National Museum of American History

This bust of American composer and saxophonist Charles "Charlie" Parker, Jr. (1920 - 1955) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1990. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Parker’s head, neck and hands, playing a saxophone, on a base of saxophones and a stylized keyboard.

Ed Dwight began his career as a graduate engineer, was a former United States Air Force test pilot who became the first African American to be trained as an astronaut in 1962. Following a career in real estate, computer systems engineering, and consulting, Dwight pursued art and received a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Denver in 1977. Dwight’s works include fine art sculpture, large-scale memorials and public art projects.

Currently not on view

Bust of Charlie Parker

This bust of American composer and saxophonist Charles "Charlie" Parker, Jr. (1920 - 1955) was made by Ed Dwight in Denver, Colorado in 1990. Made of cast bronze, the sculpture depicts Parker’s head, neck and hands, playing a saxophone, on a base of saxophones and a stylized keyboard.

Chanot Experimental Violin

This violin was made by François Chanot of Paris, France in 1818. Born in 1787, François Chanot was a naval engineer who worked with his father, Joseph, a violin maker in Mirecourt. François developed a violin in guitar form with flush edges and without corner blocks. His intention was to allow increased freedom of vibration along the length of the body. The strings were fastened to the table in guitar bridge fashion and the bass-bar was glued near the center joint of the table. The instrument enjoyed popularity in the first quarter of the 19th century among French musicians. This violin is made of a table of spruce in two pieces, “slit” soundholes edged with ebony and ivory banding, as is the body outline on table and back, bridge removed and replaced with traditional tailpiece, back of maple in one piece with even medium-fine figure descending to the left, ribs of similar maple, an original maple neck and pegbox, the original reversed closed scroll is missing, and a transparent, golden yellow-orange varnish.Currently not on view

Chanot Experimental Violin

This violin was made by François Chanot of Paris, France in 1818. Born in 1787, François Chanot was a naval engineer who worked with his father, Joseph, a violin maker in Mirecourt. François developed a violin in guitar form with flush edges and without corner blocks. His intention was to allow increased freedom of vibration along the length of the body.

White House Steinway Grand Piano

This grand piano was made by Steinway & Sons in New York, New York in 1903. It was presented by Steinway & Sons to the White House in 1903 in gratitude to the family's adopted country. The piano was the main White House piano until 1937, when Steinway presented its serial number 300,000 piano to the White House.

iPod special edition featuring Bob Marley

iPod special edition featuring Bob Marley. iPod special edition featuring Bob Marley. 1st generation (5 GB) iPod in original package with sleeve that has a B&W graphic of musician Robert N. “Bob” Marley. Includes: iPod player (sn U220880HLG6, c2001), earbuds with two pairs of foam pads, clip-on remote control with connecting cord, Firewire cord, power adapter with snap-out plug module. Document package includes: CD (c2002), “Info and Tips” brochure (c2002), “Getting Started” brochure (c2002), “Limited Warranty” brochure (c2002), “Software License Agreement” brochure (c2001), “Safety, Service, and Support Information brochure (c2001), sheet with two peel-off Apple logo decals. Printed on back of iPod: “U220880HLG6”, “Rated 8-30Vdc 0.5A Max and “Assembled in Taiwan”. label on earbud package: “603-2482”. label on remote control package: “603-0689”. Printed on power adapter: “A1003”, AC input 0.4A Max. ADP-12YBA / C2002”, label “EH336YQKPAQ”.

iPod Special Edition Featuring Bob Marley

The first edition of Apple's iPod was released October 23, 2001. This first generation iPod, released in 2002, features Bob Marley on the cover of the box.

Cuatro

The modern cuatro is a five double-string guitar-like instrument used to play música jíbara, Puerto Rican country music. In this unusual example, the dried, woody fruit of the higüero tree, a material more commonly used in the fabrication of maracas or güiros, comprises the main body of the instrument. The archaic cuatro had only four strings (sometimes doubled), like the example here. In the early 20th century, Puerto Rican musicians on the northern part of the island revamped the cuatro and added up to six more metal strings to allow for heightened virtuosity.El cuatro moderno es un instrumento parecido a la guitarra, con cinco cuerdas dobles, que se usa para tocar música jíbara, es decir, música campesina de Puerto Rico. En este ejemplo poco usual, el cuerpo principal del instrumento está hecho con el fruto seco del higüero, material que por lo general se emplea en la fabricación de maracas o güiros. El cuatro arcaico estaba dotado de solo cuatro cuerdas (a veces dobles), como en este caso. A principios del siglo XX, los músicos del norte de Puerto Rico modernizaron el cuatro y le agregaron hasta seis cuerdas más que permiten destacar el virtuosismo el intérprete.

Cuatro

The modern cuatro is a five double-string guitar-like instrument used to play música jíbara, Puerto Rican country music. In this unusual example, the dried, woody fruit of the higüero tree, a material more commonly used in the fabrication of maracas or güiros, comprises the main body of the instrument. The archaic cuatro had only four strings (sometimes doubled), like the example here.

Graves & Co. 12-Keyed Presentation Bugle

This 12-keyed bugle was made by Graves and Co. in Boston, Massachusetts in 1860. It is an E-flat presentation bugle made of silver with etched decorations on bell, tone-hole borders, end-plate, and lead pipe. The bugle is engraved:

Presented to
Capt. Ed. Pier
BY HIS Corning Friends 1860
MADE BY GRAVES & CO. BOSTON.

Edwin Pier (1817-1887) served as a musician in the Civil War and was a musician and teacher in the Corning, New York area.

