Pursuing a Public History of Entertainment at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History

Thursday, November 9, 2023 | 12:30 p.m. | Wittliff Collections

Today the Smithsonian Institution recognizes popular music as an important arena for research, collections, and exhibitions. But that was not always the case, and its methods for engaging audiences in the interpretation of music and entertainment’s complicated past in the U.S. remain unfinished and in flux. In this talk, music curator John Troutman will speak about his work as a public historian and lead curator of the National Museum of American History’s new permanent exhibition, Entertainment Nation.