PROGRAM

Roosevelt House is pleased to present a discussion of A Chance to Harmonize: How FDR’s Hidden Music Unit Sought to Save America from the Great Depression―One Song at a Time by award-winning author and American music scholar, Sheryl Kaskowitz. In this fascinating and deeply researched examination of a “hidden” New Deal program, Kaskowitz shows how the Roosevelt administration sought to use folk music to alleviate the hardships of the Great Depression. The author will be in conversation with previous Roosevelt House guest, the author of an acclaimed book about FDR’s Federal Writers’ Project, Scott Borchert.

In 1934, as part of an effort to boost morale and encourage citizens to find community in their traditions, the Roosevelt administration sent artists to homesteads throughout the country to lead group activities—including listening to and making folk music. As part of a music unit led by Charles Seeger (father of Pete), Roosevelt staffer Sidney Robertson traveled the country to record hundreds of folk songs; and music leaders, most notably Margaret Valiant, were sent to homesteads to use the collected songs to foster community and cooperation. According to Kaskowitz, the music unit—working almost entirely, and purposely, under the radar—collected more than 800 songs over nearly two years.

Despite its early demise, the music unit proved—as Kaskowitz writes—that, even in the darkest of times, music can provide hope and a sense of belonging. This project also laid the groundwork for the folk revival that followed, precipitating the rise of artists like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Odetta, and Bob Dylan. A Chance to Harmonize reveals this untold story—and, with it, the revelation of a new and previously undiscovered chapter in American cultural history.

Sheryl Kaskowitz is the author of God Bless America: The Surprising History of an Iconic Song, which won an ASCAP Deems Taylor Book Award for music writing. Her articles have appeared in the New York Times, Slate, and Bloomberg News. She earned her PhD in music with an ethnomusicology focus from Harvard in 2011 and completed her BA in music at Oberlin. She has served as a lecturer at Brandeis University and Brown University and lives with her family in Berkeley, California.

Scott Borchert is the author of Republic of Detours: How the New Deal Paid Broke Writers to Rediscover America, which won the New Deal Book Award and was featured in a previous Roosevelt House event. He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street JournalThe New RepublicHumanities, and other publications.


A Chance to Harmonize: How FDR’s Hidden Music Unit Sought to Save America from the Great Depression―One Song at a Time | Posted on October 9th, 2024 | Public Programs