What began as a fan-led effort to preserve Bruce Springsteen’s story 25 years ago has culminated in a long-anticipated new center dedicated to The Boss and the E Street Band, while also celebrating the history and impact of all genres of music.
Get a preview of the Bruce Springsteen Center on Instagram.
The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music opened to the public last weekend at Monmouth University in Long Branch, where Bruce’s ties run deep, and it is a museum-meets musical playground-meets research center.
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The 30,000-square-foot building has 10,000 square feet of space dedicated as the new home of the Bruce Springsteen Archives, and the official location for anything related to Bruce and the E Street Band, including photos, memorabilia, promotional materials, vinyl records, DVDs and oral histories.
Fans will see the band’s instruments, clothes worn on stage, handwritten lyric notebooks, set lists, alternate album covers, early concert posters and more. Springsteen donated many of the items himself, such as letters he wrote to his mother, his Presidential Medal of Freedom, band posters from before he was officially signed to a music contract, and his Oscar and Grammy awards for “Streets of Philadelphia.”
The 10 exhibits are spread out across two floors, including a dive into the evolution of the electric guitar and Springsteen as a songwriter, a Behind the Music in-studio room and an in-concert room, and a video broadcast from the American Music Honors ceremony.
Everything from folk, blues and gospel to country, hip-hop, rock, pop and jazz to Latin and Native American music are showcased, and that means nearly 48,000 items from 47 countries. There is memorabilia dedicated to everyone from Frank Sinatra to Cher to LL Cool J. Make sure the kids look up in the lobby and they’ll see a Taylor Swift banner. There is an indigenous music display plus nods to pop icons Madonna and Lady Gaga.
There are lots of interactive kiosks designed for fans of all music genres. At the American Music Song Bar, you can put on headphones and listen to your song of choice. At Creating the Encore, you can choose a city and venue from a Springsteen concert and pick a set list and encore list.
Through the All Access videos, you can go backstage with the E Street Band; and you can see all of the former and current band members in a tribute along one length of the wall.
There’s also a station set up with guitars, a drum set and a piano where you can take a lesson on how to play the instruments.
Concerts are an important part of the museum. On the first floor, there is a 241-seat performance space for live performances, mini concerts and film screenings. It’s currently showing the documentary “The Ties That Bind: Bruce Springsteen’s American Music Journey,” an intro to the center narrated by The Boss himself.
On the second floor, a concert-style room has bleachers surrounded by a mural of fans and signs from actual concerts that sets the stage for real band concert footage. Outside the building, a grassy amphitheater will be host mini concerts and programs.
Art is a major part of the gallery as well. Philadelphia attorney and collector Robert Mongeluzzi donated one-fifth of his photograph collection showcasing unique photos of Bruce in its own separate gallery.
And one of the most impressive settings is a replica of Bruce’s living room from his former home in Rumson, which has an accurate portrait along the wall, and his real belongings set up in showcases as they would have been in his house; along with an interactive coffee table that gives a glimpse into his songwriting process.
Another gallery space has handwritten lyrics across the walls, with a focus on “Born in the USA” and various album covers, plus his original outfit from the photo shoot.
The Temporary Exhibit Gallery has 2,200 square feet of space, with the inaugural exhibit called “Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Patriotism, and the Power of Song,” pegged to America’s 250th birthday. It’s part of a rotating exhibit that will change a few times a year, and currently focuses on protest, civil rights, American patriotism and LGBTQ+ rights.
The museum is also a working archive, so it’s open to amateur and professional musicians and scholars doing research. Teachers can plan workshops and school visits, or ask about online programs to use in their classroom. And through the TeachRock partnership, E Street member Stevie Van Zandt founded a K-12 curriculum featuring lesson plans.
This whole project came about in 2001, when Springsteen fans organized a campaign to collect and preserve items related to his career. The Friends of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection gifted 35,000 donated items from the personal collections of hundreds of Springsteen fans in the U.S. and abroad. The collection was brought to Monmouth University in 2011, and the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University was established in 2017. That means the planning, design, fundraising (the $50 million project was 100 percent donor funded) and opening took more than 25 years to come together.
The center also has a collection of fan art to represent the people who have supported Springsteen and the E Street Band over the years.
Monmouth was chosen because not only did Springsteen perform from 1969 to 1974 in the area, but in 1974 he wrote his most famous song, “Born to Run,” in Long Branch. Long Branch is also part of the Jersey Shore, which has been a focal point of Bruce’s career – especially since he played The Stone Pony in Asbury Park countless times, while also headlining Asbury’s mega music-art-sand-surf festival, Sea.Hear.Now in 2024. (Fun Fact: The Asbury Hotel had a suite dedicated to all things Bruce when his biopic “Deliver Me From Nowhere” was released last year).
The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music is located on the campus of Monmouth University, 382 Cedar Ave., Long Branch. The center opens to the public on Saturday, June 13. During the summer, hours are 10 am to 5 pm daily, with extended hours to 8 pm on Thursdays. Timed tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors 65+, $16 for kids ages 7 to 17, $16 for veterans with ID, and free for active military and Monmouth University students.
Get a preview of the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music via our Instagram page.
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