Book a tour HERE to see this exhibit and others.

Music runs through the veins of America. Since the nation’s inception two and a half centuries ago, music has informed our national identity, interpreted it, and inspired it. Whether sacred or secular, urban or rural, folk or pop, classical or experimental, it all adds up to the soundtrack of our American story.

The Folk Americana Roots Hall of Fame is unveiling a powerful new exhibit, Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History, opening February 12, 2026, at the Boch Center Wang Theatre.

Featuring more than 100 legendary artifacts, Music America traces 250 years of music history, from early folk song books and hymnals to a Civil War bugle and a World War I ukulele once popular with soldiers. Visitors will see Clarence Clemons’s saxophone, guitars from Prince, Jimi Hendrix, B. B. King, and John Lee Hooker, Charlie Daniels’s fiddle, Baby Dodds’s drum, and iconic stage looks worn by Etta James, Mary Wilson, Elvis Presley, Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, and more. The exhibit also showcases Chuck D’s handwritten “Fight the Power” lyrics, Elvis pieces, and rare items from artists such as Bo Diddley, Ella Fitzgerald, Kurt Cobain, Bruce Springsteen, Aerosmith’s Joe Perry, and Boston’s Tom Scholz.

Experience how music has shaped American identity for 250 years. Public tours will be available. Tickets will be offered at FolkAmericanaRootsHallofFame.org.

The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music preserves the legacy of Bruce Springsteen and celebrates the history of American music and its diversity of artists and genres. Our mission is two-fold. The Springsteen Archives serves as the official repository for materials related to Springsteen and the E Street Band, including photographs, historic memorabilia, oral histories, and more. The Center for American Music explores American music more broadly. We accomplish this by producing exhibitions, concerts, and educational programming that explores and honors the cultural impact of American music past, present, and future. For further information, please visit www.springsteenarchives.org.