A History of Roadside Attractions

Erika Nelson is director of the World's Largest Things, a nonprofit corporation for the study of roadside vernacular architecture, including such Iowa attractions as Audubon's Albert the Bull, Adair's talking Happy Chef, Stanton's Swedish coffeepot water tower, and the Pocahontas landmark statue. Nelson is the founder and curator of the traveling roadside museum The World's Largest Collection of the World's Smallest Versions of the World's Largest Things. Her artist-in-residence projects have covered such topics as storytelling and quiltmaking and Art Car development, and her many installations and exhibits include Domesticated: Deconstructing the American Dream and CanFormations. She has a BFA in illustration from Central Missouri State University and an MFA in textiles from the University of Kansas. This public talk will follow the Phi Alpha Theta History Honor Society banquet.