The Delaware Music History Archive is bringing part of its collection into the public eye this weekend with its inaugural expo in Wilmington.
Since its launch just a few years ago, the project has catalogued thousands of shows across genres through photographs and ephemera like fliers, as well as performances by Delaware artists in and out of the First State.
While the centerpiece of the archive is an online interactive map of historic shows and venues, Paul Campagna, one of the project’s founders, says getting into the physical space is an important part, and a logical extension, of their work.
“The online stuff is one of the ways to make it really easy for people to come in and see what we're documenting, but putting things in people's hands feels important as well,” he says.
Anchoring the archive’s expo in Wilmington this weekend is a collection of several generations of music photography from and about Delaware.
“The main exhibit is women music photographers through the decades in Delaware,” Campagna says. “So we're covering from the 70s all along to the 2020s.”
The expo will also feature tributes to two departed Delaware musicians, drummer Matt Krupanski from the band BoySetsFire, and musician and recording engineer Nick Rotundo. Friends and colleagues of the two musicians will participate in a panel discussion about their legacies. Other panel discussions on Saturday will bring together speakers to talk about how their formative experiences with music in Delaware led to their career paths, and a talk on booking folk shows.
One feature of the expo will be a pop-up record shop dedicated to music from the First State.
“Delaware musicians are contributing to this, their releases that they've got sitting in their basement or that maybe people haven't seen in a while and putting it all together in one place so that people can come check it out,” Campagna says.
The event is also a chance for the archive to add to its catalog of the state’s music scene, Campagna adds.
“We do want people to know that we're covering all genres,” he says. “We want people to contribute whatever they've got from their experiences and we want to amplify and focus on as much music as we can from hip-hop to jazz to folk, etc.”
The Delaware Music History Archive’s inaugural expo is Friday from 5:00 - 8:00 pm and Saturday from 1:00 - 6:00 pm at Creative Magic Art Shop in Wilmington.
Delaware Public Media's arts coverage is made possible, in part, by support from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.
