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 87 items.
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C.F. Martin & Co. Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This guitar was made by C.F. Martin & Company of Nazareth, Pennsylvania in 1913. Christian Friedrich was born in Markneukirchen, Germany. Martin and his father, Johann Georg Martin were both guitar makers and members of the cabinet makers’ guild in Markneukirchen. Following a legal dispute with the violin makers’ guild over the right to make guitars and the restrictiveness of the guild system, C.F. Martin left Germany for New York in 1833. By 1838, C.F. Martin had moved his business to Nazareth, Pennsylvania. This six course (6x1) guitar is a Concert model O-28, serial #11759, and has a spruce top, rosewood body, mahogany neck, ebony fingerboard and bridge, and inlay of ivory and celluloid marquetry. There are slotted diamond inlays on the fingerboard: two at the 5th fret, one at the 7th fret, and two at the 9th fret. In an 1898 C.F. Martin catalog, a Concert model O-28 guitar sold for $45.00.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1913
- maker
- C. F. Martin & Co.
- ID Number
- 1984.0843.36
- accession number
- 1984.0843
- catalog number
- 1984.0843.36
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Gibson Harp Guitar
- Description (Brief)
- This harp guitar was made by the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1919. It is a sixteen course (6x1,10x1) Style U harp guitar with a spruce top, birch back and sides. The guitar is serial #56064 and bears the label: Patented Feb. 1 '98 [/] Patented March 30, '06 [/] Other Patents Pending [/] Gibson GUITAR Style U [/] Number 56064 is hereby [/] GUARANTEED [/] against faulty workmanship or material. Should [/] this instrument, with proper care and usage, go wrong, [/] we agree to repair it free of charge at our factory, or [/] to replace it with another of same style or value. [/] GIBSON MANDOLIN-GUITAR CO. [/] (MANUFACTURERS) [/] Kalamazoo, Mich., U.S.A.“ Gibson made four styles of harp guitars from about 1903 until the mid 1920s with the Style U being the most popular and the largest.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1919
- maker
- Gibson Co.
- ID Number
- MI*78.04
- accession number
- 1978.0845
- catalog number
- 78.04
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“Before the World Began” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music for the song "Before the World Began" was written as a poem by Andrew B. Sterling and composed by Alfred Solman. The music was published by the Joe Morris Music Co. of New York, New York in 1917. The cover notes that the song was “introduced Harry Ellis, America’s Famous Tenor.” The “B” in “Before” of the title is written in a fancy script in red, and the first letter of most words on the cover is red.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1900
- 1917
- lyricist
- Sterling, Andrew B.
- composer
- Solman, Alfred
- publisher
- Joe Morris Music Company
- ID Number
- 1982.0439.21
- catalog number
- 1982.0439.021
- accession number
- 1982.0439
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “I Didn't Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier.” Alfred Bryan wrote the lyrics to the song and Al Piantadosi composed the music. Leo Feist Inc. of New York City published this sheet music in 1915. The cover features an illustration of an old woman sitting by a fireplace clutching her son to her, with visions of warfare floating above her head. There is an inset photograph of the “American Comedy Four” on the left of the cover. The illustrator signed the cover with a “Rosebud” on the lower left.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915
- publisher
- Leo Feist, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1983.0424.176
- accession number
- 1983.0424
- catalog number
- 1983.0424.176
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“Where My Caravan Has Rested” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “Where My Caravan Has Rested.” Edward Teschemacher wrote the lyrics to the song and Hermann Löhr composed the music. Chappell & Company Ltd. published this sheet music in 1913.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1913
- publisher
- Chappell and Co. Ltd.
- ID Number
- 1983.0424.177
- accession number
- 1983.0424
- catalog number
- 1983.0424.177
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“Dreaming” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “Dreaming.” Earl Carroll wrote the lyrics to the song and Archibald Joyce composed the music. Leo Feist Inc. of New York City published this sheet music in 1915. Miss Kitty Gordon introduced the song to America in Oliver Morosco’s musical comedy “Pretty Mrs. Smith.” The cover has an illustration of a young woman clutching her pearls to her chest.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915
- publisher
- Leo Feist, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1983.0424.178
- accession number
- 1983.0424
- catalog number
- 1983.0424.178
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“Be My Little Fan-Tan Girl” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “(Won't You) Be My Little Fan-Tan Girl” that was written and composed by P. Hans Flath. The song was published by the Bee Bee Confection Company of Dayton, Ohio, the manufacturers of Fan Tan gum. The cover has an illustration of a woman in a Chinese garden holding a piece of Fan Tan gum. There is an inset image of Olive Vail, who performed the song, as well as an inset photograph of composer P. Hans Flath. The sheet music could be had by sending in two proofs of purchase.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915
- publisher
- Bee Bee Confection Co.
- ID Number
- 1983.0424.180
- accession number
- 1983.0424
- catalog number
- 1983.0424.180
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“You're a Great Temptation (I Can't Resist)” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music is for the song “You're a Great Temptation (I Can't Resist).” George C. Pennington wrote the lyrics to the song and Billy James composed the music. The Globe Music Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania published this sheet music in 1915. The white cover features a colorful illustration of the face of a young brunette woman.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1915
- publisher
- Globe Music Co.
- ID Number
- 1983.0424.181
- accession number
- 1983.0424
- catalog number
- 1983.0424.181
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“That International Rag” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- This sheet music for the song “That International Rag” was composed by Irving Berlin, and published by the Waterson, Berlin, and Snyder Company in New York, New York, in 1913. “That International Rag,” was composed by Berlin on his tour to England. After a disastrous press conference where Berlin gave the false impression he had no musical talent, he composed this tune overnight, and played it to great success the next day at London’s Hippodrome. The cover shows Uncle Sam conducting a choir of various nationalities in the tune, with an inset image of actress Goldie Moore.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1913
- composer; lyricist
- Berlin, Irving
- performer
- Moore, Goldie
- publisher
- Waterson, Berlin & Snyder Co.
- ID Number
- 1980.0693.11A
- accession number
- 1980.0693
- catalog number
- 1980.0693.11A
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
“Peg O' My Heart” Sheet Music
- Description (Brief)
- The sheet music for the song, “Peg of My Heart,” was written by Alfred Bryan and composed by Fred Fisher. The sheet music was published by Leo Feist Inc., of New York, New York in 1913. The song was “written around J. Hartley Manners wonderful character ‘Peg’ in Oliver Morosco’s production of the comedy ‘Peg o’ My Heart’ at the Cort Theatre N.Y. , Dedicated to the Star, Miss Laurette Taylor.” The cover features an image of Laurette Taylor seated with a trunk on her lap, cradling a small dog.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1913
- lyricist
- Bryan, Alfred
- composer
- Fisher, Fred
- performer
- Taylor, Laurette
- publisher
- Leo Feist, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1980.0693.11C
- accession number
- 1980.0693
- catalog number
- 1980.0693.11C
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center