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American Anthem: Songs and Symbols of American History
“I hear America singing,” wrote Walt Whitman. Inspired by his words, “American Anthem” traces American history in the context of popular songs, from the founding of the United States to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s first Fireside Chats in 1933. Images and texts are drawn from photographs, paintings, artifacts, and music in the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.
Panel topics include:
- George Washington
- Thomas Jefferson
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition
- Cotton
- Railroads
- The Gold Rush
- Wheat fields
- The Civil War
- Custer and the Centennial
- Woman’s Suffrage
- The Model T
Exhibit format
Freestanding. Exhibit includes 39 color and 26 black and white photographs, organized in 8 double-sided panels. Framed in oak, the panels attach to wooden poles to stand 78" high.
Shipping weight (1 wooden crate): 272 lbs.
Space required: 10’ x15’
Supplemental materials:
- Brochure that discusses how music consolidates people into communities, communities into a nation. 50 copies free with exhibit.
- A poster featuring a portrait of Thomas Jefferson
- Free with exhibit, a songbook of words and music to featured songs along with a CD or cassette tape of the music.
Optional materials (available on request):
- VHS videos
- American Images (Photography of the Great Depression)
- The Civil War (series)
- Long Shadows
- Mary Silliman’s War