"Woody Guthrie: This Land is Your Land," an exhibition created by the GRAMMY Museum in Los Angeles, is on display 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Sunday, Sept. 9, in Borland Gallery on Penn State's University Park campus. The exhibition is a part of the Woody at 100: A Centennial Celebration conference being held at Penn State on Saturday, Sept. 8, and is co-curated by the GRAMMY Museum, Woody Guthrie Archives in New York, and Nora Guthrie.
While ballads — songs that tell stories — were his forte, Guthrie also wrote novels, essays and poems, and drew hundreds of visual images. "The Woody Guthrie: This Land is Your Land" exhibition showcases examples of these and more, including pictures of his childhood in Okemah, Okla.; sketches of his life fleeing the great Dust Devil; and manuscripts of letters and songs written as he traveled to California and experienced scorn, discrimination and hatred by native Californians who resented the massive migration of ‘Okie’ outsiders. The common theme to the items on display is that they chronicle the struggle of working people, the disenfranchised, downtrodden, and overworked, and the children who suffered because of this.
The Penn State conference is part of a year-long celebration initiated by the GRAMMY Museum in honor of Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday. It includes a series of education programs, conferences, concerts, and exhibitions across the country. The events demonstrate how Woody Guthrie remains an important, influential, and relevant American folk musician and activist decades after his passing.
The exhibition in Borland Gallery is sponsored by Dean R. Phillips, Esq. and the Phillips’ family in memory of Penn State Professor Emeritus Gerald M. Phillips.