DETROIT — Motown Records may soon have another hit on its hands, or at least the museum dedicated to chronicling the history of the record label will.

The Motown Museum, also known as Hitsville U.S.A, is back in business after an almost five-month shutdown due to the global pandemic, which left many museum doors closed. While many things have changed, such as wearing face masks, social distancing, and a new exhibition, other elements remain the same, chiefly the  nostalgia older patrons feel as they walk through the same halls Diana Ross once frequented.

“Motown is not the only music Detroit is known for,” said Christian Matijas-Mecca, associate professor of music, theatre and dance at the University of Michigan. “But the museum is important because it’s probably the most easily identified genre of music where a lot of people know what the music is. Motown is known around the world.”

This is plainly showcased by a map of the world embroidered with pins noting where each visitor to the museum has journeyed from. According to the map, people have come from places like Turkey, Australia, and little islands in the Pacific to get a glimpse of the history that is Motown.

Berry Gordy founded Motown in 1959. The museum, which opened in 1985, focuses on the songs, albums, and artists that made up the “sound of young America” in the 1960s and beyond. Memorabilia of iconic artists like Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, the Supremes, and many others occupy space for fans to look at and learn while they tour the grounds.

“The hitsville house became something of a music factory, with Gordy purchasing neighboring houses and staff to provide deportment and press training for rising stars,” said the museum tour guide on a recent visit.  

The reopening unveiled a new exhibit titled Capturing A Culture Change: Motown Through The Lens of Jim Hendin. This display was co-curated by then Motown photographer Jim Hendin and is a showcase of his work capturing the transformation of the label during its heyday in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

One of Hendin’s most iconic images is Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On? album cover. A section of the exhibit is taken up by a cubicle with a cutout of Hendin, and plays a reel of other images from the weekend the Gaye cover was shot.

“That’s considered to be one of the most groundbreaking social and political albums of all time,” said senior lecturer in Bowling Green State University’s department of pop culture Matthew Donahue. “He wanted to make a different record than the romantic love songs he’d been churning out, and Gordy relented because he wasn’t really interested in having a heavy political record.”

Toledoan Barbara Huffman has visited the museum a total of five times throughout her life, and said the memories of her father singing the Temptations’ song “My Girl” and the feeling that the museum is home are some of the reasons she’s visited so often.

“My dad raised me on Motown, so every bit of the museum was sentimental to me,” she said. “Getting to do the Temptations dance and sing ‘My Girl’ in Studio A, getting to see Stevie Wonder’s drum set, and the worn out spots on the floor, the whole thing was just amazing.”

Huffman will have at least four more reasons to visit as the museum broke ground on its $50 million expansion plans last year.

Museum chairman and CEO Robin Terry said there will be at least four phases to the expansion; phase one, titled “Hitsville Next”, will be open to patrons later this year, pandemic willing.

“Phase one is a part of the campus and will serve as the hub for all of our education and community programs,” said Terry.

The new designs will be built around the current museum, and include interactive exhibits, a performance theater, recording studios, master classes in music business and creation, and meeting spaces.

In the 1980s the eight Motown houses that served as ground zero for the label were declared historical sites that could never be torn down. BGSU’s Donahue said places like the Motown Museum that help memorialize the history of pop culture are important for future generations to learn about.

“These places are important because they capture a piece of vital American history,” he said. “They have to exist to preserve and let people know what’s going on in society, right?”

“I just think it’s really important to have the whole history of popular music preserved, and the Motown Museum does a great job of retelling the essence of 20th century music.”

Kimberly Mack, assistant professor in the department of English language and literature at the University of Toledo, said the museum is especially important to preserve considering the time in which Gordy was able to create a hotbed of success.

“You had Jim Crow in the South and de facto segregation in the North,” she explained. “You had the Civil Rights Movement, which was in full steam. And you had Brown v. Education in 1954, which was supposed to end racial segregation in public schools, but of course that’s not exactly what happened.

“All of this is going on against the backdrop of a black owned business by Berry Gordy. It’s difficult to overstate how important having public facing black leadership was.”

She continued: “Just the idea that an African American man in the late 1950s could create a business from the ground up with an $800 loan from his family, and then could build it up to be the most successful black owned record label for a very, very long time, is quite significant.”

The appeal of Motown’s music endures among newer and veteran fans.

Tim Friedman, owner of Toledo’s Culture Clash records, said even amid a pandemic patrons come in regularly asking for Motown vinyls.

“Honestly, it ranges,” Friedman said of the ages of customers inquiring about Motown records. “It can be families that are just looking for wedding reception music to teens and young adults that are genuinely curious and might’ve heard the music through parents, soundtracks, or even video games.”

Helping the wider creative audience is part of the drive behind the expansion. CEO Robin Terry and her team hope to see the museum become a more robust tourist destination that brings ample opportunity to the surrounding community.

“We’re committed to cultivating talent,” she said. “We want to create opportunities for aspiring artists, and encourage the next generation of entrepreneurs.”

“Really the cornerstone of the legacy was creating opportunities for those who may have or may not have had them. Giving people the chance to be part of the creative ecosystem.That is the foundation.”

First Published August 1, 2020, 7:00 p.m.