// THE HAMMERED DULCIMER 

IN AMERICA 

Nancy Groce 

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 

SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY / NUMBER 44 

THE HAMMERED DULCIMER 

IN AMERICA 

Nancy Groce 

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS 

City of Washington 

1983 
ABSTRAC T 

Groce, Nancy. The Hammered Dulcimer in America. Smithsonian Studies in 

History and Technology, number 44, 93 pages, 40 illustrations, 5 appendices, 

1983. — The hammered dulcimer played an important role in Anglo-American 

folk and popular music during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. This 

paper gives a brief history of its development in the Middle East and Europe, 

its musical use and social function in America, and how it was manufactured 

and marketed in 19th century America. In the appendices are given a list of 

United States patents granted for improvements in dulcimer design, a list of 

known makers, biographical information on the musicians interviewed in the 

course of this research, a checklist of dulcimers in the Smithsonian Institution, 

and a selected discography. 

Copyright ® Nancy Groce 1983 

OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in 

the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. COVER: Hammere d dulcimer by Ezra Durand, 

1868 (Figure 23). 

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data 

Groce, Nancy. 

T h e hammered dulcimer in America. 

(Smithsonian studies in history and technology ; no.44) 

Bibliography: p. 

Discography: p. 

1. Dulcimer. 1. Title. II. Series. 

ML1041.G76 1983 787',94 82-600259 

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. U.S, Government Printing Office 

Washington, DC. 20402 
Contents 

Page V Preface 

1 Introduction 

10 Origins and Background 

22 The Dulcimer in America 

42 Dulcimer Manufacture 

72 The Current Revival 

74 Appendix A: A Chronological Tabulation of U.S. Patents 

Granted for Improvements to the Dulcimer 

76 Appendix B: Dulcimer Makers 

79 Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Informants 

81 Appendix D: Dulcimers in the Collections of the Smithsonian 

Institution 

84 Appendix E: Selected Discography 

87 Notes 

91 Literature Cited 

Preface 

The hammered dulcimer once flourished in this country. By the 1930s it 

was nearly extinct, but in isolated areas along the Michigan-Ohio border it 

has survived to the present day. The author began this study in these pockets 

of surviving folk culture, hoping to find rich rewards in dulcimer lore and 

traditions, and soon discovered that the dulcimer is well remembered in many 

other regions of the country as well. 

Brought to North America by early colonists from Europe, the dulcimer 

quickly became established in the Anglo-American folk tradition and grew 

still more popular during the 1800s. Portable, cheap, and easy to build, it 

answered the pioneer's need for music on the western frontier. Thousands of 

dulcimers were produced in American homes, shops, and factories. In the 

early 20th century even large mail-order houses like Sears, Roebuck, and Co. 

and Montgomery Ward sold dulcimers through their catalogs. 

Hammered dulcimers are particularly interesting because, unlike pianos 

and organs, most were built in homes or small shops scattered throughout the 

country. Hence they reflect regional and personal tastes. The hammered 

dulcimer occupies that musical no man's land between the "pure folk" and 

"popular" traditions. Since its history in the United States has received little 

attention from either musicologists or folklorists, this study necessarily relies 

heavily on interviews with the last generation of traditional hammered 

dulcimer players and makers and the examination of extant instruments. 

Short biographical sketches are given for these informants in Appendix C; 

transcripts of interviews, letters, and other primary materials may be obtained 

by contacting the author through the Division of Musical Instruments, 

Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. 20560. 

Some of the instruments examined in the course of this research are 

privately owned and were made available for study through the kindness of 

their owners. Many are in the collection of the Division of Musical Instruments of the National Museum of American History. A checklist of the 

dulcimers in the Museum's collection appears in Appendix D. Others are in 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

the unusually fine collection of hammered dulcimers at the Henry Ford 

Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The measurements given in the text are 

derived from many sources and are often approximations. These are usually 

given in inches. Accurate measurements for the instruments in the National 

Museum of American History appear in Appendix D and are given in 

centimeters. 

This study was carried out during the course of a predoctoral research 

fellowship administered by the Smithsonian Institution Office of Academic 

Affairs under the auspices of the Division of Musical Instruments in the 

Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The author wishes to 

thank all members of the Division of Musical Instruments for their support 

and advice, particularly Cynthia A. Hoover, Curator, and Scott Odell, 

Conservator, whose assistance and guidance were vital. 1 am also grateful to 

Gary Sturm for his help on the checklist. Editorial assistance was provided by 

Elsa M. Bruton. Dr. Richard Crawford of the University of Michigan and Dr. 

Robert Eliason of the Henry Ford Museum provided invaluable advice. 

It is not possible to acknowledge and individually thank the many dulcimer 

players with whom 1 spoke; I am grateful to Russell Fluharty, Paul Gifford, 

John McCutcheon, Herman E. Matheny, Cloise Sinclair, and especially Fern 

and Paul Van Arsdale, who gave freely of their time and expertise. Without 

their help this study could not have been completed. 
THE HAMMERED 

DULCIMER 

IN AMERICA 

Nancy Groce 

Introduction 

A century ago the dulcimer was a familiar part of the American 

musical scene. Today, most Americans would find it difficult to 

identify the instrument either by sight or by its sound. Even 

devotees of folk music often confuse the hammered dulcimer with 

the three- or four-stringed Appalachian plucked dulcimer, but the 

two are not closely related. Given the amount of confusion on the 

subject, this distinction cannot be over-emphasized. The hammered dulcimer developed in the Near East around the 10th 

century A.D. (see p. 11). The plucked dulcimer evolved much later 

from related northern European zithers, including the Swedish 

hummel, the German sheithold, and the French ipinette des Vosges. 

Nancy Groce, 338 East 70th Street #38, New York, NY, 10021. 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Though currently surpassing the hammered dulcimer in popularity, the plucked dulcimer was unknown in the British Isles and rare 

in America until popularized by the urban folk revival of the 1950s 

and 1960s. 

The question that remains unanswered, at least for the present, is 

how these two unrelated instruments acquired a common name. 

The English word dulcimer and its cognates, the medieval French 

doucemelle, the Spanish dulcema, and the Italian dolcemela are 

derived from the Latin dulce melos, or "sweet melody." To most 

Americans throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, the term 

dulcimer meant the hammered dulcimer. Writing in 1925, folklorist 

Josiah Combs was one of the first to describe the small Appalachian 

dulcimer. He emphasized that "it must not be confused with the 

classical or traditional [hammered] dulcimer, to which it bears no 

resemblance."1 Other terms such as "lap harp" and "music box" are 

used by Appalachian folk musicians for the three- or four-stringed 

plucked instrument, and one authority believes that calling it a 

dulcimer "seems [to be a product] of media-encouraged tendencies 

for folk to adopt proper, standardized names."^ Most of the 

traditional hammered dulcimer players interviewed in the course 

of this study had only recently heard of the smaller instrument, 

and few remembered it having been used in their communities. A 

few voiced the opinion that the "little fellows" were not really 

serious musical instruments. The hammered dulcimer players 

were as mystified as anyone else about how the plucked instrument 

acquired the name dulcimer, although one offered his own 

explanation: 

They do have similar sounds, and it would be easy if you were at a distance or 

something to say, "Well, that is a dulcimer." Because they do have a kind of Oriental, 

an old-time piano [sound] —the kind they used to have in the bars, you know, that old 

tinny kind.' 

The subject of this study is the hammered dulcimer; throughout the 

text, "dulcimer" will refer only to that instrument. 
NUMBER 44 

The Structure of the Dulcimer 

The basic shape of the dulcimer is trapezoidal, but in America 

instruments were often built into rectangular bodies. During the 

19th century a "parlor model" developed, for which legs and a 

hinged cover were added to veneered or stained rectangular 

bodies of increasing elegance (Figure 1). The parlor dulcimer 

seems to have been particularly popular in more affluent regions, 

especially New England and the area along the Ohio-Michigan 

border. 

There were considerable regional and individual variations in 

American dulcimers, but in general they were 30-48 inches in 

length, 12-24 inches in width, and 2-6 inches in depth. The strings, 

made of brass or steel wire, were arranged in groups or "courses" of 

two to six strings each. The strings of each course were then tuned 

to the same pitch. Strings could number from as few as 40 to as 

many as 120; the average instrument had about 60. 

The dulcimer has two sets of string courses —the treble and the 

bass. All of the strings run the length of the instrument (i.e., from 

side to side). The treble courses pass over the treble bridge, which 

is a carved strip of hardwood roughly 0.75-1.0 inch high. This 

bridge sits on top of the soundboard near the center of the 

instrument. The treble strings are tightened over it; thus the 

shorter lengths of the string on either side sound at higher pitches, 

usually a fifth apart. The bass courses pass through holes carved in 

the treble bridge and over the bass bridge at the extreme left of the 

soundboard. For these courses the full length of the string sounds, 

and they are consequently lower in pitch. The bass bridge, unlike 

the treble, usually does not run the full width of the instrument; it 

too has carved holes to allow the treble courses to pass through. The 

two sets of strings form a criss-cross pattern at the left side of the 

soundboard, where they are set into the hitch pins. 

Instead of the long carved bridges, some dulcimers have individual turned pieces of wood set under each course of strings. This 

avoids the need for carved holes in the long bridges, since the 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 1. —Parlor dulcimer from 19th century America. Possibly made in the 

Midwest, this instrument has a rosewood body, handsomely turned legs, and a 

hinged cover. Th e two velvet pads on the soundboard served as candle rests. 

(Collection of the Smithsonian Institution; catalog numbe r 299,841) 

alternate courses of strings pass between these "chessman" bridges 

(see Figure 2). 

Dulcimers were usually tuned to be playable in the keys of C, G, 

D, or A, a selection that probably reflects the preference for "sharp 

keys" so wide-spread among fiddlers. Although there were many 

variations, it was common to tune the right side of the treble 
NUMBER 44 

FIGURE 2. —New York State dulcimer with individual "chessman" bridges. Possibly built in Fulton County, 

ca. 1847. (Collection of the Smithsonian Institution; catalog number 94,871) 

bridge, from the bottom to the top, C#, D, E, F«, G, A, B, CQ, D, E, 

FQ, G. This tuning resulted in a parallel series of notes a fifth 

higher on the left side of the treble bridge: G#, A, B, C**, D, E, F#, 

G, A, B, CO, D (Figure 3). Bass courses were often tuned to a D 

major scale, beginning an octave below the second pitch on the 

right-hand side of the treble bridge. If there were enough bass 

courses to overlap the treble notes, the C* course in the bass might 

then be tuned to CQ in order to increase the instrument's chromatic 

possibilities. The bass courses might also be tuned a fifth below the 

right-hand side of the treble courses. 