Samuel Graves (1794-1878) began making instruments in West Fairlee, Vermont from 1824 to 1830. He moved to his shop to Winchester, New Hampshire in 1830 and was joined by his partners, Cyrus Graves (Samuel‘s brother), Charles Alexander, and Henry P. Anderson. The company was owned by Samuel Graves and Charles Alexander, and known as “Graves & Alexander” and later as “Graves & Co.” Brass instrument maker Samuel W. Richardson, from Rochester, New York was a partner in the company from 1832 to 1839.

The company made mostly woodwind instruments, and after London instrument maker James Keat went to work for the firm around 1837, Graves & Co. began producing brass instruments. After 1845, the company exclusively made brass instruments. Graves and Company would continue with various owners and name changes in Boston from 1850 to 1869, after which it merged with E. G. Wright & Co., Henry Esbach, and Louis F. Hartman to form the Boston Musical Instrument Manufactory.

Currently not on view

Civil War Presentation Bugle

This 12-keyed bugle was made by Graves and Co. in Boston, Massachusetts in 1860. It is an E-flat presentation bugle made of silver with etched decorations on bell, tone-hole borders, end-plate, and lead pipe. The bugle was presented to Edwin Pier (1817-1887), who served as a musician in the Civil War, and was a musician and teacher in the Corning, New York area.

Electric Guitar

Currently not on view

Steve Cropper's Electric Guitar

This 1955 Fender electric guitar was previously owned by Steve Cropper, a founding member of Booker T. & The M.G.s.

Hohner Blues Harp Harmonica, played by Bobby Rush

This harmonica was made by M. Hohner in Germany, undetermined date. It is a diatonic Blues Harp model in the key of E-flat major, with 10 holes and 20 reeds. It has a wooden comb, with metal cover plates attached with screws and nuts. The harmonica is engraved:

M.HOHNER
BLUES HARP
MADE IN GERMANY

The harmonica is signed by Bobby Rush in black marker.

Bobby Rush (born Emmett Ellis Jr. in 1933), is an American blues musician, composer, and singer. Rush incorporates several styles of music in his playing including blues, electric blues, soul, R&B, funk, and disco. He has released numerous recordings on Philadelphia International, La Jam, Deep Rush, and Rounder record labels. Rush has been inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame, Mississippi Musicians Hall of Fame, and Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of Grammy Awards for his albums, Porcupine Meat and Rawer Than Raw.Currently not on view

Bobby Rush's Hohner Blues Harp

This Hohner Blues Harp harmonica was owned by Grammy Award-winning blues musician Bobby Rush.

Nicolò Amati Violin: the "King Louis XIV"

This violin was made by Nicolò Amati in Cremona, Italy in 1656. It is the King Loius XIV violin with a top of spruce with grain of narrow width, one-piece back of slab cut maple with medium width flame mostly horizontal, ribs and volute of quarter sawn maple with narrower flame, double purfling to the top and back, mastic fleur-de-lys inlays to the corners of the top and back and to the rib joints, and varnish of a golden-brown color over a golden ground. There is an original printed label inside the instrument:

Nicolaus Amatus Cremonen. Hieronymi
Fil. ac Antonij Nepos Fecit. 1656

["56" is handwritten]

This violin has also been known as the “Youssoupoff” (seeThe Strad magazine, March 1967, pages 410-433). The earliestknown owner is Jean Baptiste Vuillaume who bought the violin ata London sale in 1855, and then sold it to the Russian nobleman,Prince Nicholas Yousoupoff. As a student of the violin, PrinceYousoupoff studied under Henry Vieuxtemps; he composed musicand even wrote a history of the violin.

Another Strad magazine article in August 1983 documentsthe violin was again sold by J.B. Vuillaume on 8 February 1862 toMr. Liodor de Panajeff of Moscow. The next known owner is theviolin dealer Emil Herrmann who assembled a quartet of Amatiinstruments (the 1656 King Louis XIV and the 1672 Florian Zajic violins, the 1663 Professor Wirth viola, and the 1677 Herbert violoncello) for Mrs. Anna E. Clark. She lent them to the Loewenguth Quartet of Brussels before bequeathing the quartet to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The Corcoran loaned the quartet to the Claremont String Quartet of the North Carolina School of the Arts, and in 1966, this violin was stolen. Its fate remained a mystery until the New York dealer, Jacques Français, came upon the instrument in 1971 and promptly returned it to the Corcoran.

Beginning in 1975, the Corcoran loaned the instrumentsto the Tokyo String Quartet, and then to the Takács Quartet beforeselling them to Dr. Herbert Axelrod in 1998.

Amati Violin, the "King Louis XIV" (1656)

This violin was made by Nicolo Amati in Cremona, Italy in 1656. Nicolo Amati (1596–1684) was from the third generation of the famous Amati family in Cremona. The son of Hieronymous I, he is commonly regarded as the greatest maker of the family. Nicolo took over the business on his father’s death in 1630, a time when Cremona was devastated by famine followed by the plague.

Thompson Artillery Shell Banjo

This banjo was made by Elmer Thompson of Staten Island, New York around 1917-1919 while waiting to be discharged from the U.S. Army during World War I. It is a Four-String Banjo, with a body made from the base of a German Howitzer shell, the neck from the stock of a rifle, with 12 frets, and the tuning pegs from French machine-gun bullets.

After the War Thompson continued to play this banjo in Staten Island working as an electronics engineer with the Philco Corporation of America. Retiring in 1959, he played this banjo in a seven-piece dance orchestra in Debary, Florida known as the Dee Dee Beehive. He was an active inventor, with 30 patents to his credit recorded in the U.S. Patent Office.

Currently not on view

Thompson Artillery Shell Banjo

This banjo was made by Elmer Thompson of Staten Island, New York around 1917-1919 while waiting to be discharged from the U.S. Army during World War I. The body is made from the base of a German Howitzer shell, the neck from the stock of a rifle, and the pegs from French machine-gun bullets.

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