05/20/2022
This is the only known surviving guitar bearing Woody Guthrie’s iconic phrase “This Machine Kills Fascists,” which he scratched into the back of the instrument. See it in person before the exhibition closes this Sunday!
Written on a sticker or painted with bold letters, the anti-fascist message appears on other guitars in several performance photographs of Guthrie. The words have since been reimagined by contemporary musician-activists on their own instruments, from Pete Seeger’s “This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender” to Billy Bragg’s “This Machine Kills Time” and Tom Morello’s “Arm the Homeless.” Guthrie’s phrase has also appeared on cameras, mailboxes, writing implements, and other “machines” of activism.
Visit https://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/guthrie for a closer look at Woody Guthrie's guitars.
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Woody Guthrie's Martin guitar, purchased early 1940s.
Courtesy of the Museum of Pop Culture, Seattle, WA
"Woody Guthrie: People Are the Song" is presented by the Woody Guthrie Center and Woody Guthrie Publications, in collaboration with the Morgan Library & Museum.
The Morgan's presentation is made possible by the Sherman Fairchild Fund for Exhibitions, the Charles E. Pierce, Jr. Fund for Exhibitions, and the Margaret T. Morris Fund for Americana. Additional support is provided by Liz and Rod Berens, and Jon and Barbara Landau.