A few American dulcimer players placed the treble bridge 

farther toward the center of the sound board thus creating a fourth 

interval across the bridge. Chromatic tuning, with a half-step 

interval across the bridge, was used by many German dulcimer 

players. It never gained widespread popularity in America, however, though it is found on a few late 19th century factory-made 

instruments. 

Less common among American dulcimerists was the "flat key" 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

GAMU T FO R TH E DULCIME R 

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FIGURE 3.-Th e tuning system suggested by C. Haight in 1848 and still used by many traditional 

dulcimerists. Note the alternate number system. (Taken from C. Haight, A Complete System for the Dulcimer) 

tuning, which made it possible to play in the keys of G, C, F, and 

B^ Since tuning the many strings of the instrument was a chore, 

players chose either the "sharp key" or the "flat key" tuning and 

rarely retuned. 

American dulcimers usually had two toneholes on the soundboard, but some instruments had as many as six. A few were built 

with no toneholes at all. The number of toneholes and their design 

were largely matters of personal taste. Regional preferences are 

evident, however (see p. 59 and Figure 4). 
NUMBER 44 

T ¥ 

NORTHERN MID-WEST KEART-SHAPED 

b WEST VIRGINIAN PATTERN LARGE DOUBLE-HOLED 

TILDE-SHAPED f. CLOVER-SHAPED 

FIGURE 4. —Tonehole designs found on American dulcimers. 

Because in many cases the same note could be played in more 

than one place on the dulcimer, and because the large number of 

strings could be quite confusing, many players resorted to chalking 

or painting the letter names of the note onto the soundboard under 

the appropriate courses. On shop-made dulcimers, note names 

often were printed on a strip of paper several inches wide which 

was then glued on the soundboard beneath the strings (Figure 5). 

Occasionally, a number or solmization system would be used in 

combination with, or instead of, the more common letter names. 

Regardless of the type and elegance of the outer case, and 

despite the wide variation in their size and compass, all dulcimers 

are similar in design and construction. On one side of the soundboard, the strings are attached to tuning pins (Figure 6), which are 

mounted in a wrest plank of hardwood, usually maple, oak, or 

cherry. The strings are then stretched across the bridges and 

fastened to stationary hitch pins on the opposite side. American 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

M I I 

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FIGURE 5. —Model submitted to the Patent Office by John Low of Clinton, Massachusetts on 19 June 1860 

(Collection of the Smithsonian Institution; catalog number 331,204) 

dulcimers traditionally were built with the tuning pins on the 

right-hand side and the hitch pins on the left. (On some instruments, possibly built by left-handed players, this arrangement is 

reversed.) Small rectangular tuning pins were apparently manufactured specifically for the instrument during the 19th century. 

Often, however, players "made do" with larger piano pins, smaller 

square zither pins, or homemade replacements of various sizes. 

Mallets (or hammers) also varied widely in design. Because they 

were so easily lost or misplaced, it is often impossible to know 

whether the hammers found with an old instrument were made by 

the dulcimer maker or are replacements provided years later by 

someone else. Most players had either two pairs of hammers or one 

pair with reversible heads. One pair, or one side of a reversible 

pair, was covered with felt or yarn, which produced a soft, warm 

sound; the other was covered with deerskin or leather to give a 

loud, bright tone. The mallet heads could be spherical or hemis-
NUMBER 44 

^..5r?^^ — 

o o o 

MA 

FIGURE 6. —Diagram of dulcimer shown in Figure 2. (Collection of the Smithsonian Institudon; catalog 

number 94,871) 

pherical and were attached to handles 4-8 inches long. Oak, ash, 

hickory, and elm were the most common materials for handles, but 

bamboo and whalebone were also used. The latter material was 

obtained in the form of corset stays, and was preferred by players 

who wanted more "give" in the handles of their mallets. Older 

players are fond of telling folklorists how hard it is to obtain corset 

stays "nowadays," but as one male dulcimer player slyly confided, 

"They were always difficult to get."^ 
10 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Origins and Background 

There was myrth & melody 

with harpe, getron and sautry 

with rote, ribible and clokarde 

with pvpes, organs and bumbarde 

with other mynstrelles them amonge 

with sytolphe and with sautry songe 

with fydie, recorde and Dowcemere 

with trumpette & with claryon clere 

with dulcet pipes of many cordes. 

"The Squyr of Lowe Degre "^ 

ca. 1400 (emphasis added) 

The early history of the dulcimer is closely linked to that of the 

psaltery; both instruments evolved from a common ancestor. The 

difference between the two, in fact, is not in basic construction, but 

in the means of sounding the instrument: the strings of the psaltery 

are plucked with the fingers, while dulcimer strings are struck with 

small mallets or hammers. Technically, both instruments are 

board-zithers —that is, chordophones on which the strings are 

stretched horizontally across a shallow rectangular or trapezoidal 

box, which then acts as a resonating chamber. 

The Dulcimer and its Precursors in the Ancient World 

The dulcimer's predecessor, the psaltery, probably developed 

from the ground-zither, a primitive chordophone constructed by 

stretching stings over a hole or pit in the ground, which acts as a 

resonating chamber. Traces of ground-zithers have been discovered at Neolithic sites, and variants are still used today by several 

cultures in East Africa, Indochina, and Madagascar.^ 

The earliest known representation of a zither with a soundboard 

is a small Phoenician ivory carving of the 8th century B.C' The 

Phoenician name for the instrument is unknown, but it is probably 

related to the Hewbrew asor, a 10-stringed zither mentioned in the 
NUMBER 44 i l 

Old Testament (Psalms 33, 92, and 144).8 

A dulcimer is also mentioned in the Psalms, but this muchquoted reference cannot be taken as evidence of the instrument's 

existence in the ancient world. The Greek word translated as 

dulcimer in the King James Bible was symphonia, and though 

scholars disagree on its exact meaning, most accept the premise 

that it was not a single musical instrument, but rather a group of 

instruments playing together. 

\Vhen the dulcimer's standard trapezoidal shape developed is 

uncertain. The earliest kno\\Ti account of a trapezoidal instrument 

dates from A.D. 963, when a Syrian lexicographer described the 

quithoro, a board-zither with 10 strings.^ Slightly later, the zitherlike qanun was mentioned in one of the oldest tales of The Arabian 

Xights. A 14th-century Persian treatise describes the qanun as a 

trapezoidal zither with 64 strings, arranged in groups or "courses' 

of three strings to each pitch.''^ 

After gaining popularity in Moorish Spain, the qanun spread 

through \Vestern Europe and evolved into various forms, one of 

which was the English psaltery. The qanun is still used today in 

North Africa for the performance of traditional art music. 

The earliest dulcimer, a Persian-Iraqi instrument called the 

santir (from the Greek psalterion), apparently developd from the 

qanun around A.D. 900. The differences between the santir and the 

qanun were not structural, but in the manner of plaving: while the 

qanun was plucked, the santir was struck with small mallets. Like 

other board-zithers, the santir was soon adopted throughout the 

Muslim world. Music historians generally agree that the santir, or 

dulcimer, entered western Europe around A.D. 1100 by way of 

Spain from North Africa, where it still played by Sephardic Jews. 

The Dulcimer in Europe 

Just how the dulcimer was transplanted into western Europe 

remains uncertain. It was probably introduced and assimilated 

primarily through peaceful contact with the Spanish Moors around 
12 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 7. —Dulcimer with beater and tuning hamme r from an illustration in Marin Mersenne's Harmonie 

Universelle {163&). 

A.D. 1100. Some instruments, however, may have been brought 

back directly from the Middle East by returning Crusaders. In any 

case, the dulcimer was increasingly popular in Europe in the 

centuries that followed. 

As early as the 10th century the word tympanon was generally 
NUMBER 44 13 

used for chordophones in France. By the 15th century the name was 

attached specifically to the dulcimer. This word had originally 

meant "drum," and its newer usage probably is linked to the percussive nature of the dulcimer. The German dulcimer is known as 

a Hackbrett, or chopping board; the term was probably coined 

because of the motion of the player's hands. 

Little pictorial evidence of the dulcimer survives from the 12th 

and 13th centuries. The earliest known likeness of a European 

dulcimer may be the one on a relief carved in A.D. 1184 on the 

portico of the Santiago de Compostela cathedral in northwest 

Spain.11 Detailed written descriptions of dulcimers and dulcimer 

playing, moreover, are scarce, even through the 15th and 16th 

centuries. To add to the confusion. Medieval accounts sometimes 

used the term psaltery to designate both struck and plucked zithers. 

As late as 1636, for example, the philosopher Marin Mersenne, in 

his Harmonie Universelle, described a "psaltery" (or "psalterium") 

that was clearly a dulcimer: 

It must be noted that the method of sounding this instrument is different from that 

of the others, inasmuch as one uses the stick . . . which one holds in the right hand by 

the neck or the grip ... to strike the strings with the curved end ... which one lets fall 

softly on the strings, so that it makes small bounds. .. . If one wishes to play two or 

more parts together on this instrument, one can have two sticks.'^ 

Mersenne found it a "very agreeable" instrument and did not 

"doubt that one could receive as much or more satisfaction from it 

than from the spinet or the harp." He illustrated it in his book (see 

Figure 7). 

One of the earliest mentions of the dulcimer in England was in 

the poem, "The Squyr of Lowe Degre" (see lines quoted above), 

written about 1400. Here the "Dowcemere" is plainly distinguished 

from the "sautry." At Coventry in 1474, Prince Edward (1470-1483) 

reportedly was greeted with "the ministrelsie of harpe and 

dowsemeris."!^ And at Westminster Hall in 1502, it is recorded that 

a dozen ladies "made music on clarycordis, dulsymers, clarysymballs, 

and such other."i'* 
14 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 8. —Illumination from the 15th century 

Breviary of King Renee II (Duke of Lothrunger) 

depicts a dulcimer played with a cornetto, two 

trumpets, two recorders, harp and viola da braccio. (Reproduced by permission of the Bibliotheque 

Nationale, Paris) 

FIGURE 9. —Martin Le Franc's illustration of the 

allegorical poem "Le Champion des Dames" from 

The Nine Muses (1451). The ensemble includes a 

dulcimer, recorder, lute, trumpet, bombard, tabor 

and pipe, portative organ, and a second dulcimerlike instrument, probably a tambourin a cordes 

(upper left). Both players grasp their hammers 

between the thumb and first finger of their clenched 

fists. A less awkward and more conventional 

(from a modern viewpoint) mode of playing is 

seen in Figure 11; the player holds his beaters 

between his middle and ring fingers. (Reproduced by permission of the Bibliotheque Municipale, 

Grenoble) 

Illustrations of the dulcimer began to appear more frequently 

during the 15th and 16th centuries (see Figure 8). The shape of the 

European dulcimer had not yet been standardized, but some were 

rectangular with a bulge on one side. As Figures 9 and 10 
NUMBER 44 15 

FIGURE 10. —Anonymous illustration from the 16th century French manuscript, Le 

Livre des Echecs Amoureux. Dulcimerist is accompanied by a tabor and pipe, cornetto, 

bagpipe, and singers. In the foreground are a harp, portative organ, and recorder. 

