Jimi Hendrix Personal Items To Be Part of Smithsonian Exhibition

The items include a colorful patchwork full-length leather coat, a leather necklace and a leather pouch. These are among the very few of the rock legend's possessions sent home to his family from his apartment in New York after he died on Sept. 18, 1970.

Though Hendrix's father asked that all of his son's belongings be sent home to Seattle, including a hundred guitars, scant few arrived. The coat was an obvious favorite of Hendrix's, as seen from the deep creases around the elbows, dark demarcation sweat lines and well-worn hem; until today, the coat has never been displayed nor have photos of it been published. The coat is the signature piece in the upcoming exhibition, "Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture," which opens Thursday, July 1. This exhibition examines Native people who have been active participants in contemporary music for nearly a century.