Highlights Archives
Wisconsin and the Aluminum Christmas Tree
Even though it's been more than 45 years since the Evergleam aluminum Christmas tree burst onto the holiday decorating scene, today there is a renewed popular interest in the strikingly different holiday tradition. The Aluminum Specialty Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, made the Evergleam tree, by far the most popular brand in a crowded marketplace. Coming in a variety of sizes and colors, more than 1 million Evergleams made it to American homes in the 1960s. Aluminum Specialty stopped making the trees in the early 1970s, but many remained integral to family Christmas traditions while other trees were relegated to garages or attics.
In 2004 Wisconsin authors John Shimon and Julie Lindemann published Seasons Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree (Melcher Media). The book and the aluminum trees garnered significant national publicity, making the trees a hot collector's item. Evergleams are in high demand at antique stores around Wisconsin, and online auctions command substantial prices. Copies of Seasons Gleamings are now on sale at the Wisconsin Historical Society Store.
"Ever Gleaming: Wisconsin and the Aluminum Christmas Tree" tells the story of the origin and development of the aluminum tree at Wisconsin's Aluminum Specialty Company. The display features a variety of vintage silver, pink, gold, and green Evergleam trees and accessories such as an aluminum wreath, rotating tree stands, and colored light wheels. A selection of holiday images from around Wisconsin adorns the gallery walls. "Ever Gleaming" runs through January 7, 2006, at the Wisconsin Historical Museum on Madison's Capitol Square.
One of the trees from the display has been donated to the Museum's collections.
If you'd like to share fond memories or photographs of Christmases you've spent with an aluminum tree, please contact museum curator Joe Kapler.
Join the discussion about aluminum trees at the museum at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, December 13, 2005, when the museum's History Sandwiched In series presents "What's With Those Aluminum Christmas Trees?" Jerry Waak, former vice president of sales for the Aluminum Speciality Company, will share the behind-the-scenes story of the origin of the aluminum Christmas tree, its explosive sales growth in the 1960s, and its eventual decline in popularity. Museum Curator Joe Kapler will talk about the current resurgence in interest in aluminum trees and how museums weigh popular interest when preserving history.
:: Posted December 1, 2005
|
