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Your search found 596 records from all Smithsonian Institution collections.
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-
- Description
- This banjo was made by William Boucher, Jr. in Baltimore, Maryland in 1846. It is a Five-String Fretless Banjo, with a wood shell, red painted metal hoop, 6 brackets, and friction pegs. Stamped on back of the neck:
- W.BOUCHER.JRBALTIMORE
- William Boucher was a drum maker and musical instrument dealer in Baltimore, Maryland. He became the first commercial maker of banjos, perhaps through his association with the celebrated minstrel banjoist Joel Walker Sweeney.
- His instruments were important in standardizing the form of the banjo in its transition from a homemade rural instrument to urban commercial manufacture. The basic shape and string arrangement has changed little up to the present day. Boucher’s design copied important features of earlier home-made African American instruments: the skin head, short thumb string and fretless neck. He added a scrolled peghead similar to those used by guitar makers W. Stauffer and C. F. Martin, and replaced the traditional gourd body with a thin, bentwood rim construction with screw-tightening brackets similar to that used for drumheads. Boucher’s innovations were well-adapted to commercial mass-production and urban musical tastes and played a large part in the subsequent worldwide enthusiasm for the banjo.
- These commercial “improvements” were never adopted by many traditional rural musicians, who continued to make good sounding instruments that were entirely adequate for their musical needs from locally available materials, at little or no expense.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1846
- maker
- Boucher, Jr., William
- ID Number
- MI.094765
- catalog number
- 094765
- accession number
- 22989
-
- Description
- This banjo was made by William Boucher, Jr. in Baltimore, Maryland in 1845. It is a Five-String Fretless Banjo, with a wood shell with a decorative strip, red painted metal hoops, 6 brackets, and friction pegs. The banjo is stamped:
- W.BOUCHER.JRBALTIMORE
- William Boucher was a drum maker and musical instrument dealer in Baltimore, Maryland. He became the first commercial maker of banjos, perhaps through his association with the celebrated minstrel banjoist Joel Walker Sweeney.
- His instruments were important in standardizing the form of the banjo in its transition from a homemade rural instrument to urban commercial manufacture. The basic shape and string arrangement has changed little up to the present day. Boucher’s design copied important features of earlier home-made African American instruments: the skin head, short thumb string and fretless neck. He added a scrolled peghead similar to those used by guitar makers W. Stauffer and C. F. Martin, and replaced the traditional gourd body with a thin, bentwood rim construction with screw-tightening brackets similar to that used for drumheads. Boucher’s innovations were well-adapted to commercial mass-production and urban musical tastes and played a large part in the subsequent worldwide enthusiasm for the banjo.
- These commercial “improvements” were never adopted by many traditional rural musicians, who continued to make good sounding instruments that were entirely adequate for their musical needs from locally available materials, at little or no expense.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1845
- maker
- Boucher, Jr., William
- ID Number
- MI.094764
- catalog number
- 094764
- accession number
- 22989
-
- Description
- This banjo ukulele was sold by C. Bruno & Son, Inc. in New York, New York around 1916-1925. The wholesale musical instrument merchandiser was founded in 1834 by Charles Bruno. Charles, Jr. joined his father around 1862 and later served as the company’s president until his death in 1912. There is a medallion on the peghead:
- MaxitoneBRUNO, N.Y.
- (and stamped on hoop):
- PAT. APPL'D FOR
- A nationwide enthusiasm for all things Hawaiian was sparked by performances of hula dancing and ukulele playing at the Hawaiian Pavilion during the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Within months, banjos tuned and played like Hawaiian ukuleles were marketed to capitalize on the growing interest.
- In a 1927 advertisement in the Music Trade Review, the Bruno company asserted: “In conscientiously marketing, advancing and promoting the products of the makers, "Bruno" likewise has served the best interests of a great host of retail music dealers throughout the world. And so through this development, the trade slogan "Bruno Means Security" was evolved.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1900-1925
- maker
- C. Bruno & Son
- ID Number
- 1982.0204.01
- accession number
- 1982.0204
- catalog number
- 1982.0204.01
-
- Description
- This banjo was made by an unknown maker in the United States around 1880-1882. It is a five-string piccolo banjo with a rosewood veneered hoop, sixteen brackets, rosewood veneered fingerboard, and friction pegs. There is a medallion on the bottom of the fingerboard.
- J.H.F.NY&C
- John Howard Foote (1833-1896) was a musical instrument dealer with shops in New York City and Chicago. This instrument was sold as a “Stage Banjo” (#6974).
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1880-1882
- ID Number
- MI.055723
- catalog number
- 055723
- accession number
- 11535
-
- Description
- This banjo was made by Gibson Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan around 1935. It is a Five-String Banjo, with 22 frets, 24 brackets, pearloid inlaid on fingerboard and back of resonator, and a maple hoop. In a 1934 Gibson catalog, this "RB-11" style banjo sold for $60.00. Although it was one of the less expensive Gibson models it produced a loud and clear tone. This banjo is marked
- THEGibsonGIBSON INC.KALAMAZOOMICH.
- Benjamin Wade Ward of Independence, Virginia one of the most admired traditional banjo players of this century owned this banjo. Ward performed with the Galax, Virginia group the “Bog Trotters” often providing entertainment during auctions and other local events. The “Bog Trotters” were comprised of “Uncle” Alec Dunford, fiddle, Dr. W.P. Davis, autoharp, “Uncle” Davy Crockett Ward, second fiddle, Wade Ward, banjo, and Fields Ward, guitar. On Tuesday, January 9th, 1940, the group performed for the American School of the Air broadcast from WDBJ radio studio in Roanoke, Virginia. The CBS American School of the Air programs were written and directed by Alan Lomax.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- 1932-1938
- date made
- ca 1935
- maker
- Gibson Co.
