The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History reported that its six-week showing of the Smithsonian Institution traveling exhibition “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music” was a resounding success. During the exhibition period, the museum hosted nearly 4,800 visitors for the exhibit and related programs. This is a 200 percent increase in museum visitation during the same period of last year.

The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History was expressly chosen by the North Carolina Humanities Council to host the exhibition as part of the Museum on Main Street project, a national/state/local partnership to bring exhibitions and programs to rural cultural organizations, because of the area’s rich musical heritage.

Through a selection of photographs, recordings, instruments, lyrics and artist profiles, “New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music” explored the American musical story and shows how gospel, country, blues, folk and other roots music forms helped to set the foundation for many musical genres appreciated worldwide today. New Harmonies explored how this ongoing cultural process has made America the birthplace of such great music and gives visitors a chance to reflect on their own musical heritage and the traditions that inspire it.

The museum’s complimentary local programs included a Wednesday “Lunch and Learn” lecture series which featured regional musicians or singers who spoke about the role roots music played in their lives and the importance of roots music in area communities, hands-on workshops such as making and playing a diddley bow, a free community bluegrass concert, a North Carolina Humanities Road Scholar lecture and “Trunks and Tales,” a program where a roots music trunk containing various instruments and books was presented to preschool children in the regional libraries.

The Mount Airy Museum of Regional History was selected as the state-wide launch site for the New Harmonies tour, but perhaps more importantly, it was selected as the inaugural site for the whole Museum on Main Street program in North Carolina.

“Affiliation with this program was a tremendous honor for us,” said Matt Edwards, the museum’s executive director.

“We were thrilled with the community’s reaction to New Harmonies,” Edwards added. “By hosting a Smithsonian exhibition at our institution, we were able to increase our visitorship and generate some great regional exposure for the museum. By working with the North Carolina Humanities Council, local cultural organizations and businesses, we were able to offer a wide variety of educational programs for the entire community. We hope to build on these experiences in future program plans.”

“New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music” is now on view at the Warren County Memorial Library in Warrenton. The exhibition will continue to tour North Carolina with four more stops between now and the end of 2010.

“New Harmonies: Celebrating American Roots Music” is part of Museum on Main Street, a unique collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils across the nation and local host institutions. To learn more, visit www.museumonmainstreet.org, www.sites.si.edu, and www.nchumanities.org. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.