New Harmonies is the sixth exhibition in an ongoing partnership between state humanities councils and the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES). The partnership is known as Museum on Main Street, and it serves rural communities.
Through a selection of photographs, recordings, instruments, lyrics and artist profiles, New Harmonies explores the distinct cultural identities of gospel, country, blues and other forms of roots music as they record the history of the American people and set the foundation for many musical genres appreciated world wide today.
The Missouri Humanities Council will host the state’s exclusive tour of New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music beginning in March, 2009. The exhibition will travel to the following Missouri communities throughout 2009 & 2010:
Museum on Main Street is a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution, the Federation of State Humanities Councils, and the Missouri Humanities Council. Support for Museum on Main Street is provided by the United States Congress.
More information about New Harmonies is available on the Smithsonian Website. It includes a recommended reading list of books related to the exhibition as well as tools for teachers to create lessons on the theme.
Smithsonian traveling exhibits (SITES) now has a new blog with behind the scenes looks and lots of information on all the tours on the road, including MoMS.
New Harmonies site offers these extras: Books for Children, a pdf list, organized by exhibit kiosks Detailed schedule of exhibit visits Scavenger Hunt, to use when visiting an exhibit Photo scrapbooks of completed tours and additional material about the exhibit development and fabrication
