Coming Fall 2021—Extensive Digital Exhibit About the Berkeley Folk Music Festival

the berkeley folk music festival & the folk revival on the us west coast—an introduction presents a multimedia history of the understudied but significant folk festival that took place on the university of california-berkeley campus between 1958 and 1970.Pete Seeger performs at the University of California-Berkeley’s Greek Theater during the 1963 Berkeley Folk Music Festival.

Coming fall 2021, the digital exhibit The Berkeley Folk Music Festival & the Folk Revival on the US West Coast—An Introduction takes a look at and listen to the history of an understudied part of the 1960s folk revival. Taking place on the University of California-Berkeley campus between 1958 to 1970, the Berkeley Festival featured many of the most famous performers from the era, from Joan Baez and Pete Seeger to Doc Watson and Mississippi John Hurt to rock bands such as the Jefferson Airplane and Country Joe and the Fish. Countless other musicians appeared at the event as well, from norteño band Los Tigres Del Norte as its members were just starting out on their successful career to Woody Guthrie’s running buddy Cisco Houston at the tail end of his life. Curated by historian Michael J. Kramer, the multimedia exhibit features photographs, posters, ephemera, audio recordings, and video clips as well as an extensive narrative text that contextualizes the event within the cultural history of the post-World War II era in California and the United States as a whole.