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Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?
Sesame Street was an innovative and radical children's television program when it premiered in 1969. In the 1960s, many parents were...
How black Philadelphians fought for soldiers during World War I
Suffering from "shell shock and a general breakdown," Charles Mackall and James Randall arrived in Philadelphia in September 1918 from...
Culture in the colonial classroom: A failed attempt at assimilation
As our Philanthropy Initiative continues to explore the history of giving, we're eager to share stories of success and failure. This story...
Blog Posts in "Music"
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50th Anniversary
Remembering Woodstock
The weekend of August 15 through 18, 1969, approximately 400,000 revelers traveled from near and far to inhabit the rolling fields of Max...
EDM in the history museum: Steve Aoki gear travels the world and finds a home at the museum
Music blasts toward the audience as concertgoers dance to Steve Aoki's pounding bass rhythms and bright LED displays. The DJ throws cakes...
Musician José Feliciano shook up a baseball tradition at age 23
José Feliciano will remain forever celebrated for his perennial Christmas classic "Feliz Navidad," one of his many hit recordings that have...
4 music-inspiring objects through the eyes of our Making American Music interns
Musical inspiration abounds in the collections and exhibitions around us. As interns in the Making American Music project, we get to follow...
Reflecting on the Queen of Soul's reign in American culture
Today we're reflecting on the life of singer, songwriter, diva, civil rights activist, and cultural icon Aretha Franklin. Over 100 of...
An anti-slavery anthem reimagined for today
Turn right at the Batmobile. Take the elevator behind the John Bull locomotive. If you hit Julia Child's kitchen, you've gone too far. My...
New York City’s Sängerfest of 1894
Piano manufacturer William Steinway kept a diary from 1861 to 1896. It resides in the National Museum of American History’s Archives Center...
How do the arts promote social change?
The arts are "a space where we can give dignity to others while interrogating our own circumstances," Darren Walker, president of the...
Norman Granz: Revolutionizing jazz for social justice
A civil rights protest often invokes the vivid images of sit-ins, boycotts, and marches, but the fight for racial equality took many...
5 objects that James Smithson might be surprised to find in the institution he founded – until he learned their philanthropy stories
James Smithson might be surprised to learn about some of the objects in the collections at the institution he established. The Englishman...
A-tisket, a-tasket, a hit song in her basket: Ella's rise to fame
"They're swingin' everything else—why not nursery rhymes?" stated Ella Fitzgerald while dancing around the room showcasing some new dance...
Pure Cotton with a Berry on Top: The Legacies of Chuck Berry and James Cotton
Only a few days after the passing of James Cotton, one of the country's greatest blues harmonica players, we lost one of our greatest...
At our "Draper Spark!Lab" the sound of homemade banjos beckons
Around age eight I decided I wanted to play the violin. Fortunately, my parents had the access and money to buy a new instrument for me....
Ella at the gala: Ella Fitzgerald's performance at the Kennedy Inaugural Gala
Within the Ella Fitzgerald Papers collection, a hidden gem reveals a surprising connection between Fitzgerald and President John F. Kennedy...
Itching to see the jumping flea: The great 1915 ukulele craze
In recent years, the ukulele, or jumping (lele) flea (‘uku) in Hawaiian, has received a renewed appeal. I've heard the instrument make...
Ecstatic frenzy over Wagner's "Ring Cycle" premieres
Are you a Wagner fan? If so, you were likely excited by the Washington National Opera's presentation of The Ring of the Nibelungen, a cycle...
The New Woman meets the old witch
How would you describe a witch? Black pointy hats probably spring to mind, as well as a range of distinguishing ugly features like crooked...
Conga drums and collaboration: A peek inside our Afro-Cuban Jazz concerts
On October 16 and 17, the museum's own big-band-in-residence, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra (SJMO) will kick off their 25th...
Turning the dial to 1928's Independence Day radio programming
Independence Day is often celebrated with picnics, parades, fireworks, and music. While I can't help with the first three, music is...
What made Nashville into Music City?
The Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation's Places of Invention explores what happens when the right mix of...
Go-go, the funky, percussive music invented in Washington, D.C.
Experience live go-go music on Thursday, June 11, 2015, as part of our America Now! Music Festival.In the early 1970s, musical pioneer...
5 intriguing electric guitars from our collections
Happy 100th Birthday, Les Paul!June 9, 2015, is an important day for the guitar and music world: It is the centennial of the birth of...
5 things you probably didn't know about the ‘ukulele
The ‘ukulele, or ukulele, as it's spelled in American English ("uke" for short), is one of the first things that many people associate with...
Discovering the cool: Creating a visual identity for Jazz Appreciation Month
April is Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM), with a variety of events and programs throughout the museum and country designed to...
O say can you sing a different patriotic song?
On March 3, 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a congressional act that made Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner" the...
On our holiday playlist: Duke Ellington's "Nutcracker" and a special suite for the Queen
Smithsonian Jazz Intern Jake Huss shares the stories behind the selections heard at the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra's holiday...
The beat goes on: New acquisitions once stomped out the soundtrack of Los Angeles
As the Museum gears up to open new exhibitions in 2015, 2016, and 2017, our curators have combed the country, looking for the richest...
Hashtag jazz: Tweeting jazz history day-by-day
You can learn a note or two of jazz history every day, just by reading @CelebrateJAM's tweets. Adam Whitehurst, the intern behind the...
Talking and playing Hawaiian slack key guitar with Dennis Kamakahi
What do cows have to do with slack key guitar music? Sarah Coffee from our education outreach team explains.For this month's episode of the...
Fiddling the Civil War
On certain days this winter, you could hear fiddle music coming from the Civil War section of our Price of Freedom exhibition. It...
Hair band history: Teasing hair and playing rock 'n' roll
Rocking leather jackets, teased hair, and loud music, Nova Rex traveled across America in the 1980s and early 1990s, living the rock 'n...
Feb. 11 1964, the Beatles' first concert in the United States
Eric Jentsch in our Division of Culture and the Arts shares the story of the first Beatles concert in America, which took place right here...
The Apollo Theater: "It's in the Cards"
For a good part of the twentieth century, Harlem’s Apollo Theater was one of the most prestigious, important, and well-known venues for...
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