Country Music Performers Photograph Album: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Photo album of country music performers. Ninety-three (93) color photographs labeled with performers name, date, and occasionally venue. Performers include: Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner (May 27, 1972), Mack Magaha, Buck Trent, Jane Downing and Brother Mack, Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter (May 29, 1972), Billy Reynolds, Liz Anderson, Cathy Glick, The Carter Brother's Show, The Sheltons, Crazy Elmer, Jean Valli, Jim Ed Brown (June 17,1972) and the Gems, Melba Montgomery and Del Reeves and the Good Time Charlies (June 24, 1972), Susan Oliver, Bob Luman, Gus and Joanne Thomas, and Wilma Burgess. Locations: Richland, Boscov's East, Schaefferstown, Ontalaune, Shartlesville (state or states unknown) USA. May 27, 1972--Aug. 3, 1975, months range March--September.

These snapshots were taken in the summer of 1972 by an unidentified fan. The album documents a variety of country music performances in small, local venues, from a time when fans could easily take snapshots and gather autographs of favorite performers. It is likely the woman in the upper left corner is the maker of the album, and perhaps the young man in brown, right edge, is her son.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date made: 1972-1975
• Date made: 1972-05-27 through 1975-08-03
• depicted (sitter): Parton, Dolly
• depicted (sitter): Wagoner, Porter
• depicted (sitter): Trent, Buck
• depicted (sitter): Jennings, Waylon
• depicted (sitter): Colter, Jessi
• depicted (sitter): Reynolds, Billy
• depicted (sitter): Anderson, Liz
• depicted (sitter): Carter Brothers
• Object Name: photo album
• Physical Description: paper (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: cloth (cover material)
• Physical Description: metal (binding material)
• Measurements: overall: 28.1 cm x 2.8 cm x 33.3 cm; 11 1/16 in x 1 1/8 in x 13 1/8 in
• Subject: Musicians
• ID Number: 2001.0291.01
• catalog number: 2001.0291.01
• accession number: 2001.0291
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.