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Here you'll find articles about museums that feature exhibitions on
antiques and collectibles.
LATEST MUSEUM__________________________________________
A
Museum of Signs
by Bob
Brooke
Signs, signs, and more signs. Signs are everywhere in America. They’re
ubiquitous, each straining to be noticed and in some places within a
forest of signs. Commercial signage has existed since Roman times.
The American Sign Museum, the largest of its kind in the country, is
dedicated to the art and history of commercial signs and sign making.
Its collection covers over a century of American sign history. Visitors
get to stroll through decades of sign design and technology.
Visitors view the recreation of a typical American Main Street as they
walk through the Signs on Main Street display. Some may choose to use
the Museum’s audio tour via their smartphone. It’s the best way to
understand the larger topics, as well as offers stories about the signs,
themselves. The tour presents a clearer picture of the signs in the
collection.
One of the most popular stops in the Museum is the workshop of Neonworks
of Cincinnati, a full-time operation where visitors can see tube-benders
working their craft making signs for sign companies today.
The Museum’s collection honors the artistry and craftsmanship of
American commercial signs that literally hide in plain sight.
 Tod
Swormstedt spent 26 years on the staff of Signs of the Times magazine,
which was founded in 1906. He became the fourth-generation editor of the
"bible of the sign industry," following in his family's footsteps. Tod
parlayed all of his knowledge and contacts into a self-proclaimed
"mid-life crisis project" that would eventually become the American Sign
Museum. This was Tod's chance to preserve the 3-D craftsmanship of
multi-generational sign companies, to tell their stories and bring these
signs to life before they were lost forever.
In 1999, Tod founded the National Signs of the Times Museum. With
accelerating support, the Museum was renamed and re-opened as the
American Sign Museum in May 2005. Its temporary home within an arts
center sufficed for several years, but growing pains ensued. The
magnificent McDonald's and Holiday Inn signs couldn't be displayed to
their full heights, and the collection was growing rapidly.
Tod began searching for a more permanent home for the ever-expanding
collection. He needed a space that could fulfill his vision for an
interactive Museum experience. He found the Museum's new home in Camp
Washington, an appropriately historic area of Cincinnati. The
century-old Oesterlein Machine Company-Fashion Frocks, Inc. Complex
became the Museum's new home. Its doors opened in June 2012.
 Throughout
its existence, the American Sign Museum has continued to grow. From
early, pre-electric signs adorned in goldleaf, to the earliest electric
signs, to beautiful art-deco neon, to the modern plastic-faced sign, the
museum covers it all. Expect to spend at least an hour exploring the
history of this always-seen, but virtually unnoticed, industry.
Get an in-depth experience of the Museum with one of the tour guides
every Saturday at 12:30pm & 2:30pm and once on Sunday at 2:30pm. The 45
minute walking tour will encompass 100 years of sign history, from the
late 1800’s up through the 1970’s. Tour guides will tell the stories
behind the signs as well as explain how signs were made and why
different materials and processes were used.
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