The History of Signs

Let it be known that I love history. You may have heard me argue before that without a healthy appreciation for reading you cannot understand any other subject to its full extent. I still maintain this argument. I love reading as well as history. If reading and history were people reading would be like my parents. History is more like my sexy husband.

I am extremely fascinated with every age in history. It is hard for me to choose a favorite era. I do hold a flame for Queen Elizabeth but WWII is pretty amazing. Not the battles really, but the people and the cultures, and even the art of that time.

One of my favorite things to look at are things that were not meant to last. Items that were truly made to serve a purpose and be disposed of quickly. I feel that these items tell you more about the culture at that time than any political document. I wrote one of my final papers in college on WWII propaganda. Primarily Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms posters. When the bulk of the WWII propaganda posters were made they were usually printed on extremely poor paper. They were meant to hang in public areas for a time and then be thrown away. Not kept, or really thought of as art. But they are art and invaluable historical documents. Likewise could be said for a Campbell's Soup can.

I could go on about these topics, but I will stop myself for now. The reason I wanted to share that with you is because I wanted to present you with the type of mind set I was in when I went to the American Sign Museum in Camp Washington. You may have heard of it before. You might have scratched your head and thought, "Well that is odd." Honestly, it is odd in the greatest sense of the word.

I traveled there with my father and very pregnant sister one rainy Sunday afternoon. They kept asking me how long it was going to take and what they should expect. The answer was simple and a little annoying to them, "I don't know." I had read about it in the newspaper months ago. All I knew was that it was a collection of signs throughout the years.

The building it is in is really in more of an industrial district. Unless you are looking to get something black oxided, heat treated, or welded the only reason you would be there is for the museum. As we pulled up my dad instantly recognized an old Holiday Inn sign. I honestly forget where he said it was from. Still, it was the first sign we saw.

When you enter the building, the main lobby is very stark and plain. We had just made it for the two o'clock tour of the museum with founder Tod Swormstedt. He is a pretty cool fella who knows his way around signs.  I highly recommend going on the tour for your first visit. There are a lot of plaques and so forth throughout the museum but Tod really knows his stuff.

The signs are set up to take you through the progression of technology and design through the ages. The materials and styles used are very indicative of the time. There is one room I walked into and instantly felt like I was on Madmen. The signs in the museum are local as well as national.

I could go on and on about the history and how cool it is. But honestly, I want you to discover it for yourself. On any given rainy day go up there and learn something new.

There are three neon lights around each wheel.
They alternate turning on to  imitate spinning. 

At the end of the tour we took some time to talk with Tod Swormstedt about all of his different projects. He talked about how they got the Mail Pouch Tobacco barn in the building. We heard a few stories about some signs he wants to acquire. The trickiest thing was keeping him on topic. He tended to go on tangents that didn't really answer our questions. Still he gave us interesting facts and stories.

The coolest thing was he took us to the back warehouse and showed us a "Fergi" sign that got a little banged up. Now I honestly don't remember the Ferguson Car Wash but I do recognize this sign. He is the car that is on top of the Trotta's Pizza sign. My family never frequented there or the business that was there before. It still is a sign that I remember looking out for when I was a kid. He sat on top of a sign a couple of stories up. I thought it was funny because he was in a car with no place to go. I also thought the shine spots were explosions, or balled up pieces of paper
. This "Fergi" is from a different location, and isn't the one I I giggled at as a child. Still, it is nice to know that someone is keeping him safe. Preserving him for another generation of young kids to giggle at and question.