Curatorial Corner – The Center as Classroom: Welcoming Our First Monmouth University Class

One of the things we have been most excited about since opening the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music is the opportunity to serve as a resource for our own Monmouth University community.

Last night, we got to do just that.

Although the Center is normally closed to the public on Mondays, we opened our doors for students in Dr. JP Hanly’s EN 491: Seminar in English course: the first Monmouth University class to make a formal visit to our new facility as part of its coursework! And we hope it is just the first of many.

The evening began in the Powell Soundstage, where I had the opportunity to welcome the students, introduce them to the Center and our mission, and talk a little about the ways we use music, artifacts, archives, exhibitions, and storytelling to explore the larger American experience. After viewing our introductory film, the students headed into the galleries to begin to tackle their assignment.

Dr. Hanly’s course has been examining songs that engage with American history, politics, identity, protest, and social change, from Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” and Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” to Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.”

That made our current temporary exhibition, Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Politics, and the Power of Song, a natural extension of the classroom.

Students spent time exploring the exhibition and considering the songs, artists, objects, and stories represented there as they began selecting topics for their own research and presentations. They were also encouraged to think critically about what isn’t in the exhibition: What other song might belong in Chimes of Freedom? What argument could they make for its inclusion? How might that song help us tell another part of the American story?

As I explained to the students, a gallery does not have to be the end of a conversation. It can be the beginning of one. Just because we didn’t include a song in Chimes doesn’t mean it doesn’t deserve to be there.

Students can encounter an object, hear a song, read a label, question a curatorial choice, make connections to something they have studied in class, and then go off and conduct their own research. They can also challenge us. No exhibition can tell every story, and asking students to consider what they might add to an exhibition is an opportunity for them to think not only as researchers, but as historians, writers, and curators.

That kind of interdisciplinary learning is central to what we hope to foster at the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music.

While our name may say “music,” the subjects represented within our walls extend far beyond music history. Our galleries offer entry points into American history, literature, politics, race, gender, business, technology, art, geography, popular culture, social movements, and much more. There are possibilities here for courses across Monmouth University.

And we want our faculty to use us!

Monmouth University students and employees receive free admission to the Center, and we hope faculty members will think of our galleries, collections, exhibitions, archives, and staff as resources that can complement what is happening in their classrooms. A visit might involve a full class session like Dr. Hanly’s, a focused gallery assignment, an object-based learning exercise, independent student research, or simply asking students to spend some time with an exhibition and consider how it connects to their coursework.

As someone who spent many years as a full-time Monmouth faculty member before moving to the Center, this part of our mission is especially meaningful to me. Long before we had this building, I was bringing archival materials into my own classes and looking for ways to give students opportunities to learn through primary sources and material culture. Now we have a 30,000-square-foot resource right here on campus where faculty and students can do exactly that.

Last night offered a glimpse of what is possible.

We were thrilled to welcome Dr. Hanly and his students as our first Monmouth class, and we cannot wait to welcome many more.