Through January 5, 2014
The VHS offers FREE ADMISSION to the history museum and research library daily!
What does one of Bob Dylan’s best–known songs have to do with slavery and the American Civil War? How did spiritual songs recorded by Union soldiers in the 1860s become popular protest songs 100 years later? Every song has a history, and Revolutions offers a comparative look at two dramatic periods of civil strife and the music they inspired. This exhibition features a banjo head used by singer-songwriter Pete Seeger, a copy of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” signed by its author, Julia Ward Howe, and numerous examples from the VHS’s extensive Civil War–era sheet music collection. Two listening stations allow visitors to compare songs from the 1860s with those from the 1960s.