This exhibition was funded in part by the City of San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture and the County of San Diego Community Enhancement Program.
A Mingei International exhibition documentary publication was made possible by Roger C. Cornell and by the revolving publication funds of Seymour E. Clonick and Sydney Martin Roth. A Mingei International exhibition documentary videotape was made possible by an anonymous foundation.
This exhibition reflected the living traditions of creative expression and Yankee ingenuity beginning with early American folk art, and continuing through selected contemporary crafts. Representing all media, the exhibition included many patriotic symbols such as the flag, the eagle, the Statue of Liberty and Uncle Sam. The contemporary crafts were the essence of freedom and equality of expression and were represented with selections from the permanent collection of Mingei International Museum. The Museum of American Folk Art in New York collaborated on the exhibition, and its documentary publication and videotape. Other major loans were from the collections of Michael Del Castello, and Margaret and Bill Pearson.
This major exhibition inaugurated the new museum facility on the Plaza de Panama of Balboa Park and was in place for the Republican National Convention held that August in San Diego.
The inaugural exhibition included in a major section, _THE DENTZEL CAROUSEL MENAGERIE_ — A Five-Generation, Living Tradition (installed in the Taylor Gallery)
The great majority of objects was on loan from the collection of Marion W. and William H. Dentzel, II and Family, with additional pieces from the Freels Collection, American Carousel Museum, San Francisco. A documentary publication/1997 calendar, THE _DENTZEL CAROUSEL MENAGERIE,_ was published in conjunction with the exhibition.
Special public events related to the exhibition were an illustrated lecture by Dr. Gerard C. Wertkin, Director of The Museum of American Folk Art, New York City, a carving demonstration by William H. Dentzel, III and an illustrated lecture by him and Marion W. Dentzel on the history of carousels.