Carousel Museum Collection
In preparation for your year end tax donations, please consider donating to the Carousel Museum's transportation fund! Our permanent collection of carousel animals continues to grow each year. Donations to the collection have come from all over the United States including, Maine, Connecticut, New York, Kansas, Las Vegas, New Jersey, California, and New York. Your support of our transportation fund will help us get these animals to the Museum and into their forever home!
Carousel Museum's Permanent Collections
Our carousel collection exhibitions present carousel figures as sculptural works of art, emphasizing their origins in skilled craftsmanship and hand-carving traditions. Created by trained artisans, these objects reflect a synthesis of technical precision, material knowledge, and aesthetic intent. Each figure embodies the individual hand of the carver, preserving evidence of tools, techniques, and workshop practices that defined the field in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
On view throughout the Main Gallery and across the museum’s 33,000-square-foot facility, the collection spans more than a century of production and stylistic development. The exhibitions include works by prominent American carousel makers and carving studios such as Charles Carmel, Solomon Stein, Harry Goldstein, Marcus Charles Illions, the Allan Herschell Company, the C.W. Parker Company, and Herschell/Spillman. Significant examples drawn from European collections accompany these, situating the American tradition within a broader transatlantic context.
The exhibition pays special attention to turn-of-the-century carving practices, showcasing figures linked to Dentzel, Herschell-Spillman, and Stein & Goldstein. These works demonstrate distinct formal qualities, ranging from naturalistic modeling to highly stylized ornamentation, and reflect evolving aesthetic preferences and advances in production methods.
A reconstructed carving bay provides interpretive context for the making process, illustrating the transition from raw material to finished figure and underscoring the labor-intensive nature of hand-carving. Together, these exhibitions frame carousel figures as enduring artifacts of decorative art, offering insight into the cultural, artistic, and material histories embedded within each object.
Carousel in Pop Culture
May 16, 2025 - Present
This exhibition celebrates the enduring presence of the carousel—not only as part of history but also as a living and evolving art form. At the Carousel Museum, we present these works not as relics of the past but as objects that continue to hold meaning and relevance today.
While carousels often evoke a sense of nostalgia, their influence extends far beyond memory. They remain powerful cultural symbols, appearing in advertising, film and television, music, and even video games. Their forms, colors, and movement continue to motivate artists and capture the imagination across generations.
By bringing this exhibition to life, we invite visitors to see the carousel in a new way: as an art form that connects the past and present and continues to shape visual culture today.
Freels Collection @ The Carousel Museum
On View
Rediscovering carousel art began in the mid-20th century, when collectors and preservationists recognized the artistic and cultural value of figures long overlooked. During this period of renewed interest, Larry Freels emerged as a passionate collector whose dedication would shape one of the most significant private collections of carousel art. With guidance from Nina and Maurice Fraley, Freels began acquiring pieces—starting with a single Dentzel horse—and, over more than four decades, assembled a collection of more than 175 figures. His collection reflects a deep appreciation for the craftsmanship and creativity of master carvers such as Gustav Dentzel, Daniel Muller, and Charles Carmel, as well as the wide variety of forms carousel art could take, from elegant English horses to rare and unexpected figures like a French alligator. Today, the Carousel Museum displays over 30 pieces from the Freels Collection, offering visitors a unique opportunity to experience the artistry and diversity of this remarkable group firsthand.
Freels’ work helped preserve an important chapter of American artistic heritage, ensuring that these objects would be recognized not only as amusement figures but also as significant works of art. Following Larry Freels’ passing in 2020, the collection was dispersed among major institutions across the United States, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The Carousel Museum takes pride in safeguarding a portion of this remarkable collection, ensuring its legacy endures and reaches new generations. Through the generosity of Larry and Gail Freels and the continued support of donors and sponsors, the Freels Collection remains a testament to passion, preservation, and the enduring artistry of the carousel.
