Falling Back in Time to the Beat Generation

            This week one of the most interesting things I happened upon was in a folder dedicated to “The Fugs.”  This band, most recently, has been used by the Coen Brothers in their films.  The band is from the 60s and can be easily placed into the beat generation.  This band was also one of the very few who had their recording pulled from the Folkways catalog. 

            One of the documents that really teleported me back to the beat generation was an arts magazine that the band created.  The introduction and the name of the magazine was one of the most interesting parts about “The Fugs.”  They expressed their points of view on the government and politics so clearly that it offered a very blunt insight to a different side of the human experience that other forms of folk music I had seen before.  The underlying theme in quite a lot of the folk music I read the lyrics and liner notes to seemed to be equality and fighting the power that stopped that equality.  

The Fugs were the epitome of these feelings and they made no attempt at hiding their feelings.  This expression of culture and expression of freedom of speech is something that is a fantastic find in historical collections.  Ideas that go against the grain of popular opinion are what create the basis of different cultures.  However, allowing every culture to be recognized as its entity is sometimes hard for people to accept.  If people do not think the same way as everyone else- for better or for worse- they are often pushed to the back and forgotten.  It is the job of historians to try and make sure that all cultures are exhibited in a well-rounded sense. 

The question arises, in cases such as The Fugs, what is appropriate to showcase under the name of the Smithsonian?  How do you know where to draw the line?  What do you do with objects that are deemed inappropriate for your viewership?  There are plenty of sculptures on display that show naked bodies- I often wonder if there would be a profit in making a shirt that said “I saw my first naked body at the National Gallery.”  Is the difference between these sculptures and these documents the matter of opinion driving the objects?