(Reproduced by permission of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris) 

demonstrate, there was less than universal agreement on which 

direction the bulge should face. 

The modern dulcimer developed during the 16th century, as the 

trapezoidal shape became standard. A central bridge was added, 

which divided each string into two different pitches and substantially increased the instrument's compass. The 16th-century bridgeless, 

bulged dulcimer shown in Figure 10 suggests that this evolution 
16 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 11. —Detail from Jacob Cornelius Van 

Oostzanen's "The Birth of Christ" shows a remarkably modern-looking trapezoidal dulcimer 

played with cornetti and trumpets. It has two 

toneholes, one on either side of the clearly depicted central bridge. There now appear to be 

nine courses, composed of two strings each, instead of the older arrangement of a single string 

for each course. (Reproduced by permission of 

the Naples Museum) 

FIGURE 12. —Illustrated by a French scribe about 

1540, this Psalter depicts a trapezoidal dulcimer 

played in its case, accompanying a pipe and 

tabor, harp, and trumpet. (Reproduced by permission of the British Library Board, Royal Ms. 

2A XVI, f. 98v) 
NUMBER 44 17 

was gradual. But as early as 1512, a Dutch artist depicted a 

remarkably modern looking dulcimer in a nativity scene (detail 

shown in Figure 11). 

Although Renaissance artists pictured the dulcimer in courtly 

surroundings (see Figure 12), by the middle of the 16th century the 

instrument's social prestige had begun a gradual decline. Writing 

in 1536, the German scholar Sebastian Virdung characterized the 

dulcimer as an "instrumentum ignoble."^^ Virdung's countryman 

Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), in his Syntagma Musicum de 

Organograhia of 1619, classed the dulcimer (Figure 13) with the 

"peasant's lyra, key-fiddle, strawfiddle, little cymbals and bells, 

musical balls, and Basque tambourine, army kettle drums, snare 

drums, the anvil, and also other Muscovite, Turkish, strange and 

foreign instruments." He added: 

Some of these justly could be called vulgar and crude instruments, or as Sebastian 

Virdung calls them, ridiculous instruments, since they are known to all and do not 

actually have anything to do with music.'® 

The reasons for the dulcimer's loss of status during the 17th 

century remain somewhat obscure. One of its standard uses was 

accompanying itinerant puppet shows, and this may have contributed to its decline. Or perhaps its popularity among the peasant 

class simply made it less attractive to the aristocracy. Two entries 

in Samuel Pepys's diary describe the dulcimer in decidedly unpretentious surroundings. On 23 May 1662 he wrote: 

There coming much company after dinner to my Lord, my wife and I slunk away to 

the Opera. . . . After it was done, my wife and I [went] to the puppet play in Covent 

garden, which I saw the other day, and endeed it is very pleasant. Here among the 

Fiddlers I first saw a Dulcimore played on, with sticks knocking of the strings, and it 

is very pretty.'' 

A month later on 23 June 1662, Pepys recorded hearing another 

dulcimer at a London inn: 

At noon . . . meeting with Frank Moore, my Lord Lambert's man formerly, he, and 

two or three friends of his did go to a taverne. .. . In the next room, one was playing 

very finely of the Dulcimer, which well played I like well.'^ 
18 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 13. —Illustration of a 17th century German dulcime r and beaters. (From Michae l 

Praetorius' Syntagma Musicum de Organographia) »• ©toKiflf^porff. a.;>l<ot»jfc&^arffmitQJ?<j|in^<6Ca«<n j . ^otfd'm' 

By the end of 17th century, the European dulcimer had become 

for the most part an instrument of the common people, generally 

unacceptable for church and court use (Figure 14). Years later, this 

attitude was echoed by Sir John Graham Dalyell who wrote in 

Musical Memoirs of Scotland (1849) that the dulcimer, "formerly 

consigned to the humblest hands and rather an object of contempt 

. remained as an amusement of the populace."i^ A series of 
NUMBER 44 19 

FIGURE 14. — Cymbalschlagerin (woman dulcimer player), 

an engraving by Johann Christoph Weigel (ca. 1720) 

reflects the instrument's increasing use by common 

folk. 

dulcimer concerts given at Edinburgh in 1842 by the Nelson 

brothers of London moved Dalyell to write: 

That [the dulcimer] should ever be deemed fit for introduction among polished 

society, or its powers adapted for exhibition to a public audience, would have 

certainly excited the wonder of earlier musicians. But where is there any 

attraction ad captandum vulgus spared in BritainP^" 

There was at least one successful attempt, however, to treat the 
20 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

dulcimer as a "classical" instrument. In the 1690s Pantaleon 

Hebenstreit (1667-1750), a young German violinist and dancing 

master, fled from Leipzig (and his creditors) to Merseburg, where 

he spent his days tutoring a pastor's family and his nights at the 

local tavern. While there, he apparently was impressed by the 

Hackbrett and subsequently designed and built an improved version of this German folk dulcimer. Hebenstreit's dulcimer was 

more than twice the size of the traditional folk instrument. One 

side of the instrument was strung with steel or brass wires for a 

bright, loud tone, and the opposite side with gut, for a softer 

sound. (The player presumably would have to reverse the entire 

instrument when a change in timbre was desired.) Hebenstreit also 

departed from the traditional diatonic tuning of the Hackbrett, 

using instead a chromatic one he invented by placing the treble 

bridge almost in the center of the soundboard. Although none of 

his instruments have survived, contemporary accounts indicate 

that they had over two hundred strings, and a compass of five full 

octaves. 

Pantaleon Hebenstreit's career was as eccentric as his instruments. During the 1690s he appeared in Berlin and Dresden and 

gained a regional reputation as a virtuoso. At Paris in 1704, he 

played for the French monarch Louis XIV; in return, the Sun King 

assured Hebenstreit's place in musical history by christening the 

improved dulcimer a "pantaleon." Returning to Germany in 1706, 

the musician was appointed dancing master to the court at Eisenach. 

Then, in 1714, he became chamber musician and pantaleonist to 

the Dresden court of August the Strong, King of Poland and 

Elector of Saxony. For these duties, Hebenstreit was awarded the 

handsome salary of 1200 thalers annually. (J.S. Bach (1685-1750), 

then cantor in neighboring Leipzig, was paid only 700 thalers a 

year for duties that included teaching, providing music each week 

for regular religious services, composing, and performing for 

weddings and funerals.) 

Hebenstreit played for and influenced notable musicians and 
NUMBER 44 21 

FIGURE 15.—The late 18th century aristocrats' fascination with peasant life made 

the dulcimer once again fashionable among 

"people of quality." (Etching from Benjamine 

de la Borde's Essai sur la Musiquef 

composers of his era, including Kuhnau, Telemann, Fux, W.F. 

Bach, and possibly the great J.S. Bach. Gottfried Silbermann 

(1683-1753), a famous pioneer of early German piano building, 

also built pantaleons for Hebenstreit. In fact, the general interest 

aroused throughout Europe by the pantaleon and its ability to 

produce varied dynamics is cited by many musicologists as the 

inspiration that led several late 18th- and early 19th-century harp-
22 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

sichord builders to experiment with improved hammer mechanisms, which ultimately resulted in the pianoforte. 

Hebenstreit's success also helped reintroduce the dulcimer at 

court and among the "better classes" (Figure 15). This renewed 

interest was sustained for a while by the fascination with which 

18th-century aristocrats regarded the simple peasant life. For a few 

decades following Hebenstreit's death in 1750, his students continued to play and promote the pantaleon, but by the late 18th 

century the difficulty and cost of upkeep, combined with general 

public apathy, brought to an end the instrument's role in European 

art music.2^ 

The Dulcimer in America 

The first dulcimers in North America arrived among the household effects of British and other European colonists. Until the 

1860s, written records of dulcimers in the United States were 

probably scarcer than the instruments themselves. Dulcimers were 

often built at home or in small wood-working shops, and documentation was haphazard rather than systematic. During the second 

half of the 19th century, however, we can trace the history and use 

of the American dulcimer through shop and factory records, 

patent claims, census schedules, advertisements, and interviews 

with the few surviving folk artists who still make and play them. 

The traditional players still alive today are those who chose (or 

were persuaded) to learn a less and less popular instrument during 

the first three decades of this century. The generation born after 

the Civil War failed to pass many traditional skills on to their 

children. The World War 1 generation turned to the guitar, 

mandolin, and piano, which educators and the mass media endorsed as preferable to the old-fashioned dulcimer for popular 

music. From about 1930 until the folk revivial of the mid-1960s 

there were virtually no new recruits to the instrument. Older 
NUMBER 44 23 

players continued to perform with varying degrees of talent and 

persistence through the 1950s, ignored by folklorists and the 

general public alike. These survivors of an earlier era were born 

between 1890 and 1920 (see Appendix C). Because of their early 

training and subsequent isolation from other dulcimerists, they 

have managed to preserve dulcimer traditions and regional playing styles that otherwise would have vanished. 

The exact date of the dulcimer's arrival in the New World will 

probably never be established; musical instruments, especially 

small, homemade ones, tended to go unrecorded in our earliest 

annals. But undoubtedly the early colonists brought with them the 

instruments then popular in England and Europe. In the 17th 

century, these included fiddles, fifes, flageolets, flutes, harps, 

hautboys, Jew's harps, recorders, trumpets, drums, and dulcimers. 

An early reference to dulcimer music in America is found in the 

diary of Samuel Sewall (1652-1730), best remembered today as a 

judge at the Salem witch trials of 1692. His entry for 23 May 1717 

reads: "To Salem, Meadford, Lodge at Cousin Porter's. See and 

hear the Dulcimer."22 We can speculate that the judge, a good 

singer with considerable musical knowledge, might have described 

the dulcimer had it been a new or unfamiliar instrument in New 

England. 

Dulcimers also were being played in other parts of America 

during the 18th century. On 21 March 1748 "John Beals, Musick 

Master from London'' advertised in Philadelphia's Pennsylvania 

Gazette as a teacher of 

the Violin, Hautboy, German Flute, Common Flute and the Dulcimer by note. Said 

Beals will likewise attend young ladies, or others, that may desire it, at their houses. 

