia