The Woody Guthrie exhbit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is scheduled to close July 16th...The original date was August 13th. So if you are in the DC area, be sure to visit it before the 16th!

I went on the opening day & it was great! Don't miss this one. I didn't get as many pics of it as I wanted & my pics didn't turn out as good as I wanted to cuz I had to take them without flash cuz some dumb fuzz told me no pictures when I tried to take one. Can't Obies friends leave us alone????

\But do go to the exhibit! It's fun!

JOIN THE PROTEST TO KEEP THE GUTHRIE EXHIBIT OPEN!

http://www.chicago.tribune.com/version1/article/0,1575,SAV-0007050193,00.html
NEW SMITHSONIAN CHIEF
CONTINUES TO RAISE
HACKLES
CLOSING OF GUTHRIE FOLK EXHIBIT,
DIVERSION OF FUNDS SPARK PROTESTS

By Michael Kilian
Washington Bureau
July 05, 2000

WASHINGTON Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lawrence Small has
become embroiled in two new controversies: one over the closing of A
POPULAR WOODY GUTHRIE FOLK MUSIC EXHIBITION, and the other involving a
dispute over plans for the use of research funds.

In April, Small ordered the Smithsonian's National Museum of American
History to create and install a permanent exhibition on American
presidents by Election Day in November--allowing seven months for the
kind of project the museum normally takes three years to research,
prepare and mount.

Much of the space required for this exhibition is currently being used for
the Guthrie show, "This Land Is Your Land," about the life and times of
the Depression-era figure many consider the father of American folk
music. The show was booked to run through Sept. 4, but must now close
July 16, halfway through the Washington summer tourist season.

In a letter to Small, Guthrie's daughter Nora Guthrie complained: "The
rush to have the presidential exhibit up and running by November is, in
my opinion, uncalled for and a breach of contract. After all, the
presidents exhibit will be a permanent exhibit. People will have forever to
view it."

Smithsonian spokeswoman Linda St. Thomas said there was no
immediate response to Nora Guthrie's complaint, but confirmed that
Small had insisted on an Election Day deadline for the new show.

She said some have suggested that the exhibition not be opened until the
January presidential inauguration, an appropriate occasion that would
permit the Guthrie show to run through Sept. 4.

http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-06/30/134l-063000-idx.html Woody Guthrie Show Cut Short
Daughter Protests Smithsonian's Early Closing

By Jacqueline Trescott
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 30, 2000; Page C01

In a corner of the National Museum of American History, an exhibit
examines the legacy of Woody Guthrie, the legendary folk balladeer. The
title, "This Land Is Your Land," is a homage to one of his classic songs.

But right now the Smithsonian Institution is singing its own ballad, and it
could be called "This Space Is Our Space."

In a move that has deeply disappointed the Guthrie family, museum officials
have cut the show's 14-week run in half because it is sitting smack in the
middle of the space needed for an exhibit on the U.S. presidency. That
show is a top priority of new Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small, who
personally ordered the top curators at American History to install it by
November, in time for a post-Election Day opening.

That decision saddened Nora Guthrie, one of the singer's daughters and
director of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives in New York.
"Our archives worked on this exhibition for three years. We gave our life
to this one," she said.
...


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Guthrie Exhibit Still Alive
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-07/12/123l-071200-idx.html

"The exhibition--featuring Guthrie's fiddle and mandolin, as well as
drawings, notations for songs and film footage--will be removed from its
present location July 17. It will reopen in the museum's Taylor Gallery Aug.
7 and will remain on display until Sept. 24."

Glad they are keeping it alive! I'd hate to see them end it early.

Exhibit reopens on August 7. http://yp.washingtonpost.com/E/E/WASDC/0001/74/15/cs1.html