Visiting Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion?

You must join the virtual exhibition queue when you arrive. If capacity has been reached for the day, the queue will close early.

Learn more

Perspectives From the Archives

Steel Drums in New York, 1977

Sep 3, 2020 53 MINUTES
Every year on Labor Day weekend, the spirit of Carnival comes to New York City for West Indian American Day. Unfortunately, the annual parade is cancelled this year, but you can learn more about the steel drum’s fascinating global history, from its origins in Trinidad and Tobago to its status as one of the world’s most popular musical instruments, in this thought-provoking hour-long film. Musicians such as Ellie Mannette and Pete Seeger talk shop and explain what they love about this extraordinary instrument.

As part of The Met’s 150th anniversary in 2020, each month we will release three to four films from the Museum’s extensive moving-image archive, which comprises over 1,500 films, both made and collected by the Museum, from the 1920s onward. This includes rarely seen artist profiles and documentaries, as well as process films about art-making techniques and behind-the-scenes footage of the Museum.

Subscribe for new content from The Met: https://www.youtube.com/user/metmuseum?sub_confirmation=1

#TheMet

© 2020 The Metropolitan Museum of Art

More from From the Vaults

An image of two young figures sitting on the branch of a birch tree. The top and bottom portions of the image are blurred, drawing attention to the in-focus face of the figure on the left.

“Birches” by Robert Frost: An Optical Poem, 2024 | From the Vaults

Fasanella, 1992

Berenice Abbott: A View of the 20th Century, 1992

From the Vaults

See all
GIF of eighties version of Met logo, animated architecture zooming out to reveal computerized Met Fifth Avenue building

Articles