He likewise provides musick for balls or other entertainments.^^ 

Leaving Philadelphia, where he is thought to have played for 

the Philadelphia Dancing Assembly, Beals moved to New York 

City. Life was hard for itinerant musicians in colonial America, and 

by 1757 Beals chose to advertise himself in the Weekly Post Boy as a 

manufacturer of nets "to keep flies off horses,'' who would also play 
24 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

for "Assemblies, at private Balls, or any other Entertainments." 

Still later, Beals moved to Maryland where in 1764 he became a 

stocking manufacturer.^'* Dulcimer music was also popular in Maryland in the mid-18th century. A dulcimerist named Thomas 

Richison provided music for the Annapolis Tuesday Club of 

Baltimore, a society of rich planters, merchants, and seafarers.^^ 

Even more fortunate were colonial New Yorkers, who learned of 

the following entertainment through a newspaper advertisement 

on 27 April 1752: 

This is to aquaint the Curious, That there is just arrived in this City, a famous 

Posture-Master, who transforms his Body into various Postures, in a surprising and 

wonderful Manner, with many Curious Dancings and Tumblings, exceeding any 

Thing of the Kind ever seen here. He also Performs the Slight of Hand, with great 

Dexterity, and Art; and to make the Entertainment more agreeable, the Company 

will be diverted with the Musick of a Dulcemer. To be shown every Evening this 

Week, at Mr. Beekman's at the Spring-Garden: —Price for Grown Persons One 

Shilling, and for Children Ninepence .. . it shall be exhibited by their very humble 

Servant, Richard Brickell.^* 

This show proved so popular with New Yorkers that it was moved 

to the Nassau Street Theatre, where it entertained the citizenry for 

several more weeks. 

The Dulcimer in its Prime: The 19th Century 

The most persuasive evidence that the dulcimer once enjoyed 

great popularity is the survival of hundreds of 19th-century 

instruments. It is safe to assume that for every one that has 

survived, scores have not. A common response to the author's 

inquiries about dulcimers in many sections of the country was 

some variant of, "Ah yes, we had one in our barn, but we burned it 

for firewood in that terrible winter of 19 —." 

The states in which the dulcimer enjoyed its greatest popularity, 

and where remnants of its traditions survive to this day, are those 

that formed the American frontier from 1810 through the 1840s: 
NUMBER 44 25 

western New York, Ohio, West Virginia, western Pennsylvania, 

Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. This geographical distribution seems to reflect frontier conditions and the 

need of pioneers for entertainment and recreation. The dulcimer, 

in many ways musically analogous to the piano, presented none of 

the transportation problems of its bulkier relative —a major consideration in wilderness areas settled before the coming of the 

railroads. Later pioneers, who settled even further west, came from 

the rapidly changing east coast or directly from Europe, where the 

dulcimer was no longer fashionable. The piano was becoming the 

instrument of choice, and after 1850 the expanding railroad 

network greatly eased transportation difficulties. The dulcimer 

tradition thus remained "frozen" among those who had moved 

"west" in the early part of the 19th century and their descendants 

who remained there. 

Documentation is hard to find in these early frontier areas; the 

dulcimer, which existed outside both the "pure' classical and 

"pure" folk traditions of the 19th and 20th centuries, might well 

have been considered too commonplace an item to be mentioned 

by music scholars and folklorists. For example, folklorists Gardner 

and Chickering, in their book Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan 

(1939), devote only a single, sentence to the dulcimer, noting a 

player "who in former days . . . played a dulcimer which he had 

made."2^ Yet even today, a casual survey of this area will uncover 

scores of extant dulcimers. 

Some 20th-century musicologists have suggested that the dulcimer was popular with loggers in the Michigan woods and was 

known as a "lumberjack's piano" or "whamdiddle," but my field 

work failed to substantiate these names or the instrument's use in 

logging camps. Chet Parker (born 1891), a traditional player from 

Grand Rapids who worked in several Michigan logging camps in 

the early part of this century, claimed that he was the only person 

there who played the instrument, and he could not remember ever 

seeing one in a camp.^^ 
26 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Folklorist Henry Shoemaker, who documented and studied folk 

culture in western Pennsylvania, wrote: 

No hunting shack along the Sinnemahoning in the old days or lumber camp in the 

Black Forest . . . was complete without musical instruments. The most numerous of 

these were violins, and mouth-organs; there were many accordions, and even a few 

dulcimers and harps. In the summer evening, after a day's work bark peeling was 

done, the crew would gather . and the song singer of the camp would begin his 

cycle of woodsman songs or old time ballads, while the camp's musicians would 

accompany him on violin, mouth-organ or dulcimer.2^ 

In his book Mountain Minstrelsy in Pennsylvania (1931), Shoemaker 

also discusses the cimbalom, the Hungarian version of the dulcimer, 

calling it "the favorite instrument of the Pennsylvanian mountain 

people."30 While this seems unlikely. Shoemaker's description of it 

as a struck dulcimer establishes that he was referring to the 

hammered dulcimer, and not the three- or four-stringed Appalachian instrument. 

Dulcimer Music and Its Social Setting 

Since dulcimers in America were often used to accompany 

dances, most dulcimer pieces were dance or fiddle tunes, including 

reels, jigs, hornpipes, waltzes, clogs, and schottisches. Several 

19th-century musicians and entrepreneurs published dulcimer 

tune books. John Low, Ezra Durand, and J.A. MacKenzie owned 

dulcimer shops and offered their own instructional systems, which 

included traditional tunes arranged for dulcimer. One method was 

C. Haight's A Complete System for the Dulcimer (1848), published in 

New York by William Hall & Son. Such books contain many tunes 

that are still played today, and which were almost certainly 

selected not only for their aptness as instructional pieces, but also 

because of their popularity among 19th-century dulcimer players. 

The majority were dance tunes, including "Soldier's Joy," "Durang's 

Hornpipe," "Devil's Dream," "Speed the Plough," "Money Musk," 

"Haste to the Wedding," and "The Opera Reel." Also included 
NUMBER 44 

were danceable minstrel songs, like "Boatman's Dance" and "Miss 

Lucy Long"; popular melodies like "Yankee Doodle," "Hail to the 

Chief," and "Just Before the Battle, Mother"; and hymns like "Old 

Hundredth," "Coronation," "St. Martin's," and "Shall We Meet 

Beyond the River?" The compilers also included some "refined" 

pieces which they probably hoped would be more suitable to their 

instrument's new role in the parlor; but selections like the "Grand 

March from Norma" and "Air by Rossini" never caught the fancy 

of most American dulcimer players. 

The repertoires of surviving dulcimerists include many "nameless" tunes that they learned from their fathers and grandfathers. 

Cloise Sinclair, a player from Michigan reported: "So now 1 play 

them [but] I have no idea what the name of them is.''^^ Possibly 

some of these now nameless tunes never had titles; most of them 

probably did. The younger players were too busy performing the 

music to worry about the name of each tune. Paul Van Arsdale 

recalls: 

I originally played [the dulcimer] strictly for square dancing. You might sit down, 

and play for two or three hours steady; one square dance after another. And my main 

interest in those days was to learn a lot of different [tunes] so I wouldn't have to play 

the same ones over and over. I succeeded in learning a lot of pieces, but 1 didn't even 

bother to learn the names.^^ 

With the passing of older members of the community, the names 

of many tunes were lost. 

Unlike England, where the "Yarmouth Hornpipe" and the 

"English Breakdown" are traditionally dulcimer tunes, America 

seems to have produced no tunes exclusive to the dulcimer.^3 H.E. 

Matheny remembers two, "Old Christmas Morning" and "Hughes's 

River Glory," as West Virginia dulcimer tunes, but this seems to 

have been traditional only within his family.^^ 

Despite instruction books and note indicators, most aspiring 

dulcimerists did not read music, and continued to learn just by 

"picking it up" from the older players. Paul Van Arsdale, a 
28 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

grandson of Jesse Martin, remembers how the vaudeville star 

taught him to play during the 1930s: 

We had two dulcimers, and we'd sit side by side. [If] he had something he wanted 

me to learn, why, he'd play a few bars. And then I'd play behind him and eventually 

[I'd] get the whole tune. Then, actually, you just play it over and over till you've got 

it memorized.^5 

The vast majority of dulcimer players were men; H.E. Matheny 

estimates that in the late 19th century, the ratio of men to women 

dulcimerists in West Virginia was ten to one. This was not because 

the dulcimer was thought to be a particularly "masculine" instrument, but rather because the main musical function of the instrument involved playing at barn dances, and, in Matheny's words, "it 

just wasn't nice for a woman to play hammered dulcimer at a 

dance."3^ 

Traditional performers were aware of this attitude; Russell 

Fluharty of West Virginia explained: 

There was a time when dances were frowned on, you know, especially the old 

square-dance kind.... I guess they didn't realize that it wasn't any worse kind of 

music than most... . People who are going to live that way don't need to have 

square-dance music to be that way.'^ 

But if playing at dances was frowned upon for women, it seems to 

have increased a man's status in the community. Dances provided a 

forum for the folk musician to show off his abilities and, at the same 

time, to provide a service to his friends and neighbors. It was 

thought a good skill for a man to possess; at least one informant 

candidly admitted that it was a good way to meet pretty women. 

Paul Van Arsdale remembers playing in a western New York 

dance band during the Great Depression. Saturday night and 

holiday eve dances drew from 80 to 120 people; 8 to 10 sets of four 

couples each could dance at one time in the large finished barn. 

There was a charge for admission. 
NUMBER 44 29 

We had dulcimer, fiddle, and generally somebody playing accompaniment on the 

piano. Believe it or not, even in those days we had drums with it.... You'd dance 

what they called a "square dance," which included a jig, and then two reels. Then 

you'd have a round dance.... I guess they called it the fox trot even then. You'd start 

playing at 9:00 and you would play until 1:00 in the morning.^* 

By the 1930s Van Arsdale, who was one of the few remaining 

dulcimer players in western New York, was often hired for the 

"novelty more than anything else ... lots of people would come up 

and watch you play." But he enjoyed playing, and the $2.00 or 

$3.00 he earned for playing a four-hour dance was good pay for a 

teenager during the depression years. 

Though most dulcimerists were men, some women did play, 

often at home for their own amusement, and sometimes in church 

to accompany hymns. H.E. Matheny recalled women dulcimer 

players "where there were no organists ... [in] the little poor 

churches out in the country."^^ Use of the dulcimer in church 

services was certainly supported by the widespread belief that it 

had been mentioned in the Old Testament (see p. 10). 

