Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The new picture in the genealogy library

We have in our possession a valuable resource. It's called "Picturing America." It's a stack of large, maybe 24 inches by 38 inches, laminated pictures; pictures of paintings, actually. And the laminated pictures include a teachers resource book.
The teachers guide was designed to accompany the "Picturing America" project, a part of "We the People," the flagship initiative of the National Endowment for the Humanities. It is distributed free of charge to participating K-12 schools, public libraries, and other entities chosen by the NEH. "Picturing America" is presented in cooperation with the American Library Association.
The paintings are by such famous artists as Grant Wood (The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere, 1931), N. C. Wyeth (The Last of the Mohicans, 1919), Winslow Homer (The Veteran in a New Field, 1865), and Edward Hopper (House by the Railroad, 1925).
We have placed our recent selection on an easel in the Odom Genealogical Library. You can't miss it when you come in the door. The picture is by Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) and titled The Sources of Country Music (1975).
Thomas Hart Benton was 84 in 1973, when he came out of retirement to paint a mural for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. His assignment was to describe the regional sources of the musical style known as "country," and Benton couldn't resist the opportunity to paint one last celebration of homegrown American traditions.
We've added some interesting questions for you beside the picture...questions that will make you look closer as you try to identify the type of music each scene in the painting represents. Don't be surprised to see Tex Ritter, the singing cowboy (remember him?), and a steam engine. You'll be amazed to see all the different kinds of things and people making the music and sound in this scene. It's one of those pictures you can look at forever and find something new every time.
The pictures are being changed periodically. You'll have a pleasant surprise when you see the next one. It's famous also. Look for it around the first of October.

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