The Smithsonian wants to document rock-and-roll

Do you have a picture of Bruce Springsteen jamming in a New Jersey basement? Ever take a selfie with Elton John?

It's time to visit your attic, dust off your old photo albums, and show the world how much you love rock-and-roll. The largest museum in the world wants to spotlight your snapshots.

The Smithsonian Institution recently launched Rock 'n' Roll, a crowdsourced site that chronicles the rise of rowdy genre music through the lenses of concertgoers. The museum is accepting and publishing fans' photographs on rockandroll.si.edu and will accept submissions through Dec. 1, 2016.

"In the spirit of the Smithsonian, which offers a deep dive into American culture, we want to come up with some surprises from people who are not known for being photographers," longtime music industry figure and project organizer Bill Bentley said. "We want to go off-road in terms of what we collect."

So far, the Smithsonian has published more than 300 images, shot around the world through the lenses of both high-quality and disposable cameras, Instamatics, and iPhones. Some submissions feature live concerts or massive music festivals; others give a glimpse of artists in more intimate, homey settings.

Bentley will publish 100 to 200 of what he thinks are the best images, in a photo book set to come out in fall 2017. The goal of the project, he said, is to amass a collection as inclusive and accessible as the genre itself.

"Rock-and-roll started as the sound of freedom," Bentley said. "Photography is this pursuit that has become defined by, 'Oh, you're a professional photographer,' but, really, in rock-and-roll, it was a thing for the fans, because anyone could do it."

Photos from fans will run alongside the work of big-shot photographers like Roberta Bayley and Jay Blakesberg.

In the 1970s, Bayley frequently photographed shows at CBGB, the famed Manhattan nightclub where punk and rock artists like Blondie and the Ramones performed before they were widely known. Bayley worked the door of the shabby, graffiti-covered venue off and on between 1974 and '78.

As a result, she befriended leading musicians of the punk scene and photographed Iggy Pop, Richard Hell, the Ramones, Blondie, Joan Jett, and more.

"Then, to be an insider was to be anyone that came to CBGB," the 65-year-old Bayley said. "Unless you were a nut, you could rub elbows with the band members. They were just people then. Nobody had a record contract, everybody was reasonably friendly, and it wasn't exclusive at all."

Like Bayley, Blakesberg started experimenting with photography early, shooting the Grateful Dead as a teenager; 30 years later, he became the official photographer for the band's final tour.

"I think the project will be really important if the Smithsonian gets the good photos that they're hoping to get," Blakesberg said. "If people send in a bunch of crappy cellphone photos, it fails. But if they find people who are like, 'My grandpa shot Elvis Presley in 1967,' I think it's really important. There are a lot of unknown photographs out there, waiting to be found."

Nine of the images currently included on the website were taken in such Philadelphia venues as Union Transfer, the Academy of Music, and the First Unitarian Church, by Chris Sikich.

Sikich, 36, a freelance photographer based in Philadelphia, heard of the project through a friend and submitted work before the site launched on Dec. 1.

"I think it's a great idea, because at the end of the day, I think they're trying to get historical nuggets from further back in rock's past that people might not think are important," Sikich said. "I think it's a good way to get people who might not theoretically realize what they've captured to understand its cultural significance."

Bentley said he's hoping to see more photos from Philadelphia.

"In Philadelphia, there's a great history of soul music and a lot of rock and roll going back to the '50s," Bentley said. "There might be a lot of important artists from Philadelphia, or artists that, as of right now, nobody's ever heard of. A person in the city has a picture that they're so proud of often because the masses showed up who knows how many years later. I hope the site will be a process to discover new things."