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Sesame Street Sign

National Museum of American History

Object Details

producer
Children's Television Workshop
Children's Television Workshop
Description
This green and yellow wooden street sign decorated the set of Sesame Street until 1979. The top of the sign reads “CTW” for Children's Television Workshop, with “Sesame Street” painted below.
Sesame Street (1969-present) is the longest-running children’s television series in American history, and one of the most influential and impactful programs in the history of the medium. First developed by producer Joan Ganz Cooney to use all the entertaining tools of commercial television to teach preschool aged children, the series was also a notable effort to use public television to reach minority and low-income communities who otherwise lacked educational opportunities. The series combines live action sequences set in a Harlem-like neighborhood of urban brownstones and small businesses with animated segments, catchy modern music, popular culture parodies, and integrates Jim Henson’s Muppets, a memorable mélange of entertaining scenes that have made Sesame Street a favorite of children and parents alike. Sesame Street is a production of Sesame Workshop (known before 2000 as the Children’s Television Workshop) and premiered on the National Educational Television (NET) network in 1969 before that early educational broadcaster transitioned to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1970. Since 2016, Sesame Street has aired new episodes on HBO although reruns still air on PBS.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Children's Television Workshop
1969
ID Number
1979.0952.01
accession number
1979.0952
catalog number
1979.0952.01
Object Name
sign
Physical Description
wood (overall material)
paint (overall material)
metal (overall material)
Measurements
overall: 8 3/4 in x 20 in; 22.225 cm x 50.8 cm
overall: 8 3/4 in x 20 in x 1/2 in; 22.225 cm x 50.8 cm x 1.27 cm
place made
United States: New York, New York City
See more items in
Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
Popular Entertainment
American Enterprise
National Museum of American History
related object association proper name
Sesame Street
Subject
Children
Children's television programs
Record ID
nmah_670107
Metadata Usage (text)
CC0
GUID (Link to Original Record)
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746ab-6316-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa

Related Content

  • 1979: A Year in the Collections

  • Television

    Smithsonian Libraries and Archives
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