We are excited to announce that a rare vintage Minimoog synthesizer from the Bob Moog Foundation Archives has been chosen to represent Bob Moog’s indelible legacy in the Music America: 100 Iconic Objects From America’s Music History exhibit. The exhibit takes place at the LBJ Presidential Library from February 17, 2024, during President’s Day weekend, until August 11, 2024. The exhibit will then travel to four other presidential libraries over a two-year period. The Minimoog, which is considered to be the most iconic analog synthesizer of all time, helped revolutionize the face of music by bringing a brand new palette of sounds to the performing musician.
The historical Minimoog included in the exhibit is an early R.A. Moog Minimoog belonging to Bob Moog’s long-time collaborator and electronic music pioneer Herbert A. Deutsch. Only 210 R.A. Moog Minimoogs were ever produced before the company name was changed to Moog Music. Deutsch’s Minimoog is serial number 1094, or the 94th Minimoog of an eventual 12,269 to be produced. Deutsch owned the Minimoog from 1971 until his passing in 2022.
We are deeply honored to have Bob Moog, his legacy, and one of his most important collaborators featured in the Music America exhibit. This nationally touring exhibit will help shine a light on the seminal importance of Bob’s and Herb’s work, as well as the legendary impact of the Minimoog.
The Music America exhibition will feature more than one hundred objects representing the best of American music, spanning decades and genres. For the first time in one place, visitors will see everything from B.B. King’s guitar “Lucille,” the fox fur stole worn by Billie Holiday, a handmade velvet shirt worn by Elvis Presley, Chuck D’s handwritten lyrics to “Fight the Power,” the outfit Bruce Springsteen wore on the Born in the USA album cover, as well as a guitar played by Taylor Swift and a costume she wore on the Taylor Swift Reputation Stadium Tour.
Music America is curated by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music in association with the New Orleans Jazz Museum and Hard Rock International, along with dozens of prominent collectors of American music ephemera.
“Bob Moog and the Minimoog played major roles in the story of American music, which is why they are featured in the exhibit Music America: Iconic Objects from America’s Music History,” remarked Robert Santelli, Executive Director of the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. “Bob Moog ranks with Leo Fender, Les Paul, and other inventors and visionaries who shaped the future of music, and the Minimoog did much to chart the direction that rock and pop took in the 1970s and beyond.”
The Bob Moog Foundation Archives is a vast and growing collection of historical materials including vintage synthesizers and other hardware, schematics, desktop and schematic notebooks, correspondence, vintage catalogs, photos, reel-to-reel tapes, academic and industry publications, ephemera, and more. To donate to the Bob Moog Foundation Archives, contact info@moogfoundation.org.