While dulcimers were played without accompaniment at home 

or in church, they were usually played with one or more other 

instruments at dances. The most common ensemble was a dulcimer 

played with a fiddle and a double bass or guitar (Figure 16), but 

other instruments like banjos, mandolins, guitars, pianos, melodeons, 

drums, saxophones, and tubas were also used. An advertisement 

that appeared in 1868 stated that the ministrel show "circus" of 

Messrs. Howes and Co., consisted of "dulcimer, banjo, tambourine, 

and bones.""*o 

Things Hawaiian, including Hawaiian music, fascinated Americans around the turn of the century. After 1915, when the PanamaPacific Exposition opened in San Francisco to celebrate the completion 

of the Panama Canal, the fascination became a veritable craze. The 

dulcimer was included in the fashion at least by association; several 

NUMBER 44 31 

informants recall the unlikely combination of dulcimer and Hawaiian guitar in the 1920s. During that decade Jesse Martin's vaudeville act included Mrs. W.H. Biers of Erie, Pennsylvania, on the 

Hawaiian guitar. 

One traditional player thought the ideal string band should 

consist of a dulcimer, two fiddles, and a rhythm guitar.'*! None of 

the older players could remember seeing two or more dulcimers 

played together in the same group. 

Dulcimers were also played at parties, picnics, town and school 

board meetings, county fairs, taverns, clubs, and contests—in short, 

any event at which rural or small-town people were likely to 

gather. One unusual place where a hammered dulcimer player 

worked was the Red Onion Saloon in Parkersburg, West Virginia. 

This den of iniquity was known to locals as "Baghdad on the 

Kanawha." For years it supported a barrel dulcimer player whose 

dedication to his art is still remembered with admiration: 

That was around the turn of the century. An Irishman ran the Red Onion, and it 

was bad. The police would never go down there, that was off limits. 

Anyhow, there was a man, an old West Virginia hillbilly, went down there one 

day. He had a hammered dulcimer ... and said he'd like to play there [at] night... 

for what little bit the customers would give. 

And they said, "Well, we'd like for you to play, but they have a standing rule 

here.... Anyone can come in and play, but you're not allowed to stay the entire 

evening." (That's these toughs' rules, to show them who is boss.) 

"Well," he said, "if you let me stay, I'd like to play a long time; I can do it." So late 

that evening, here he came, down Market Street, his hammered dulcimer under one 

arm, [and] rolling a barrel with the other. 

He asked the bar tender where he could set his barrel up, and he said, "over there 

in the corner." He put the dulcimer on top of it —of course, that amplifies it —and 

started playing. Finally, one of these men started over toward him. [The dulcimer 

player] reached in his boot and pulled out a big knife, and he just stuck it in the side 

of the barrel and kept on playing. 

He played [there] for twelve years, and no one ever bothered him.''^ 

FIGURE 16. —Dulcimerist Curtis O. Render (1874-1950), guitarist Lewis Dunlap and 

fiddler Otis Fish. Their group was photographed at Midland, Michigan, in March 

1899. (Photo courtesy of F.E. Render) 
32 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Regional Playing Styles 

The dulcimer was a folk instrument; hence, there was no single 

"right way" to play it. Although each performer had a personal 

style, certain techniques were definitely more common in one 

region than in others. 

Players in Michigan, northern Ohio, and Indiana favored a 

playing style called chording, which involved sounding a series of 

arpeggiated chords. Because the instrument had no damping 

devices, this resulted in a continuous flow of sound and created an 

effect not unlike that of a piano played with the sostenuto pedal. 

The melody was then played on another instrument, usually a 

fiddle. 

Many players only chorded, but a few good players took pride in 

their ability to play lead. Cloise Sinclair of Sheridan, Michigan, 

recalled that his father Eugene (ca. 1867-1925) was able to play 

melody, and "in those days, anybody that could lead on the 

dulcimer, that was something else."'*^ 

West Virginia dulcimer players had a fairly straightforward 

melodic style. They generally used much less arpeggiation than 

did most players from Michigan, and what they did use tended to 

be embroidered around a clearly defined melody. Long notes were 

often sustained by repeated attacks with alternating hammers. 

Modern West Virginia players seem to have been heavily influenced by syncopated banjo styles —naturally enough, since all 

those interviewed admitted to being avid fans of country, western, 

and bluegrass music. One player, Russell Fluharty from Mannington, included a much higher proportion of lyric songs and ballads 

in his repertoire than did dulcimer players from other regions, 

who usually preferred instrumental dance or fiddle tunes. He is 

also one of the few players to use the dulcimer to accompany his 

own singing. It is not known, however, whether this reflects a 

regional style or was simply a personal preference. 

Another style existed in western New York State. There dulci-
NUMBER 44 33 

merists usually played a complex melody line, which they frequently embellished by the addition of non-arpeggiated harmony 

notes. Parellel harmony in fifths was the most common, probably 

because parallel "sticking" across the instrument's treble bridge 

resulted in this interval. 

The New York dulcimer style featured a wide dynamic range, 

with polished touches like crescendos and diminuendos. Much of 

the information on New York state players, however, is drawn 

from the playing of Paul Van Arsdale, an exceptionally talented 

player who was taught by his maternal grandfather, the vaudeville 

dulcimer star Jesse Martin. How closely his playing reflects that of 

the average dulcimer player of 80 years ago is not clear. There may 

also have been a regional playing style on Long Island, New York, 

but unfortunately the last known local performer died before he 

could be recorded. 

Little is known of the playing style in the Piedmont region of 

North Carolina. Piedmont players, of whom Virgil Craven (1903-

1981) of Cedar Falls and Harvey Jones (born ca. 1913) of Coleridge 

are best known, have a style somewhat reminiscent of the West 

Virginia players. Although Piedmont players have bass courses on 

their dulcimers, they use them only occasionally. Craven's repertoire included selections like "Chapel Hill Serenade," "Little 

Darling," and "Mississippi Sawyer."'*'* In general, chording was 

played with less syncopation than in West Virginia, and was less 

important than in the midwestern tradition. 

Decline in Popularity: 1890-1930 

Despite all the dulcimer building and playing in 19th-century 

America, enthusiasm for the instrument had begun to wane by the 

1890s, and even earlier in New England. Though there were 

several causes for the decline, the major factor was social rather 

than musical. During the mid-19th century the dulcimer never 

achieved the level of social prestige enjoyed by the piano. With the 
34 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

improvement of American shipping and land transportation after 

the Civil War, the fact that the dulcimer was so much more portable 

than the piano lost its former importance. At the same time, the 

price of pianos dropped during the late 19th century to a point 

where even country school buildings and grange halls could afford 

to have one. 

The dulcimer, moreover, was thought to lack some of the 

extra-musical qualities of taste and refinement then attributed to 

other instruments, particularly the violin and piano. This view was 

fostered by partisans of "scientific" European classical music and a 

group of American music educators, led by Lowell Mason (1792-1872). 

Because of his influence, music education was introduced into the 

public schools in the 1830s. Teachers trained by his methods 

sought to elevate the general public's taste in music above the level 

of indigenous folk forms. They also believed the "great European 

masters" could not be understood by ordinary Americans, and 

consequently substituted simpler, "harmonically correct" compositions of their own design. Their diligent efforts, many believe, 

succeeded in alienating much of America from its own traditional 

music and similar attitudes continue to inflict insipid songs and 

instrumental pieces upon American school children today. Instruments like the dulcimer, which had no place in European 

classical music, aroused little support or interest in the field of 

music education. Many genteel parents felt that their child's 

mediocre performance on the piano or violin was preferable to 

excellence on a folk instrument.'*^ 

Paul Van Arsdale, a traditional player from upstate New York, 

advanced the interesting theory that the dulcimer's decline was 

also due in part to the difficulty in tuning it: 

If you went someplace where there would be a piano, they're not going to [re]tune 

... you'd have to tune your dulcimer. [This dulcimer] takes half an hour to tune ... 

[unlike] a fiddle; five minutes, and in tune.''^ 

The decline was reflected commercially by the large mail order 
NUMBER 44 35 

L 

t "^fe 

FIGURE 17.—Joseph Edward Matheny (1879-1972), winner of the dulcimer contest at the 1895 Ritchie County Fair. (Photo courtesy of H.E. 

Matheny) 

houses. Sears, Roebuck and Co., for example, stopped advertising 

dulcimers about 1903, although it was still possible to obtain strings 

and parts for several years thereafter. Smaller dulcimer-making 

shops went out of business entirely. 

Russell Fluharty of West Virginia was typical of this World War 

I generation who thought the dulcimer "old-fashioned." His uncle 

finally badgered him into learning it; but today, more than fifty 

years later, Fluharty still remembers how glad he was, as a young 
36 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

man, to carry the instrument home early on a cold, dark winter's 

morning, without being seen by his neighbors. 

In the 1890s dulcimers were still popular enough in West 

Virginia for the Ritchie County fair to hold an annual "dulcimer 

contest." In 1895, the winner of this county-wide competition was 

fifteen-year-old Joseph "Eddie" Matheny, who swept to victory on 

an instrument built by his uncle, Reuben Matheny, Jr., of Harrisville. 

In a picture taken immediately after the contest (Figure 17), Eddie 

reflects the pride that many other dulcimer players took in their 

venerable instruments. 

Matheny saw the dulcimer fade and virtually disappear in his 

lifetime. Before his death in 1972 at age 93, however, it had been 

rediscovered by a small but dedicated new generation of folk 

musicians. 

Twentieth Century Survival 

The 1920s and 1930s were not totally bleak decades for the 

dulcimer in America. Though few new instruments were being 

built and very few youngsters bothered to learn to play, a few 

elderly performers still made occasional appearances, and there 

was at least one attempt to renew public interest in the instrument. 

Auto magnate Henry Ford, an enthusiastic country dancer, sincerely believed that old-fashioned dancing promoted old-fashioned 

morality. To further this cause, he established Henry Ford's Early 

American Orchestra in 1924 (Figure 18). Composed of a violin, 

double bass or tuba, dulcimer, and cimbalom, it played regularly 

for the square dances held at the company's headquarters at 

Dearborn, Michigan. All company executives were expected to 

attend. Because the dances were an attempt to reestablish the old 

virtues among the staff, alchohol, tobacco, and improper dress 

were banned. (Tradition maintains that stronger refreshments 

were available in a back room—without Ford's knowledge, of course.) 

