Although I was super busy at nationals this year, I was able to get in a quick visit to the National Museum of Roller Skating. It is actually (as far as I am aware) the only museum in the world that is dedicated to roller skating, and it is located in the back of the building that houses the offices of USA Roller Sports (USARS).
In the heart of Lincoln, NE…Just inside the door – wall of skating memorabilia!An old proficiency test medal.If you follow the signs and walk to the back room in the building you will find the museum and all the wonders it contains.
Of course, there are a lot of really interesting old skates:
The skate on the left was used as part of a costume in an opera – the dancers were supposed to be “ice skating” which is why the metal part looks like an old ice blade.
Plimpton’s “rocker skate” – adding rubber cushions allowed the skate to curve and create edges. This led to increased popularity of roller skating and the first real skating boom.The wood wheels are just a little before my time…Celebrating the organ music that defined a generation.
Old skate cases – some people decorated them with stickers and others had fantastic engravings.
Back in the day each rink had their own sticker. These were quite collectable by skating enthusiasts.
The museum celebrates all types of skating:
Hockey, roller derby, and speed skating are all included!
And now, for my fellow seamsters, seamstresses, and sewistas, the fun stuff – skating appropriate clothing throughout the years…
Skating in the early years…I actually really like the top and the long skirt – though it must have been difficult to skate in! Also, check out the poor dude in background – hilarious!Check out those puffy sleeves!Slightly shorter skirts, but I bet those hats created a lot of drag!We want shorter skating dresses!
Those hemlines keep climbing!
And now for some actual garments presented by the museum:
Dress worn by Natalie Dunn in the “contest of the century.” I love the simple elegance of this dress.This dress was worn by a contestant in a beauty pageant.Some older examples of mens skating costumes.So 1980s it’s not even funny.
Tara Lipinski’s national champion dress and skates (before she went completely to ice and won Olympic gold in 1998).A modern-day dress – totally covered in rhinestones!
The following are pictures of costumes from traveling performers and the Skating Vanities – a 1940s traveling roller skating variety show:
So, are you ready to go skating yet? Just remember – safety first!
You can see these and many more skating artifacts, costumes, and artwork at the museum. If you should ever find yourself in the middle of Lincoln, Nebraska with a few extra hours of time, you should totally check it out for yourselves!
Great pictures! Thanks for sharing. I have an ask. Please look up “Inline skates” on Wikipedia. Look for the paragraph on “Petibled” (yeah – the museum has got his name spelled wrong). See how that paragraph is missing a useful picture?
Can you make your Petibled skate picture from the museum publicly usable?
It means you will make it cc-by-sa (Creative Commons license). I can do all of the uploading and editing. Please let me know. I’ve been rewriting this article for a month now. See my name on the “under rewrite” notice at the top of the article. Cheers!
Cool. You don’t need to explicitly generate a license. But what you did was right. That would be a proper license sentence to display.
For Wikipedia/Wikimedia, they want the photographer to confirm the licensing terms (i.e. the above sentence) with the foundation, and upload the image. Let me take care of the image upload. I’ll reply back when ready for you to confirm. Thanks!
Thanks for waiting. I uploaded two images to Wikimedia. And I added, temporarily, instructions to the first image for you to follow. It includes a draft email you can simply send to the verification team.
They are not approvals. They are nore like “thank you, we acknowledge and record your generous sharing”. You don’t need to do anything more. I will make additional uses of these pictures in articles. The world thanks you. Fred
Doctor T Designs 
I loved seeing this! My problem with skating is that my skills are at exactly the same level as that little boy in the last photo 🙂
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Great pictures! Thanks for sharing. I have an ask. Please look up “Inline skates” on Wikipedia. Look for the paragraph on “Petibled” (yeah – the museum has got his name spelled wrong). See how that paragraph is missing a useful picture?
Can you make your Petibled skate picture from the museum publicly usable?
It means you will make it cc-by-sa (Creative Commons license). I can do all of the uploading and editing. Please let me know. I’ve been rewriting this article for a month now. See my name on the “under rewrite” notice at the top of the article. Cheers!
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Hello, I am happy to have the photo used in this way. I am not sure if this is correct but I was able to generate the following Creative Common license: Petibled Skate © 2012 by Patricia Bauler is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Let me know if this is correct or if you need something else in order to be able to use the image. Thanks!
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Cool. You don’t need to explicitly generate a license. But what you did was right. That would be a proper license sentence to display.
For Wikipedia/Wikimedia, they want the photographer to confirm the licensing terms (i.e. the above sentence) with the foundation, and upload the image. Let me take care of the image upload. I’ll reply back when ready for you to confirm. Thanks!
Fred
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Sounds good!
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Thanks for waiting. I uploaded two images to Wikimedia. And I added, temporarily, instructions to the first image for you to follow. It includes a draft email you can simply send to the verification team.
Please go to the image page, and scroll down to see instructions: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Petibled-1819_wheeled_skate-at_National_Museum_of_Roller_Skating-by_Doctor_T_Designs.jpg
Thanks!
Fred
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Great! Email has been sent per the instructions. I’m glad the picture can be helpful!
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The approval email came in! Do you need anything else from me?
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They are not approvals. They are nore like “thank you, we acknowledge and record your generous sharing”. You don’t need to do anything more. I will make additional uses of these pictures in articles. The world thanks you. Fred
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Awesome sounds good!
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