NEH on the Road: Coney Island

FAIN: MR-260964-18

Foundation for the Reading Public Museum (Reading, PA 19611-1425)
John Graydon Smith (Project Director: December 2017 to June 2024)

This request is for funds to support humanities programs that will supplement RPM's planned Coney Island: Visions of an American Dreamland exhibition. With the close proximity of Coney Island to our community, along with the host of timeless attractions that can be found in our area and beyond, escapism, exoticism, thrills, and spectacle are common threads that link many of the stories of Coney Island to places of amusement in our own region. Our goal is for visitors to walk away with a better understanding of the true skill and craft that went into the making of nostalgic rides like carousels and bumper cars as well as having guests leave with the sense of community at these shared moments of childhood and nostalgia for a different time and place.