Swiss photojournalist Frimmel Smith, working in collaboration with the American Institute of Architecture (AIA), interviewed people who choose to live in manufactured housing, creating a traveling exhibit titled “Wheel People” in 1998-99. In cooperation with the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum and many state associations, she traveled an entire year gathering photographs and stories for this exhibit which has been on display in Washington, D. C., Chicago, Biloxi, Mississippi, and several other sites. RVBusiness tells MHProNews Smith has donated the exhibit to the museum. Darryl Searer, president of the RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum, says, “The ‘Wheel People’ exhibit is an excellent addition to our manufactured housing collection. It not only traces the evolution of manufactured housing from trailers to mobile homes and finally to manufactured homes, it also shows the diversity of those who choose to live in homes on wheels. The RV and manufactured housing industries sprang from the same root, but evolved into two separate industries – recreational travel and affordable housing. It’s impossible to tell the story of one industry without including the other.” As Stephen Lee Duncan of Aurora, Colorado told Ms. Smith, “You don’t need a mansion on the hill to be somebody. It’s not the house but the people inside it.”

(Photo credit: RV/MH Hall of Fame and Museum–early recreational vehicle)