Dixie Sheet Music_Courtesy Virginia Historical Society.jpg
On Saturday, June 29, 2013, the Virginia Historical Society (VHS), in partnership with the Virginia General Assembly’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Commission, opened Revolutions: Songs of Social Change, 1860–65 and 1960–65.
The exhibition—a Commission signature event to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation—uses more than thirty objects to explore music that defined the Civil War and civil rights eras. It is broken into six sections: patriotic, sentimental, spirituals, freedom, dixie, and ballads. There are also two audio visual units that invite visitors to listen to performances and read lyrics of material featured in the show.
“Songs are more than a form of entertainment; they are cultural touchstones used to convey ideas, inspire patriotism, reward sacrifice, and encourage loyalty,” said VHS head of program development and Revolutions co-curator Andrew Talkov. “In both 1860 and 1960, Americans believed they were standing at the brink of great events. Young, charismatic presidents had just won hard-fought political contests promising reform that would reduce injustice and inequality in the United States. By 1865 and 1965, both presidents had been assassinated, leaving not only their promised reforms in jeopardy but also a nation coming to terms with the meaning of war.”
Most of the items in Revolutions are from the VHS. Highlights include an array of Civil War–era sheet music from the society’s extensive 4,629-piece Virginia-themed sheet music collection and a handwritten version of Dixie’s Land (known today as Dixie) by composer Daniel Decatur Emmett for a blackface minstrel troupe in 1859, the year the song was created.
All Quiet Potomac Sheet Music__Courtesy Virginia Historical Society.jpg
“We are always pleased to work with other institutions,” said Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum curatorial director Howard Kramer. “Pete Seeger has been a leading force in American folk music. This exhibit at the Virginia Historical Society is a bold move to examine parallels in U.S. history in a new light.”
“Visitors will be surprised that much of the twentieth-century music they are familiar with has nineteenth-century roots,” said Dr. Lauranett Lee, exhibition co-curator and VHS curator for African American history. “Folk singers of the 1960s used songs from the 1860s to convey and express feelings about the times in which they were living. It was not happenstance that these musicians were looking back to draw on history; they were keenly aware of what they were doing. They were putting a soundtrack to a revolution.”
“Comparing songs from these two periods offers an opportunity to explore the ways in which their unique power transcends time,” Talkov added. “Music has a past, just like everything else.”
The Revolutions exhibition is on display at the VHS until January 5, 2014. Admission is free.
