Please Touch

The worst part of museums for most children is the inability to run around screaming and touching everything in sight.  Thankfully, there’s the Please Touch Museum!

 The Please Touch Museum (PTM) is set inside Memorial Hall, a building that was originally built for the Art Gallery of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition.  PTM incorporates pieces of the original exhibition into their collections and highlights many architectural details that make the building unique.  The exhibitions are fully interactive for children and encourage learning through play. Many of the exhibitions contain artifacts- some from the Centennial and some from no specific time period but relating to the exhibition (The Alice in Wonderland exhibition, for example, contains a Mad Hatter cookie jar produced from 1995 to 2001). 

For this blog, I have chosen one of the largest objects in the museum.  The Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel.

The carousel debuted in Woodside Park in 1924 and contains hand carved wooden animals dating to 1908.  The outside stationary animals and chariots were carved by prominent carousel carver, Daniel Muller.  The inner moving animals were carved by Salvatore Cernigliaro, the head carver of the Dentzel Carousel Company.  Originally, this carousel was used as a sales model.  William Dentzel would take potential clients to view this carousel, his favorite. When Woodside Park closed in 1955, the carousel spent many years in storage in various locations until it was loaned to PTM.

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 Carousels are important to a wide range of people. The first, most obvious group, is children. Children enjoy riding carousels. Carousels are also important to adults and the elderly. To the elderly, carousels serve as a time machine to their own childhood when a trip to the carousel was like a trip to an amusement park. Adults find carousels as an important place to take their own children.  (Adults without children may find carousels important for their propensity to be an adorable date spot!)

This carousel is on display here as a unique children’s object from Philadelphia’s history.  PTM had considered installing a carousel featuring popular children’s characters such as Dora the Explorer but was able to, instead, acquire this carousel in 2008 from the Philadelphia Historical and Museum Commission that was in danger of being destroyed. A new wing was added to Memorial Hall and designed to match the building perfectly. Six pointed stars adorn the ceiling and are an architectural reference to the façade of the original building. When restoration was complete, the carousel was moved into this room. In 2011, the Philadelphia Historical and Museum Commission official gifted the carousel to the Please Touch Museum.

 

The carousel is surrounded by information panels. There are tables and chairs where parents can sit with their family and watch the carousel, similar to how they would have when the carousel was in a park. There are pictures of the original Woodside Park location and many panels with information about the carousel itself. As one enters the room, a panel gives a brief history of the carousel and then explains the restoration process. To the left is a description of the history of carousels. Another panel, though partially blocked by a bench, details the history of Woodside Park. The final panel tells the history of the Dentzel Carousel Company and carver Daniel Muller.

The numerous panels are lengthy and appeal to those wishing to have a thorough understanding of the significance and history of this carousel. Each panel highlights the importance and unique nature of this carousel. Readers are guided to appreciate this carousel for its historic value and efforts to restore it.

While carousels are appealing to a very wide audience, they may not be as appealing to groups like teenagers that are trying to abandon their childhood in an effort to grow up quickly. Those with motion sickness may also not like riding or watching the spinning carousel. People hoping for a thrill ride experience may be disappointed by the tame carousel.

Another way for visitors to engage with the carousel would be to identify the unique features of every horse or animal on the carousel. This way visitors would learn the specific artistic details of each animal and would create a deeper connection between the visitors and the carousel. Small children can also be offered coloring pages of their favorite animals. Visitors may also engage with this Dentzel Carousel Company carousel by knowing where to find other Dentzel or other historic carousels in the region or across the nation.