- ID Number
- MI.72.01
- accession number
- 297200
- catalog number
- 72.01
-
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1979
- maker
- Richelieu, C. C.
- ID Number
- 2007.0207.01
- accession number
- 2007.0207
- catalog number
- 2007.0207.01
-
- Description
- This banjo was made by the Gibson, Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1927. It is a Four-String Tenor Banjo, Mastertone TB-5 Model, serial number 8693-2, with black walnut shell, black walnut neck, rosewood fingerboard with iridescent ivoroid and marquetry strippings, inlay of white pearl designs, similar ornamentation applied to peghead, 4:1 geared pegs with pearl buttons, gold-tone metal parts, and a laminated and arched flange resonator with marquetry and ivoroid inlays.
- This banjo was custom made for vaudevillian performer Frances Chenoweth Coan with jeweled accents on the peghead and inscribed with “Frances.”
- Frances Chenoweth toured with her sister Vivian Hayes and Vivian’s husband Ed Hayes as "Ed Hayes and His Banjo Girls" from 1927-1930.
- As indicated in a 1926 Gibson Banjo Catalog testimonial: “The new Gison Mastertone Tenor-banjo is assuredly a marvel instrument. Its snappy tone, coupled with the rich tonal qualities and its ease of playing, make it an instrument which can be used for all purposes – dance, radio and concert.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1927
- user
- Chenoweth, Frances
- Coan, Frances Chenoweth
- maker
- Gibson, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1992.0482.01
- accession number
- 1992.0482
- catalog number
- 1992.0482.01
-
- Description
- This banjo was made by the Gibson, Inc. in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1927. It is a Four-String Tenor Banjo, Mastertone TB-5 Model, short neck, serial number 8693-1, with black walnut shell, black walnut neck, rosewood fingerboard with iridescent ivoroid and marquetry strippings, inlay of white pearl designs, similar ornamentation applied to peghead, 4:1 geared pegs with pearl buttons, electrical lights inside the head, gold-tone metal parts, and a laminated and arched flange resonator with marquetry and ivoroid inlays.
- This banjo was custom made for vaudevillian performer Vivian Chenoweth Hayes with jeweled accents on the peghead and inscribed with “Vivian.”
- Vivian Hayes toured with her husband Ed Hayes and sister Frances as "Ed Hayes and His Banjo Girls" from 1927-1930.
- As indicated in a 1926 Gibson Banjo Catalog testimonial: “The new Gison Mastertone Tenor-banjo is assuredly a marvel instrument. Its snappy tone, coupled with the rich tonal qualities and its ease of playing, make it an instrument which can be used for all purposes – dance, radio and concert.”
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1927
- user
- Hayes, Vivian Chenoweth
- maker
- Gibson, Inc.
- ID Number
- 1992.0481.01
- accession number
- 1992.0481
- catalog number
- 1992.0481.01
-
- Description
- This banjo was made by Kyle Creed in Galax, Virginia around 1960-1962. It has 16 brackets and a fingerboard covered with formica veneer. An innovative use of modern synthetic materials (Formica (TM) and Mylar (TM)) is seen in this otherwise traditional fretless banjo made for outstanding old time musician Fred Cockerham, by his friend Kyle Creed.
- The Formica surface of the fingerboard provides a wear resistant, smooth surface that helps the finger slides of the old time clawhammer style. The Mylar head gives a bright clear tone even during damp weather, which slackens and dulls the tone of the humidity sensitive skin heads used on earlier banjos.
- Fred Cockerham was extensively recorded by Smithsonian Curator Scott Odell in the 1960s. Those field tapes are now included along with photographs and oral histories in the National Museum of American History's Archives Center.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1960-1962
- user
- Cockerham, Fred
- maker
- Creed, Kyle
- ID Number
- 1988.0427.01
- accession number
- 1988.0427
- catalog number
- 1988.0427.01
-
- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- CL.336631
- accession number
- 96414
- catalog number
- 336631
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- Location
- Currently not on view
- ID Number
- MI.73.27.01
- catalog number
- 73.27.01
- accession number
- 303139
- serial number
- 6682
-
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Date made
- ca 1945
- user
- Johnson, James Milton
- maker
- Johnson, James Milton
- ID Number
- 2006.0024.01
- accession number
- 2006.0024
- catalog number
- 2006.0024.01
-
- Description
- This banjo case was made by William Fitch of Lansing, Michigan around 1905-1935. The wooden case is roughly built and would accommodate a left-handed five-string banjo.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1905-1935
- maker
- Fitch, William
- ID Number
- 1981.0865.01
- accession number
- 1981.0865
- catalog number
- 1981.0865.01
-
- Creator
- DeVincent, Sam, 1918-1997
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0300.S21
-
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1955
- recording artist
- Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith and his Cracker-Jacks
- Reno, Don
- maker
- MGM
- ID Number
- 1996.0320.27183
- accession number
- 1996.0320
- catalog number
- 1996.0320.27183
- collector/donor number
- 15747
- maker number
- 12006
-
- Location
- Currently not on view
- recording artist
- Smith, Arthur
- Reno, Don
- Crackerjacks
- manufacturer
- MGM
- ID Number
- 1996.3034.07258
- label number
- K12006
- catalog number
- 1996.3034.07258
- nonaccession number
- 1996.3034
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-
- Creator
- Jefferson, Yvonne Runtz
- Jefferson, Maceo
- Donor
- Cargill, Thomas
- Cargill, Darlene Johnson
- Names
- Washingtonians, The.
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.1370
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- Creator
- Williams, Claude, 1908-2004
- Fouse-Williams, Blanche Y.
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0909
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- Creator
- DeVincent, Sam, 1918-1997
- Identifier
- NMAH.AC.0300.S06
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