At first. Ford recruited musicians from among his plant's em-
NUMBER 44 37 

FIGURE 18. —Henry Ford's Early American Orchestra included (left to right): William Hallup. cimbalom; 

Clayton Perry, violin; Gino Caporali, string bass; and Edwin Baxter, dulcimer. (Collection of Henry Ford 

Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan) 

ployees; before long, however, outside performers like Mellie 

Dunham, a champion fiddler from Lewiston, Maine, and Benjamin Lovett, a dancing master from Boston, were also invited. The 

dulcimer was one of Ford's favorites. He fondly remembered the 

playing of his Michigan schoolmate, Al Rice, and personally 

auditioned several dulcimer players for his Early American Or-
38 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 19.-Jesse R. Martin (1854-1939) received 

national attention when he auditioned for Henry 

Ford in 1925. (Photo from New York Times, 20 

December 1925, Rotogravure section, p. 1) 

chestra. He eventually hired Edwin Baxter (1881-1949), a player 

from near Cheboygan, Michigan, who could not read music. With 

the group's many dances and radio appearances the ability to learn 

new tunes quickly was indispensable; so Ford also hired William 

Hallup, a Hungarian immigrant who could read music and play 

the cimbalom. Hallup was able to help Baxter learn new tunes by 

playing through them until Baxter had memorized them.^^ The 

Early American Orchestra was active until Ford's death in 1947. 

One of the dulcimer players who auditioned for Ford's Early 

American Orchestra in 1925 was Jesse R. Martin (1884-1939), a 

septuagenarian from Frewsburg, New York (Figure 19). Martin did 

not get the job, but this did not stop the retired cabinet maker from 
NUMBER 44 39 

launching a second career as a vaudeville artist. Billing himself as 

"Ford's dulcimer entertainer,'' Martin played for dances, grange 

and Kiwanis meetings, silent movies, and early radio broadcasts in 

the area around Fredonia, New York, and Erie, Pennsylvania. 

Martin played by himself as a "Musical Novelty Act," with Mrs. 

William H. Biers of Erie, who accompanied him on Hawaiian 

guitar, or as a member of "Martin's Old Time Dance Orchestra," 

whose members also included a piano player, bass, guitar, banjo, 

and two callers. 

Martin claimed to be one of only six remaining players of this 

"extremely rare" instrument. Though this claim obviously was 

exaggerated during the 1920s when scores of players were still 

alive, he quite possibly was one of America's half-dozen best 

players at that time. Much of Martin's repertoire, including 

unusual tunes like "Baker's March," "Waltz of Woes," and "Jumping 

Jack," has been preserved in the playing of his grandson, Paul Van 

Arsdale.^8 

Records and Radio 

Even before Ford's campaign to revive the dulcimer, inventor 

Thomas Edison managed to record the performances of two fine 

19th-century dulcimer players on Edison Cylinders. The first 

dulcimer recording artist seems to have been Roy Gibson, who in 

April 1901 cut three tunes: the "Gibson March" (EC# 7769), 

"Rosetzky March" (EC# 7770), and "7th Ohio Regiment March" 

(EC# 7771). In October of the same year, Gibson returned to the 

studio to record "March Arcadia" (EC# 7933). In June 1902 Edison 

recorded dulcimerist William A. Moriarty playing "Ain't Dat a 

Shame" (EC# 8021). Moriarty returned in April 1904 to record 

"Llewellyn March" (EC# 8665).« Aside from the fact that they 

made these recordings, nothing is known about Moriarty or 

Gibson, though judging from the latter's choice of material, it is 

possible that he was from Ohio. 
40 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Henry Ford's Early American Orchestra made some recordings 

during the 1920s, and their 1926 release, "A Medley of Reels," 

featured dulcimerist Edwin Baxter in "Wake Up Susan," "Pigtown 

Fling," "Mountain Hornpipe," "Flowers of Edinburg," and "Farewell to Whiskey." This seems to have been the last record featuring 

the dulcimer to be released for the next forty years. 

Dulcimer players also occasionally appeared on early radio 

programs. The first to be broadcast was probably Fred D. Kunz 

(born 1892) of Long Island, New York. Kunz, who claimed to play 

a "Long Island" style of dulcimer that has since vanished, performed on a WNYC program, "The Voice of New York City," in 

1922.50 Jesse Martin appeared on several stations around Lake 

Erie in 1926 and 1927, including WKBN Youngstown, WLBD and 

WJPW Erie, and WMBW (location unknown).5i John S. Donald 

and his mother played on WIBA in Wisconsin during March 

1927.52 

The radio performer with the largest audience, however, must 

have been Mrs, Cora Cline of Westmoreland, Tennessee, who 

drove over 100 miles round-trip to Nashville each week to appear 

on WSM's Grand Old Opry. Beginning in 1928 as a duet with her 

relative, Edgar Cline, a fiddler, Mrs. Cline was soon asked back as a 

solo act. She received one dollar for a minute of air time and 

played pieces like "Chippie Get Your Hair Cut," "Airplane Ride," 

and "Lexington." Uncomfortable about the weekly drive to Nashville, she eventually retired from the Opry.^^ 

Other Dulcimer Traditions in America 

Although this monograph is devoted primarily to the use of the 

dulcimer in the Anglo-American tradition, there are several other 

types of dulcimer in 20th-century America that should be mentioned briefly. 

Best known of these is the Hungarian cimbalom, a descendant of 
NUMBER 44 41 

the Turkish variant of the dulcimer that was played throughout 

the Ottoman Empire. Originally a folk instrument, the cimbalom 

was modified and mass-produced by the Schunda firm of Budapest 

during the 1870s. Brought to America by Eastern European immigrants around 1900, the cimbalom is still popular, but its use 

remains confined to the Hungarian-American community where it 

is frequently played in "gypsy orchestras." 

Another Eastern European type of dulcimer is found in Ellis 

County, Kansas, where it is played by descendants of the GermanRussian refugees who immigrated there in the 1870s.5'* These 

dulcimers are trapezoidal, have 14 to 17 four-string courses, and a 

nearly equal number of treble and bass strings. They are distinguished from Anglo-American dulcimers by their large, carved 

toneholes (Figure 4). Though their use is declining somewhat in 

Ellis County, they are still played, usually with a fiddle and cello 

accompaniment, a.i Hochzeits, or wedding dances. 

More recent has been the use of the Chinese j'an^ ch 'in in America. 

The yang ch'in (foreign zither) was introduced to China from the 

West during the 16th or 17th century. Similar to the Arabic santir, 

\heyang ch'in enjoyed widespread popularity in China as a classical 

or "art" instrument, and is played in classical ensembles today in 

Chinese-American communities. 

The most widespread dulcimer tradition in this country, other 

than the Anglo-American, has been that of the German-American 

Hackbrett. It was probably brought to America as early as the 18th 

century, although the earliest reference this author has seen is in 

the work of Lewis Miller (1796-1882), a German-American folkartist from York, Pennsylvania, who painted his memory of a 

dance held there in 1808 (Figure 20). Included in this picture, 

which he captioned. "Stepfan, und Dar Hackbret, 1808, Dancing at 

the house of John Glessner," is the explanation, "Stepfan a good 

violin player and his companion a German, playing on the 

indulcimor, or barbiton nent, lyricum, ein hackbret."^^ Miller was 

apparently unsure about the English equivalent of Hackbrett. 
42 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

C^<*.x^c;>vs. «N>^vcVovv-. : c \ Sc\^^v^^V^\^^'^•-

FIGURE 20. —Lewis Miller's memory of a dance held in the German-American community of York, 

Pennsylvania, in 1808. (Courtesy of The Historical Society of York County, Pennsylvania) 

The Hackbrett and dulcimer apparently merged in GermanAmerican communities. It is probably significant that those areas 

where the Anglo-American dulcimer has survived longest, particularly northern Ohio, southern Michigan, Indiana, western New 

York, and North Carolina, are also regions with large and wellassimilated German-American populations. 

Dulcimer Manufacture 

Dulcimers were often built at home by the same people who 

played them, but many instruments were made commercially. For 

purposes of this discussion, we will consider dulcimer manufacture 

in three categories: factories, small shops, and folk-craftsmen. 

The term factory applies here to firms employing several dozen 
NUMBER 44 43 

or more workers and producing hundreds or perhaps thousands of 

instruments annually. Although there may have been several such 

establishments, we know with certainty of only one: Lyon & Healy 

of Chicago. Shops, on the other hand, rarely employed even a 

dozen workers, and few produced more than 100 instruments a 

year. Unlike folk-craftsmen, shop workers were employed yearround, and building dulcimers was their main source of income. 

Shop owners were frequently entrepreneurs, quick to patent improvements in design, write and publish instruction books, and 

advertise their products in the hope of increasing sales and profits. 

Shop dulcimers were also much more likely to be labeled with the 

maker's name than were those made by folk-craftsmen. 

Folk-craftsmen undoubtedly were the earliest American dulcimer builders. They worked in or near their homes, making 

instruments in their spare time for themselves or members of their 

communities. But because the earliest existing documents on 

dulcimer manufacture are those left by 19th-century shops, our 

history will begin there. 

Dulcimer Shops 

The first United States dulcimer patent was granted on 19 June 

1860 to John Low (born 1816), who owned a dulcimer shop in 

Clinton, Massachusetts. Low's improvement consisted of placing 

the treble bridge "in such a manner as to cause that part of each 

string which is upon one side of said bridge to give a tone a half 

note higher than that part of it which is upon the other side.''^^ 

In other words. Low's dulcimer, like that of Pantaleon Hebenstreit, 

(see p. 20) had a chromatic interval across the treble bridge. This, 

he assured the Patent Office, would be a "more harmonious action" 

than the fifth interval arrangement of the "common dulcimer"^^ 

(Figure 5). Low and his partner Albion Gibbs, asked $15 for their 

standard dulcimer, and as much as $35 for their fanciest model.^s 

How long their shop operated in Clinton is not known, but they 
44 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

were probably in business as early as 1858 when The Dulcimer 

Instructor (edited by J. Low) was advertised as "an instructor for the 

dulcimer: containing airs, marches, waltzes, schottisches, hornpipes, and etc., also directions for tuning."^^ The Dulcimer Instructor 

cost 50<P and was published by Oliver Ditson and Company of 

Boston.60 

A few years later, on 31 December 1867, Ezra Durand of 

Norwich, Connecticut, received United States Patent No. 72,824 for 

dulcimer improvements which consisted of a "perforated soundingpost (E), perforated soundingboard (C), and perforated center 

bridge (I) .. . for the purpose of allowing the vibrating air to pass 

through, thereby increasing the softness and distinctions of the 

sounds." To this was added a notched bass bridge (G), to elevate 

and separate the bass and treble strings^i (Figures 21, 22, and 23). 

If this arrangement sounds familiar, it is because Durand seems 

simply to have patented the traditional folk construction. Ezra 

Durand was an entrepreneur whose dulcimer shop operated in 

Norwich from 1867 until 1869.^^ j^ittle is known about Durand's 

life, but like John Low, he published a dulcimer instruction book 

to promote the sale of his instruments. In his book Dulcimer without 

a Master, which contained "Elements of Music, and Complete 

Instructions" in addition to a "Choice Selection of Popular Music 

Adapted to the Instrument," Durand exuded unbounded optimism for his version of the instrument. 

