Antietam Early Banjo Gathering-VII (June 20-22, 2014)

The National Museum of Civil War Medicine (NMCWM) is proud to present the Seventh Antietam Early Banjo Gathering (AEBG-VII) on June 20-22, 2014. For this year’s event, the NMCWM is partnering with the Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI) to present programming that will take place at two locations. On Friday, June 20, the BMI will host the first day of events in Baltimore (from 10AM-4PM) to showcase its latest exhibit Making Music: The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond, located at 1415 Key Highway, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. On Saturday and Sunday, June 21-22, the event will resume at its traditional location at the Pry House Field Hospital and Museum, located at 18906 Shepherdstown Pike, Keedysville, MD 21756.

FRIDAY AT THE BMI: Free and open to the public for the first 80 people to RSVP with BMI

The BMI’s special exhibit, Making Music: The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond, showcases the banjo as a Maryland tradition since at least the late 1740s and how Baltimore became the setting for the instrument’s earliest mass production in the 1840s. Through the cultural convergences slavery, blackface minstrelsy, and industry, this exhibit reveals the Chesapeake region’s multicultural impact on the foundations of American popular culture. Thus, the BMI became a perfect partner for the annual Antietam Early Banjo Gathering.

To RSVP for the BMI programming, please contact Kelley Edelmann at kedelmann@thebmi.org.

For more information on the Baltimore Museum of Industry and its special exhibit, “Making Music: The Banjo in Baltimore and Beyond,” please visit www.thebmi.org.

SATURDAY & SUNDAY AT ANTIETAM: Registration $70 ($60 for current NMCWM members)

On Friday evening, AEBG attendees will return to the event’s traditional location at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on the Antietam National Battlefield in Keedysville, MD. 

The cost of registration for the Seventh Antietam Early Banjo Gathering is $70 ($60 for current NMCWM members). Registration includes Saturday and Sunday continental breakfast and lunches, lectures, overnight camping accommodations for those who wish to camp on the Pry House property (Note: registrants must provide their own period or modern tent), and admission to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine and the Pry House Field Hospital Museum. Hotel accommodations are available in nearby Hagerstown, MD at a discounted rate for gathering participants.

To register for the Antietam portions of the weekend programming, 1) register online by visitingwww.civilwarmed.org/calendar and click on the Antietam Early Banjo Gathering, or 2) to register by phone or learn more about lodging options, contact Kyle Wichtendahl of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine at 301-695-1864 ex 1013 or kyle.wichtendahl@civilwarmed.org.

For more information about the schedule of events, please visit the National Museum of Civil War Medicine website:www.civilwarmed.org/calendar.

Please Note: Registering for the AEBG at the Pry House Field Hospital Museum on Saturday and Sunday does not automatically register you for activities at the BMI on Friday. You must register for both events separately.