Newseum Woodstock Exhibit a Personal One for Paulson

By: Samuel Chamberlain The Newseum in Washington, D.C., on Saturday will open the exhibit "Woodstock at 40: The Rise of Music Journalism." Included are artifacts, concert footage, and photographs documenting the legendary rock festival.

For Newseum President and COO Ken Paulson, former editor of USA Today, it will also be a chance to reflect on how Woodstock changed journalism. "Woodstock represented a shift in the way news outlets covered popular music and popular culture," he said. "Before Woodstock, you didn't see regular reviews in newspapers. After Woodstock every paper had a full-time reviewer, and rock critics became a regular part of the staff.

"I remember, shortly after Woodstock ... seeing an ad in a paper called Environs. They were recruiting young people to write for them in the hope of staying current. I took out my typewriter, sent them a letter of application, and that was the beginning of my freelancing career, which lasted the next 10 years. It gave me opportunities I wouldn't have had otherwise. They wouldn't send a 16-year-old to cover zoning meetings. They would send a 16-year-old to the Rolling Stones concert."

The exhibit will feature rarely seen photographs by three photographers: Henry Diltz, who was paid $500 by promoter Michael Lang to be the event's official photographer; Mark Goff, a 22-year-old reporter for Kaleidoscope, a Milwaukee-based alternative newspaper; and Dan Garson, a 17-year-old from Connecticut who, to his own astonishment, received a press pass after writing to festival organizers and took more than 300 pictures, only four of which were ever published.

"[Garson] took over 300 photos, four of which were published in community papers, and the rest were put in his family's basement," Paulson says. "They didn't see the light of day for decades."

Garson's photos resurfaced with the help of Brad LeMee, who bonded with Garson during the latter's career as a film editor and producer in Toronto. "Garson had two of his Woodstock photos up on his wall," says Cathy Trost, Director of Exhibit Development at the Newseum. "They were collectors and big rock-and-roll fans, and they bonded over that."

Garson died of cancer in 1992. With the 40th anniversary of Woodstock approaching, LeMee, acting on behalf of Garson's family, approached Genesis Publications, an English publisher of limited-edition, hand-bound books, about using Garson's photographs in a 40th anniversary book about Woodstock. "LeMee knew of Genesis Publications, he had some of their books, and he approached them about doing something for the 40th anniversary," said Trost.

The Newseum approached Genesis about using the photos for an exhibit. Genesis agreed, and Garson's photos can be seen at the Newseum, as well as in the Genesis publication "Woodstock Experience," production of which is being limited to 1,000 copies.

For Paulson, whose son Dave is a music critic for The Tennessean in Nashville, seeing Garson's photographs is just one of the many highlights of the exhibit. "It's a fun look at one of the most important cultural moments of the '60s," he said. "For me personally, it brings my career full circle."