Enjoy a Musical Family Day on May 17th! | Minerva’s Kaleidoscope

Join us in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building on Saturday, May 17, 2025 to learn about the musical collections at the Library of Congress.

Activities during the drop-in program (10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) are primarily designed for kids and their families, but all ages are welcome. The event is free of charge, although you will need free building tickets. A limited number of walk-up passes are available on the day, but registering in advance is the best way to guarantee entry at your preferred time. Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at 202-707-6363 or by emailing [email protected].

A group of young men in jeans and t-shirts play guitars on a wooden stage. — Clear Creek Crossing, the Lilly Family band, playing the Fourth of July celebration on Kayford Mountain. Terry Eiler, 1997. (Tending to the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress).

During May’s Family Day we will celebrate the musical collections at the Library with a focus on musical families. Talk about your own musical experiences, plan out your own family band, imagine what instrument you’d play, and create your own album cover art. Chat with representatives from the American Folklife Center and the Music Division about the musicians and instruments in their collections. Explore the building with a Family Day scavenger hunt to discover how music is represented in the art, architecture, and collections, and get a close look at some historic instruments and musical records on display.

Tours and performances throughout the day provide a closer look at the work of the Music Division:

11 am: Musical Stories (ages 5-8), Melissa Wertheimer, Music Division/Digital Services
12pm: Tour of Whittall Pavilion Instrument Collection, Stella Smith, Music Division
1 pm: Tour of Gershwin Gallery, Ray White, Music Division
2 pm: Musical Stories (ages 5-8) Staff Sergeant Philip Espe, Librarian, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band

A man in a red Marines dress uniform. — Staff Sergeant Philip Espe, Librarian, “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band.

Join in from Home

If you can’t make it to Family Day in person, you can still join in on the fun! Complete the activity below or explore the Library’s online resources to learn more.

Family Conversation Activity

To learn more about your own family’s musical history, ask each other some of the following questions:

Have you ever played a musical instrument? If you haven’t, what musical instrument would you like to learn to play if you had the opportunity?
What is your favorite type of music to listen to?
What is your earliest musical memory?
If you were in a band, what type of music would you play? What would the band’s name be?
If we had a family band, what instruments would each of us play? Why?

A group of Black men holding classical instruments, joined by one white man. — Summit Avenue Ensemble, Atlanta Georgia. A group of six young men posed with their instruments in the photographer’s home studio on Summit Avenue, Atlanta, Ga. From left: the photographer’s twin sons Clarence and Norman Askew, son Arthur Askew, neighbor Jake Sansome, and sons Robert and Walter Askew.Thomas E Askew, 1899 or 1900. (Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.)

Research from Home

Whatever your musical preferences, there is something for everyone at the Library. The Library of Congress began collecting instruments in 1935 when five Stradivarius stringed instruments were donated by Gertrude Clarke Whittall. The Library’s musical holdings include strings, flutes, and wind instruments. You can learn more about this initial donation and see pictures of some of these items in the digital collection Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress. Maybe you’ll be inspired to include one of them in your imaginary band!

A hi resolution photograph of a violin on a white background. — Violin by Giuseppe Guarneri, Cremona, ca. 1730, “Goldberg-Baron Vitta.” (Musical Instruments at the Library of Congress, Music Division, Library of Congress.)

The Library regularly hosts concerts featuring all genres of music, including jazz, folk, pop, hip hop, country, rock, chamber music, and more. You can find recordings of some of these concerts and additional material in the Library of Congress Concerts digital collection, and information about upcoming concerts on the events page.

A print of a group of women of various ages playing the piano, flute, and string instruments. — The Musical Family Concert of Ladies. C. 1763 – 1830. (Dayton C. Miller Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress.)

The Library also works with the National Recording Preservation Board to highlight the richness of the nation’s recorded sound through the National Recording Registry. This year’s additions to the registry include Elton John’s album “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” Microsoft’s reboot chime, the soundtrack to the Minecraft video game, and the original cast recording of the musical “Hamilton.”

The National Recording Registry contains music from across the decades – and so do the Library’s collections! From Kendrick Lamar to John Philip Sousa, there’s something for everyone. Learn about the history of hip hop in a blog celebrating 50 years of the genre, or read about Washington D.C.’s own Grammy nominated beatbox and hip hop artist. Then, travel back in time to explore the sheet music featured in collections on Ragtime, American Choral Music, and Baseball Sheet Music.

An adult man and woman sit with two boys and a girl in a highly decorated space, posed for a picture. The man is holding a stringed instrument. — John Georganas Family Orchestra, Chicago, Illinois. Jonas Dovydenas, April 21, 1977. (Chicago Ethnic Arts Project Collection, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.)

For music that spans the country, check out digital collections like The Library of Congress Celebrates Songs of America, Alan Lomax Collection of Michigan and Wisconsin Recordings, or Hispano Music and Culture of the Northern Rio Grande. Once you’re done exploring, stop by Citizen DJ to mix your own music using the Library’s collections.

Wherever your research takes you, we hope you find something you enjoy listening to! We look forward to welcoming you to the Library if you’re in the neighborhood on May 17^th. Wherever you are, happy listening!

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