National Music Museum Opens Special Exhibition “Of Thee I Sing: Origin, Heritage and Patriotism” to Celebrate America 250

The National Music Museum (NMM) at the University of South Dakota will open a new special exhibition, “Of Thee I Sing: Origin, Heritage, and Patriotism” beginning Friday, March 20 in the Jason and Betsy Groves Special Exhibition Gallery. Admission to the special exhibition is included with regular museum admission.

Of Thee I Sing catalog cover.

“Of Thee I Sing” explores themes of origin, heritage, and patriotism in the United States through musical instruments, their makers, and the traditions they represent. The exhibition includes instruments connected to Native American cultures, the colonial period in North America, immigrant innovators of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and instruments decorated with patriotic imagery.

Together, these objects highlight how musical instruments can reflect the cultural backgrounds, experiences, and identities that have shaped American history.

Discovery Saturday programming at the National Music Museum will focus on themes from the exhibition and offer hands-on experiences for visitors throughout the summer. On May 2nd, Missouri Valley Music will demonstrate folk music traditions featuring the accordion, fiddle and more. Watch nmmusd.org schedules and more information.

Support for the exhibition is provided by generous grants from the Clayton and Odessa Lang Ofstad Foundation, the Mary Chilton DAR Foundation, and the City of Vermillion, South Dakota.

Two objects featured in the exhibition are also included in the National Decorative Art Trust’s online exhibition “Collecting 250” - the Liberty Tree Grand Theater Model No. 194 guitar and Cluxton gourd fiddle can be seen online at collecting250.com.

The National Music Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information is available at NMMusd.org.