Exploring America’s Musical Heritage is a 4-hour DVD program that takes you across America to experience and learn about our history and art.

From Puritans and Native Americans; through the founders and pioneers; to the immigrants of Ellis Island and today’s newcomers, Americans have used music, paintings, poetry, dance and architecture to express the essence of life in America.

Study materials are available for each unit. Take a look!

• Unit 1: Regionalism, Legacy, and Preservation
• Unit 2: Contrasting Traditions of the Puritans and Moravians (1620-1760)
• Unit 3: America’s Founders and Their Arts (1700-1800)
• Unit 4: Architecture, Soundscapes and New Directions (1780-1850)
• Unit 5: The Arts Shaped by Conflict (1820-1865)
• Unit 6: Americans on the Move (1810-1880)
• Unit 7: Native America Revisited, Immigrants and American Theater (1830-1920)
• Unit 8: Exploring the New and Preserving the Old (1900-1960)

Exploring America’s Musical Heritage Trailer

Order your copy here.

Compare our two American History courses.

In Exploring America’s Musical Heritage, Professor Carol—along with 38 other historians, scholars, and artists—takes you on a journey through America’s musical history. The two DVD set contains eight units (approximately 30 minutes each) of engaging instruction. Supplementary articles, interviews, and notes are available on this website.

The arts give us a valuable way to connect with the past. When we sing the songs our great-great-grandparents learned around a campfire, read the poems they recited, and study the paintings or quilts they painstakingly created during their lifetimes, we visit the past in a tangible way. We connect with our legacy.