What's Going On: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A long-playing record of the album What's Going On recorded by Marvin Gaye. This object is comprised of a disc (a) of the long-playing record What’s Going On, an album jacket (b) and a paper sleeve (c).The vinyl disc (a) has a round tan colored label with a band of brown across the top. In the middle of the band is a rectangle with an oval globe inside it. Under the globe is tan text that reads [TAMLA]. The album jacket (b) depicts a photographic portrait of Marvin Gaye shown from the shoulders up. He wears a black raincoat with its collar turned up. He is turned a slight quarter-turn away from the viewer and gazes above the viewer’s head away to his left. In the top right corner is text that reads [What’s / Going On / Marvin Gaye]. There is a Tamla trademark in the bottom right corner. There is a sticker on the top left corner of the cover. The jacket cover opens like a book. The left leaf has black text on a light grey background with a narrow white border around the margin. The songs and their lyrics are listed in columns of text. On the bottom right quadrant is a block of text written by Marvin Gaye regarding his inspiration for the album and production information. The right leaf of the jacket cover has a sepia toned photo collage of photographs of Marvin Gaye’s family and childhood. In the top left corner text reads [Family / Photo / Album]. The back of the jacket depicts Gaye wearing a long black raincoat over a black suit, yellow shirt, and pale-yellow tie. He stands with his hands in his pockets in the rain. In the background is a swing set and a brick house. Along the left margin is text in yellow and white that reads [WHAT’S / GOING ON / MARVIN GAYE]. This is followed by a list of the songs on side 1 and 2. The paper sleeve (c) front has a wide orange banner across the top margin, with illustrations of rainbows, clouds and shooting stars in the corners. Across the center of the banner faded red text reads [A MOTOWN FIRST! / Out of Sight Items to Please Every Motown Fan]. Below the banner the sleeve is split into two sections, one with a pale orange background and one with a white background. Both are covered with advertisements for fan club paraphernalia. At the bottom right is a cut out and mail in form to order the items. The back of the paper sleeve has color images of other albums produced by Motown records, arranged in rows and columns. In the upper left corner is blue text that reads [THE MOTOWN / SOUND / The / Sound / of / Young / America]. The album's release number is HS-1867.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1971
• Published by: Tamla Records, American, 1959 - 1988
• Produced by: Marvin Gaye, American, 1939 - 1984
• Recorded by: Marvin Gaye, American, 1939 - 1984
• Recorded by: The Funk Brothers, American, 1959 - 1972
• Directed by: David Van DePitte, American, 1941 - 2009
• Photograph by: Jim Hendin, American
• Type: record covers
• Type: long-playing records
• Medium: (a): vinyl with ink on paper
• Medium: (b): ink on paper
• Medium: (c): ink on paper
• Dimensions: Diameter (a. record): 11 7/8 in. (30.2 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (b. jacket): 12 1/4 × 12 1/4 in. (31.1 × 31.1 cm)
• Dimensions: H x W (c. sleeve): 11 7/8 × 11 7/8 in. (30.2 × 30.2 cm)
• Place made: Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States, North and Central America
• Place made: Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Composers (Musicians)
• Topic: Popular music
• Topic: Rhythm and blues (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Topic: Soul (Music)
• Object number: 2015.189.29abc
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © 1971 Motown Record Corporation Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.