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| The Carousel Keepers An Oral History of American Carousels by Carrie Papa 1998, 6x9", 264 pages 112 b&w photos and figures, references and index Softcover $19.95 ( 0-939923-67-X) |
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The Carousel Keepers is a book for all who enjoyed the experiences of watching, hearing, and riding the wooden carousel during the golden age of American amusement history — and for those who continue to appreciate the carousel, or merry-go-round, as a very special element of the American cultural landscape.
Author Carrie Papa invited thirty-seven "insiders"--people who lived behind the lights, music, magic, and fantasy of the antique wooden carousel to reveal the purposes, experiences, memories, and emotions of their involvement with this form of amusement and entertainment.
The reader will hear the stories of manufacturers of carousels and the
craftsmen who made them, owners and managers of amusement parks, carousel operators and
support personnel, riders, and those who have studied, preserved, and revitalized
carousels and preserved interest in them. These accounts provide windows onto the everyday
life of participants in the industry — onto the reality behind the nostalgia —
and document an important part of our national amusement heritage.
Carrie Papa lives, studies, and writes in Bridgewater, New Jersey. Although she has long been a student of history and earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from Rutgers University, Ms. Papa's interest in people and their history intensified during her thirty years of living in foreign countries during her husband's assignments with the US Diplomatic Corps. When the Papas retired to New Jersey, she became involved with the efforts of a local historical society to preserve a two-centuries-old one-room schoolhouse. Their efforts were successful and Ms. Papa served as the founding director for the Old Monroe School Museum. The museum received several awards under her directorship.
Ms. Papa has been involved with several oral history projects in addition to The Carousel Keepers. Included among these are Bicentennial Voices; Stones and Stories: An Oral History of the Old Monroe School (which resulted in a book of the same name); and Farm Women of Sussex County. She has recently finished a new book on mine workers, A Mile Deep and Black as Pitch: An Oral History of the Franklin and Sterling Hill Mines, and is currently developing a guidebook to antique carousels.
Ms. Papa is a member of the M & W Speakers Bureau and is available for presentations and book signings.
REVIEWS
"It's a wonderful addition to any carousel library,
with great pictures of the machines at Olympic Park, Seaside Heights,
Asbury Park, Ocean City, Bertrand Island, Palisades Park, and other
notable past & present amusement parks in New Jersey and New York.
The book is well-written, has a good bibliography, and in my opinion is
well worth the price."
-- Seth Briliant of Atlantic City, New Jersey
"Papa's project, initially funded by the New Jersey Historical Commission, began as an attempt to preserve the history of the carousel in New Jersey. It was expanded into a series of interviews with 37 "keepers" throughout the northeast and the south. The stories run the gamut from tales of small towns and idle summers to descriptions of carousels in theme parks and malls; from the reminiscences of individual carvers and carvings to memories of the economies of parks. It is a chapter in the history of entertainment and a ripe good one." (Newsletter of the Oral History of the Middle Atlantic Region, 1998
Other oral history book:
A Mile Deep and Black as Pitch: An Oral History of the Franklin and Sterling Hill Mines