LEADER 00000nam a2200313 i 4500 
005    20240410124328.5 
008    240319s2024    nyua   e b    001 0 eng d 
010    bl2024006279 
020    9781639365715|qhc. 
040    GCmBT|beng|cGCmBT|erda|dGCmBT 
082 04 973.917|223 
092    973.917|bKAS 
092    973.917|bKAS 
100 1  Kaskowitz, Sheryl,|eauthor 
245 12 A chance to harmonize :|bhow FDR's hidden music unit 
       sought to save America from the Great Depression--one song
       at a time /|cSheryl Kaskowitz. 
250    First Pegasus Books cloth edition. 
264  1 New York, NY :|bPegasus Books,|c2024. 
300    xxiii, 242 pages :|billustrations ;|c24 cm 
336    text|2rdacontent 
337    unmediated|2rdamedia 
338    volume|2rdacarrier 
504    Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-230) and 
       index. 
520    "In 1934, the Great Depression had destroyed the US 
       economy, leaving residents poverty-stricken. First Lady 
       Eleanor Roosevelt urged President Roosevelt to take 
       radical action to help those hit hardest—Appalachian 
       miners and mill workers stranded after factories closed, 
       city dwellers with no hope of getting work, farmers whose 
       land had failed. They set up government homesteads in 
       rural areas across the country, an experiment in 
       cooperative living where people could start over. To boost
       morale and encourage the homesteaders to find community in
       their own traditions, the administration brought in 
       artists to lead group activities—including folk music. As 
       part of a music unit led by Charles Seeger (father of 
       Pete), staffer Sidney Robertson traveled the country to 
       record hundreds of folk songs. Music leaders, most notably
       Margaret Valiant, were sent to homesteads to use the 
       collected songs to foster community and cooperation. 
       Working almost entirely (and purposely) under the radar, 
       the music unit would collect more than 800 songs and 
       operate for nearly two years, until they were shut down 
       under fire from a conservative coalition in Congress that 
       deemed the entire homestead enterprise dangerously 
       “socialistic." Despite its early demise, the music unit 
       proved that music can provide hope and a sense of 
       belonging even in the darkest times. It also laid the 
       groundwork for the folk revival that followed, seeing the 
       rise of artists like Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Odetta, 
       and Bob Dylan"--|cProvided by publisher. 
650  0 Popular music|xSocial aspects|zUnited States|xHistory. 
650  0 Depressions|y1929|zUnited States|xHistory. 
650  0 New Deal, 1933-1939|xHistory. 
651  0 United States|xHistory|y1933-1945.