Charles Schulz lived through twelve presidential campaigns during his 50 years of creating Peanuts. Although he was opposed to injecting politics into the strip in an overt manner, there were times over the years when he subtly or slyly commented on the process. This exhibition takes a light-hearted look at the political process in 25 Peanuts strips, and it allows visitors to vote in a heated election in the Museum Gallery between Charlie Brown (whose platform is “No homework on weekends! (For anybody!)”), Lucy (“Full rights for women!”), and Snoopy (“Pizza on every table!”).  Remember to vote early and often! 

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Why Beethoven? Charles Schulz said that he chose Beethoven as Schroeder’s favorite composer because B-words are simply funnier—yet when asked, Schulz replied that Brahms was his favorite composer. Maybe Schulz was remembering when, as a young teenager, he would sit on the porch of best friend Shermy’s home and listen to Shermy’s mother play Beethoven pieces on the piano.

Whatever the impetus, Schulz painstakingly copied musical scores, note by note, for his now-famous Beethoven strips. The music was transcribed with such accuracy that musicians are able to play the pieces directly from the Peanuts strips!

In this exhibition, visitors will be able to view Beethoven-themed strips while listening to the music that Schulz transcribed into his panels. The exhibition will also feature Schulz’s reference books on classical music; personal letters he wrote about his growing appreciation of the genre; original Beethoven manuscripts, scores, and first editions; paintings and a bust of Beethoven; and a fortepiano, the kind that would have been used in the early 19th century.

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The exhibit will be mounted at the Center for Beethoven Studies, Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, San Jose State University,
from May 1 through July 31, 2009.

Pounding and punching are the subjects of this light-hearted look at the fisticuffs in Peanuts. Schulz revealed in a 1967 interview that he “liked the violent action [strips], kids getting bowled over and such things that cartoons were born to do.” Schulz captured the spirit of the fight in 70 original comic strips that depict epic Snoopy vs. Linus blanket battles, “aggravated” sibling rivalry, and the rough and tumble of sometimes-gone-awry sports competitions.

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Schulz never divulged the Peanuts Gang’s exact location—another detail that perhaps he believed was better left to his readers’ imaginations. From the visual clues in the strip of their neighborhood, however, it is safe to assume that the Browns and their friends are safely tucked away in some post-World War II suburban locale. Despite the mystery of the strip’s setting, Schulz does occasionally give a nod to his home town, former home towns, and nearby villages, as in the 1968 series that features Snoopy traveling just down the road from Schulz’s home of Sebastopol, California, to Petaluma to compete in the wrist wrestling championship. Uncover more Schulz history in the 25 Peanuts strips in this exhibition.

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It is difficult to imagine—although some remember it well—the excitement that the race for the moon invoked forty years ago. As the decade of the 1960s was coming to a close, America and the rest of the world waited with great anticipation to see if NASA could achieve President John F. Kennedy’s challenge, put forth in May 1961, of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Consequently, it was a very great honor, indeed, when the crew of Apollo 10 chose to nickname their command and lunar modules Charlie Brown and Snoopy, respectively. The flight of Apollo 10 in May 1969 was the “dress rehearsal” for the lunar landing that was scheduled for July 1969. Astronauts Thomas Stafford and Eugene Cernan piloted “Snoopy” within 50,000 feet of the lunar surface as they scouted the landing area for Apollo 11.

This exhibition looks at the history of Apollo 10 and the Peanuts characters’ role in that flight and in the NASA Manned Flight Awareness safety program. It will feature a one-third scale model of the Apollo command module from the Johnson Space Center, an Apollo-era flight suit, the actual image of Charlie Brown that was flown aboard Apollo 10, and a special children’s area for creative play.

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Charles Schulz’s experiences in World War II, a formative period in his life, are further explored in this temporary exhibition. On display will be Peanuts strips commemorating D-Day, animated shorts about the war in Europe, and the story of Schulz’s personal efforts to memorialize the sacrifice of so many armed service personnel.

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