"Signs of the times"

Wednesday

Our daughter Jen flew in yesterday from Salt Lake City for a week's stay. She had been thinking about what she'd like to do while she was here, and one of those things was the American Sign Museum, in an area of the City called Camp Washington. Since it was an overcast cooler day, with a chance of showers, it seemed a good choice for the day. Tod Swormstedt spent 26 years on the staff of Signs of the Times magazine, the signage industry trade journal, and he became the fourth-generation editor of the magazine, which was founded in 1906. In the late 1990's, he became inspired to found a sign museum in order 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. Swormstedt considered building the museum in Los Angeles, St. Louis, Memphis and other sites, but eventually settled on Cincinnati, the base of operations for Signs of the Times. The museum covers more than a century of American signage, from early, pre-electric signs adorned in goldleaf, to the earliest electric signs, to beautiful art-deco neon, to the modern plastic-faced sign. We joined a guided tour, which brought it to life, and was fun and informative.
From there, we drove downtown to the Banks by the Ohio River, had some lunch at a Taste of Belgium, then went to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center. The Underground Railroad was a network of secret routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early-to-mid 19th century, and used by African-American slaves to escape into free states and Canada with the aid of abolitionists and allies who were sympathetic to their cause. Opened in 2004, the Center also pays tribute to all efforts to "abolish human enslavement and secure freedom for all people." Roger and I had visited it once, but quite a number of years ago now, so it was good to go back.