Durand's Improved Dulcimer is a musical instrument that is coming into universal use, and is certainly getting to be an indispensable piece of furniture for the 

parlor or music room. It is nearly as large as a piano-case melodeon, and is finished 

in a rich rosewood case. It is strung with the same kind of strings as a piano, and has 

very much the same sound, only a much sweeter and softer tone. It is played with 

conveniently shaped hammers, which are covered with prepared wool... . When 

therefore, we consider the beauty of finish and richness of tone, and with what ease 

the knowledge of playing is acquired, how can we wonder that they have met with 

such rapid sale.^' 

Lest the prospective virtuoso think that Durand's Improved 
NUMBER 44 45 

JZ^7-£i. JSu7-a?z^-i J7n/t f> J?u2cz??i^r. 

7282 4 

^JC^Q O; O OOJ i 

^ ^^ 

yAz/>7^<n-<^^ FIGURE 21. —Ezra Durand's patent for an "imC^^^^T^^^^^:^^^ proved dulcimer" was granted 31 December 1867. 

Dulcimer was indestructible, the entrepreneur also included a 

postscript to his book on "How to Preserve the Instrument:" 

The instrument should stand level on the floor or carpet, and should be covered 

with a woolen spread when not in use. 

It should be kept as far from the fire as possible and care should be taken that the 

sun does not shine through the window on it, as it is very injurious to the wood, and 

is very apt to affect the varnish.... 

To remove rust from the strings, use alcohol and brick-dust; rub it on the strings 
46 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

^PPP 

FIGURE 22.—This crude model was submitted by Durand to support his patent 

claim. (Collection of the Smithsonian Insdtution; catalog number 332,224) 

FIGURE 23. —This instrument was produced 

by Durand's shop in Norwich, Connecticut, ca. 1868. (Collection of the Smithsonian 

Institution; catalog number 94,872) 
NUMBER 44 47 

with a piece of cotton flannel; but never use oil of any kind, as it will gum up the 

strings and prevent a clear vibration. 

Anything lying loose on the soundboard, such as pins, buttons, nut shells or pencil, 

will cause a rattle, and is very disagreeables'* 

William Vogel, another Norwich resident and probably one of 

Durand's employees (since Durand was named assignor to Vogel's 

patent) claimed the invention of a pedal damping device that could 

be attached to parlor-model dulcimers. His patent. No. 84,027, was 

granted on 10 November 1868. There is no evidence that Vogel's 

invention was ever added to an American dulcimer, but his claim is 

notable since it antedated a similar but better-known device that 

Joseph V. Schunda, a Hungarian instrument builder, added to the 

cimbalom in the 1870s (see Appendix A). 

Although the larger entrepreneurs like Durand and Low were 

located in New England during the 1860s, Chautauqua County in 

western New York had become the center of American dulcimer 

production during the preceding decade. 

In the early 1850s, Morgan H. Sackett (1827-1919), from Dutchess 

County, New York, and his brother, Hiram B. Sackett (born 11 

November 1824)^5 opened a small dulcimer shop in Irving (Figure 

24). Like many other dulcimer makers, Morgan Sackett already 

played the instrument and had been trained in carpentry and 

cabinet building. Sackett dulcimers were of the "parlor" type, with 

a handsome cherry-wood case, and twenty-four courses of two 

strings each. Instead of the usual four legs, however, the instrument was supported by a single central pedestal of turned wood, 

which was steadied by three splayed feet. The instrument's two 

soundholes were covered by a round piece of wood veneer, from 

which a star design had been cut, and removable wooden overlays, 

found only on instruments from this shop, were fitted over either 

side of the dulcimer box to cover the tuning pins. 

The Sacketts' shop apparently operated until the early 1860s, 

when Hiram married and moved to Kansas and Morgan sought 

outdoor work on the advice of his doctors. The Sackett shop was 

very small; family tradition maintains that only seven instruments 
48 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 24.-Morgan H. Sackett (1827-1919) owned 

and operated a small dulcimer shop in Irving, 

Chautauqua County, New York during the 1850s. 

(Photo courtesy of Richard Sackett) 

were manufactured and only six of these were sold. It is notable, 

however, because it was the earliest of the Chautauqua County 

dulcimer shops.^^ 

In 1855, Harrison S. Wade (born 1828 in Harmon, New York; 

died 1900, in Warren, Pennsylvania) and his brother Lewis (no 

available dates) moved from Pennsylvania to nearby Stedman, 

New York, and established a dulcimer shop. According to the 1855 

manufacturing census the shop employed six men, and the Wades 

expected to produce 500 instruments that year for a profit of $4,000. 

Their rectangular dulcimers sold for $12 to $15, instruction book 

included. Veneered with curly maple, mahogany, or rosewood, 

they had tilde-shaped toneholes and eighteen courses: eleven 
NUMBER 44 49 

treble courses of four strings each, and seven bass courses of two 

strings each.^^ More expensive models of Wade dulcimers, "inlaid 

with rosewood, having a cover, with a plate glass mirror on the 

inside of the lid, and mounted on harp legs,"^^ sold for as much as 

$50 according to Floyd L. Darrow, a local historian. The instruments were marketed by salesmen who traveled through Ohio, 

Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri, Canada, and even the West 

Indies, demonstrating and selling their wares. In the Midwest, 

Wade salesmen were said to have bartered dulcimers for cattle, 

which they then drove overland to Chicago and sold for cash 

before returning to New York. 

The end of the dulcimer factory that Darrow believed had made 

Stedman more widely known than any other hamlet in the States 

came in 1860 when a fire 

destroyed the hotel, store, dwelling house and storage room. This store had been 

used as a finishing room in fashioning the dulcimers, and in the upper chamber 

many costly woods from Central America, such as rosewood and mahogany, and 

curled maple from this country had been placed. Such woods had been used for 

inlaying and veneering the instruments.^' 

The loss had been uninsured and was followed closely by the 

outbreak of the Civil War when "the boys demonstrating [Wade 

dulcimers] in the South were obliged to leave hastily."TM 

The last Chautauqua County dulcimer shop was that of Henry 

Ransom (1809-1863), which opened on East Main Street, in Sherman, 

New York, in 1856. Among Ransom's employees were his two sons, 

Martin and Monroe, expert dulcimer players who traveled through 

the South demonstrating and selling the instruments.^! 

The firm's dulcimers, like the Wades', seem to have sold well in 

Ohio and the South. Probably because of this. Ransom moved his 

shop to Newport, Kentucky (a suburb of Cincinnati), in 1860. 

According to the census of that year, Ransom had already invested 

$3000 in his enterprise, plus an additional outlay of $1565 for 

"miscellaneous articles." He employed three male workers, probably his two sons and himself, at an average monthly cost of $105, 

and foresaw producing $4730 worth of dulcimers during that first 
50 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

;. A. UcZZNZIE. 

DtTLCIXERS AVD SIUILAR XUSICAL IHSTRUUEITTS 

N o . 171,031 . Patonte d Doc. 14, 1875 . 

WmiESSES: ^ INVEimjR. 

iTTOEHEY. 

J. A. HcEENZIE. 

DULCIMERS AND SIMILAR MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 

N o . 171,031 . Pitente i Dec . 14 , 1875 . 

WITNESSES; INVENTOR. 

ATTfl&E7. 

FIGURES 25, 26. —MacKenzie's first patent. His invention consisted of a dulcimer that had two usable sides 

and could be rotated in its case. 
NUMBER 44 51 

year.72 Ransom listed himself as a "piano-dulcimer manufacturer" 

in the 1861 Newport City Directory, and his sons, J.M. and Martin, 

were listed as "dulcimer dealers" at the same address on York 

Street. The Ransoms' shop does not seem to have continued after 

its founder's death in 1863. 

Perhaps the most colorful dulcimer entrepreneur in 19th century America was James A. MacKenzie (1845-1905) of Minneapolis, 

Minnesota.73 Born in Ogle County, Illinois, to Scottish immigrant 

parents, he was raised in Hutchinson, Minnesota, during the 1850s. 

The MacKenzies were known locally as a musical family, which was 

high praise in a town founded by the Hutchinson Family Singers. 

Family tradition claims that young James earned the money for his 

first musical instrument, a violin, by trapping an otter and selling 

its pelt. After an Indian uprising in 1862, the MacKenzies moved to 

Minneapolis, where young James worked for a while as a traveling 

musical instrument salesman. 

In 1875, James MacKenzie was granted the first of his three 

patents for dulcimer improvements. With this patent. No. 171,031, 

he claimed the invention of a dulcimer with strings "mounted 

above and below the soundboard." The entire instrument could 

then be turned upon end pivots, and the strings "on both sides 

utilized."7'* The alternate sides would, of course, be tuned to 

different scales to increase the instrument's range (Figures 25 and 

26). While this idea is reminiscent of Hebenstreit's pantaleon (see 

p. 19) there is no reason to assume that MacKenzie knew of the 

German's invention. MacKenzie's descendants maintain that the 

instrument was exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in 

Philadelphia; if it was, it was not listed among the prize-winning 

entries. 

In 1880, MacKenzie married his fifteen-year-old protegee, Eva 

Skinner, already a trained singer. From that year until 1891, they 

toured the country together, demonstrating and selling his improved dulcimer (Figure 27). During this period, MacKenzie 

seems to have been fairly prosperous; his descendant Floyd Cohoes 
52 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

««ffi^ 

I H f 

PlANillAR ^S 

^AYfC^i^^^ 

FIGURE 27. —MacKenzie demonstrating his pianoharp. (Courtesy of Floyd Cohoes) 

of Forest Lake, Minnesota, reports that he also owned a fashionable 

resort hotel on Lake Calhoun, Minnesota, at that time. 

On 11 November 1890 MacKenzie was granted a second patent. 

No. 440,601, in which he claimed the truly novel idea of supporting 

the dulcimer's sounding-board with a "longitudinally-arched" cast 

iron frame, "in which the pins for the strings are set."^^ For 

business purposes alone, it would not do to let his creation share a 

name with the common folk instrument. MacKenzie seems to have 

been well aware of this marketing problem when he wrote: 
NUMBER 44 53 

My instrument may be called an "improved dulcimer"; but I have given it a new 

name of "piano-harp." This name is more appropriate than dulcimer as defining the 

invention, because first, it may be played with hammers, and when so played it yields 

the full, deep tones of the piano-forte, and not the thin wiry tones of the old 

dulcimer; secondly, having placed each group of strings (giving the different tones) 

one-third closer to each other than they are on the ordinary dulcimer, the player is 

able to reach an octave of strings with the fingers, as upon the piano-forte, so that 

when playing with the hammers (one in each hand) the fingers may also be brought 

into play in the same strain of music either alternately or without breaking the time, 

thus giving the results of both piano and harp.'^ 

In this passage, MacKenzie makes it clear that he conceived of his 

instrument primarily as a dulcimer, and not, as some modern 

performers have contended, as a plucked instrument like the 

psaltery. 

