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Journal / History

History, music & heritage

From the fields to Beale Street.
The music that changed the world.

The story of the Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum, and of the music it follows from the cotton fields of the Delta to the studios of Memphis.

The Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum sign on a red-brick building at the FedExForum plaza
The Memphis Rock ’n’ Soul Museum at the FedExForum plaza on Beale Street.

A Smithsonian research project

The museum began as a research project of the Smithsonian Institution, created to celebrate the Smithsonian’s 150th anniversary. Its exhibition, The Birth of Rock ’n’ Soul, opened in Memphis on 29 April 2000 in the Gibson building, and in autumn 2004 the museum moved to its present home beside FedExForum on Beale Street.

Brick shopfronts, a striped awning and signs along Beale Street on a sunny day
Close-up of the faders, knobs and meters of a vintage recording console

Field hollers to soul

The galleries follow Memphis music from the field hollers and porch music of sharecroppers in the 1930s, through Beale Street in the 1940s, radio, Sam Phillips and Sun Records in the 1950s, to Stax, Hi Records and soul music in the 1960s and 1970s, and the civil rights movement.

A museum and a hall of fame

Today the museum is a non-profit and a Smithsonian Affiliate. It also administers the Memphis Music Hall of Fame, launched in 2012, which opened its own museum and exhibition hall on South 2nd Street in 2015.

Beale Street at night, with neon signs above the shops and clubs

Continue exploring

Close-up of the faders, knobs and meters of a vintage recording consoleThe birth of rock ’n’ soulHow Memphis music grew.A vintage recording console behind a rope barrier in a museum galleryWhat to see at the museumThe galleries, one by one.Plan your visit

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