Walking through the band exhibit helps to take the viewer back through history in a way that is unique compared to other exhibits in the museum. It progresses in a chronological fashion so that you can understand the junior band’s accomplishments over time and contextualize them with other historic events, including those of the American Legion. As many students of world and town history may recognize, the beginnings of the band came at an auspicious time globally and for Bellefonte. Fall 1939 marked the opening of the Centre County Library at the Miles-Humes House, the first performances of the Bellefonte American Legion Junior Band, and the beginning of WWII. The band continued for the next 30 some years, earning state titles in pouring rain, playing original music, and traveling all over the country for national championships. At any one time, the band had between 66 and 90 members aged 10-21. You can learn all about it, see the tools they used and the uniforms they wore, even listen to the original music they played in the Historical Museum’s new exhibit.