Let’s start at the beginning– tell me about The Museum of Americana: A Literary Review. It’s not really a museum, though, right?
Well, it’s not a literal museum where you stroll the galleries and look at objects. Although, from the beginning, the word museum was important. Justin Hamm, our founding editor, conceived of the project as a figurative space for the curation of cultural artifacts, for framing life and experience in a new way. From the start, Justin’s interest has gone beyond enshrining objects and ideas to that of re-envisioning the notion of Americana, so the journal, much like a contemporary museum, presents our readership with ideas that reframe cultural experience from positions outside the traditional space of Americana.
We’re an online journal publishing three issues annually along with Americana Stories, a weekly feature of poetry and prose. Because we feature reimagined Americana, we’re not as interested in straight nostalgia but in seeing American culture from a new way—from the margins, for example, or from an unexpected perspective through juxtaposition, voice, or point of view. It’s all about casting light on the unexpected that exists in the everyday. As Justin says, the museum of americana examines the huge tub of spare parts that make up the contemporary experience of living in the United States.
