Music & Musical Instruments - Overview
The Museum's music collections contain more than 5,000 instruments of American and European heritage. These include a quartet of 18th-century Stradivari stringed instruments, Tito Puente's autographed timbales, and the Yellow Cloud guitar that belonged to Prince, to name only a few. Several of these rare instruments can be heard in performances of the Smithsonian Chamber Players and in other public programs. Music collections also include jukeboxes and synthesizers, square-dancing outfits and sheet music, archival materials, oral histories, and recordings of performances at the Museum. The vast Sam DeVincent Collection of Illustrated Sheet Music is a remarkable window into the American past in words, music, and visual imagery. The Duke Ellington and Ruth Ellington Boatwright collections contain handwritten music compositions, sound recordings, business records, and other materials documenting the career of this renowned musician.
"Music & Musical Instruments - Overview" showing 2 items.
Gibson Old Hickory Electric Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was made by Gibson in Nashville, Tennessee in 1998. It is an "Old Hickory" (Andrew Jackson) model electric guitar, serial #OH-001. The guitar is made using wood from a 275-year-old tulip poplar tree, which is the largest in the state of Tennessee, and hickory wood from a tree that grew in the garden near Andrew and Rachel Jackson's tomb. This guitar is the first in the series of 200 specially made collector's electric guitars and is the first in the limited edition series of custom-made guitars using wood from trees lost in the April 16, 1998 tornado. Andrew Jackson's portrait is inlaid on the headstock, and his nick name, "Old Hickory," is inlaid on a hickory fretboard. An inlay of The Hermitage mansion appears on the pickguard. Both inlays are made of mother-of-pearl. There is an inlay mother-of-pearl ribbon across the body of the instrument noting key dates in Andrew Jackson's life.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1998
- referenced
- Jackson, Andrew
- maker
- Gibson Inc.
- ID Number
- 2001.0185.01
- serial number
- OH-001
- accession number
- 2001.0185
- catalog number
- 2001.0185.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Huron Mountain Banjo
- Description (Brief)
- This five-string fretless banjo was made by John Huron in Bristol, Tennessee in 1996. It is a “Mountain Banjo” and bears the serial number MB-042. It has a cherry wood body, rosewood tuners and tailpiece, and a groundhog hide head.
- John Huron is a builder and player of a variety of historical instruments. He has combined music, history, and folklore in classes and demonstrations throughout the United States to preserve the heritage of Appalachian instruments and music.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1996
- maker
- Huron, John
- ID Number
- 1997.3031.01
- catalog number
- 1997.3031.01
- nonaccession number
- 1997.3031
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center