In 1891, MacKenzie reached the peak of his career. On 27 

October of that year, he received his third and last patent. No. 

461,915. In it he completely avoided the term "dulcimer" in 

describing his new chromatic instrument of a "double harp-like 

contour"'^ (Figures 28, 29). Like his second patented invention, this 

new piano-harp also had a cast metal frame, but he added to this 

the novel concept of constructing separate sounding chambers 

under each bridge, and then building the instrument into an 

upright piano-like case. 

Like other entrepreneurs before him, MacKenzie also wrote and 

published an instruction book to promote the sale of his invention. 

The Piano Harp Book (?1891) was based on his own copyrighted 

"method of music notation," which he claimed was so simple that 

even "Children Learn who Know Their A.B.C.'s"^^ (Figure 30). 

According to family tradition, MacKenzie left Minneapolis in 

November 1891 with his wife and two young daughters, bound by 

train for New York City, where he planned to form a large stock 

company to help underwrite the expenses entailed in expanding 

his piano-harp venture. Possibly he intended to travel on from 

there to Washington, D.C, to copyright his instruction book and 

notation system. At Toledo, Ohio, however, their stopped train 
54 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

J. A. MACKENZIE. 

BTBINDED MD8IC41 IKSTBUMENI. 

WITNESSES 

C^t-U.1^.,^ 

P^ented Oct. 27, 1891. 

Q, JA^fA.tr'^^^^I.U A.uJ 

J. A. MACKENZIE. 

STEINOED MUSICAL IHSTRDMENT. 

Patented Oct. 27, 1891. 

INVENTOR 

WITNESSES 

FIGURES 28, 29.— MacKenzie's third patent for a "new" instrument of a "double 

harp-like contour." Notice its separate sounding chambers (B^^, B, and B''), and the 

use of an upright piano case. 

was rammed by a locomotive, and the resulting boiler explosion 

fatally scalded Eva and her two daughters. 

The tragedy temporarily diminished MacKenzie's will and ambition. Several years later, however, he again organized a touring 

musical troupe and married one of its members. He continued to 

make dulcimers in his shop; from 1895 to 1898 he was listed in the 

Minneapolis City Directory as a "harp manufacturer." Unfortunately, 

bad luck persisted; his wife deserted him, and his shop, reported 
NUMBER 44 55 

THE DEVILS' DREAM. 

1 : 

E E F K D C r> r 

r E r K E e g 

JENNY LIN D POLKA. 

n B 

' 

B B B 

r 

1 A y 

T T T 

, K F F , 

E 

1 G 12 

F E E 

1 

I K E t 

D 

A 

1 F l> 

I> D D 

D B 

|OI>I> M 

IG B 1 

1 

F 

1 A K 

r F F E 

1 IA 

1 F F F 1 1 O E 

E E E 

lEE K 

D F I* 

1 

|l> K II* 

FIGURE 30. — MacKenzie's copyrighted letter notation from his Piano Harp Book. 

to have contained over 100 instruments at the time, was destroyed 

by fire. He married a third time, but was again widowed, and finally 

died by his own hand on 4 May 1905.^^ 

MacKenzie's notation system was quickly forgotten. Though 

some piano harps survived and a few are still played, their 

production and promotion ended with his tragic death. 

Factories and Mail Order Merchandisers 

Although small shops produced dulcimers throughout the 19th 

century, larger dulcimer factories appeared only during the 1870s. 

Actually, there was only one such firm whose operations we can 

document with certainty: the Lyon and Healy Co. of Chicago, 

Illinois, which manufactured dulcimers for sale through mail 
56 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

order houses like Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Montgomery Ward. 

Ward's spring-summer catalog for 1895 gave the following description of Lyon and Healy's "Perfection Dulcimer": 

American made. Imitation rosewood, neatly decorated body, finely finished, 

chromatic, can be perfectly tuned in all keys; in short it is the most complete, 

carefully made instrument of its kind produced. $16.00*o 

The instrument's design was unusual in that it had two separate 

bass bridges (see Figure 31). The catalog's claim notwithstanding, 

however, it did have a standard fifth interval across the treble 

bridge; hence it was "chromatic" only in the sense that it could be 

retuned into various keys. To play "chromatically," the performer 

would have to be a virtuoso with the tuning hammer. 

That catalog also offered dulcimer beaters with flexible handles 

and felt-covered heads for 35<F a pair; dulcimer wire for 40<F a 

quarter pound; and "dulcimer pins, steel blue with square or 

oblong heads," for 12? a dozen.^^ The $16.00 that Ward's asked for 

its dulcimers was quite expensive; only the deluxe models of 

banjos and violins sold for more. Sears offered the same Lyon and 

Healy "Perfection Dulcimer" several years later for only $13.85; 

this was a real bargain since Sears's price included "one pair of 

4 ^ 

^7^^_3-oi-*='«*:f; 

FIGURE 31.-Lyon and Healy's "Perfection Dulcimer" had two separate bass bridges. (Coilecdons of Henry 

Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 25.1391) 
NUMBER 44 57 

DULCIMERS. 

OUR OWM MANUFACTURE. 

- I iiicU KiiLishert Imitation Rosewood and Neatly Decorated Body, Chromatic, can be IVtic-, t> 

luiiedinall Keys; the most complete, carefully made Instrument of the kind producL-.l ii: :. 

FIGURE 32. —Advertisement from the Lyon and Healy catalog from the 1890s. The price was typically 

inflated to allow for negotiating with pvirchasers. 

beaters and complete instruction book^^ (see Figure 32). 

The history of two other "factories," if in fact they ever existed, is 

much hazier. One of these was the Joseph E. Stroehlein Company 

of Brooklyn, New York. Stroehlein's trapezoidal instruments were 

painted a rich shade of gold and profusely decorated with two 

large clusters of eight small toneholes and four smaller six-hole 

clusters (Figure 33). Two American eagle decals adorned either 

side of the centrally placed chromatic bridge, and the name 

"Stroehlein" was stenciled in the lower right hand comer of the 

instrument. Stroehlein's dulcimers had fourteen courses of six 

strings each, and lacked a bass bridge. On some instruments, a 

decal located in the lower left comer advised the purchaser that a 

prize had been awarded to the dulcimer manufacturer at the 

National Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. (Stroehlein is not 

listed among the prize-winners in the Centennial Exhibition cata-
58 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 33. —Stroehlein's chromatic dulcimer, Brooklyn, New York, ca. 1876. (Collections of Henry Ford 

Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 00.4.1717) 

log, and no record of a "National Exhibition" has surfaced.) Based 

on the serial numbers of extant Stroehlein dulcimers, the firm 

seems to have manufactured several thousand instruments during 

the 1870s; yet oddly, it is not listed in the Brooklyn City Directory for 

that decade. 

Also unclear is the connection between Stroehlein's firm, and the 

Stonitsch Company, also of Brooklyn. The latter sold instruments 

almost identical to those marketed by Stroehlein, and seems to 

have been in business at about the same time. It is conceivable that 

neither company manufactured their dulcimers, but rather bought 

premade dulcimers, and simply added their own names and 

decorations. (This was a widespread practice among 19th-century 

musical instrument purveyors and continues even today.) Indeed, 

the central chromatic bridge of the Stroehlein and Stonitsch 

instruments suggests that they might have been imported from 

Germany. 

Wires, pins, and tuning hammers could also be obtained through 

large piano supply houses. Even today, the American Piano 

Supply Company of New Jersey lists several sizes of wire as 
NUMBER 44 59 

"dulcimer gauge;" as if to underscore the instrument's modem 

obscurity, these items are now suggested for use in cheese cutters.^^ 

Folk-Craftsmen and Their Regional Styles 

Those who did not want or could not afford mass-produced 

dulcimers often chose to make their own. Construction of a playable instrument required only some wood, pegs and wire (which 

could be ordered through the mail), and a modicum of skill. 

There was no formal apprenticeship system to train folk-instrument 

builders. They usually learned some carpentry by watching family 

members or neighbors, and applied that skill to building dulcimers. The instruments they made were for their own use or to sell 

to neighbors and relatives, almost always on the advance order of 

the prospective buyer. Unlike shop and factory workers, they did 

not rely on instrument building as a primary source of income. 

Many were farmers, cobblers, or carpenters, making dulcimers in 

their spare time to bring in a few extra dollars. Their output rarely 

exceeded two or three instruments a year; indeed, some probably 

built no more than two or three in an entire lifetime. 

These craftsmen printed no instruction books, patented no 

improvements, and advertised only by word of mouth. Folkcraftsmen rarely signed their instruments. Members of their communities already knew who had made what instrument; besides, 

signing seemed to some makers inappropriate. As one informant 

explained, "If a man buys my instrument, that's his. Why should 1 

stick my name in his instrument?"^'* Those who are remembered, 

either because they did sign a piece of their work, or because their 

descendants still speak of them, are only a small percentage of the 

hundreds whose unsigned, anonymous instruments recall their 

existence. 

Dulcimer shops can be discussed chronologically, but folkcraftsmen, strongly influenced by regional features and local 

traditions, are more easily classified according to the four major 
60 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

geographical styles of dulcimer construction that have thus far 

been identified; New England, the Piedmont region of North 

Carolina, West Virginia, and the northern Midwest. 

NEW ENGLAND. — Paradoxically, it is in New England, where 

Judge Sewall wrote of seeing a dulcimer in the early 18th century 

and where dulcimer shops abounded in the 19th, that documentation of the dulcimer's use as a folk instrument is hardest to find. 

Perhaps this is because this instrument's popularity began to fade 

in the face of growing public concern with the "reform" of music 

during the early 19th century. Although this reform movement 

ultimately spread to other regions of the country, its impact was 

first felt in New England. Lowell Mason (1792-1872), the Boston 

Handel and Haydn Society (est. 1815), and the forces of "scientific 

music" had by the mid-19th century already succeeded in stamping 

out much of the region's traditional music (see p. 34). Since much 

of the information about any folk or popular instrument comes 

from personal recollections, the early decline of the dulcimer in 

New England seems to explain why it is not remembered there 

today, even by elderly informants. 

There are not enough extant New England folk dulcimers to 

allow many generalizations about regional construction styles. If 

the shop-built dulcimers made in Massachusetts and Connecticut 

are typical, the people of this region preferred rectangular instruments with two single-piece bridges and approximately twice as 

many treble courses as bass courses (Figure 23). 

Yet a dulcimer built in the workshop of Charles "Henry" Bryant 

at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in 1898, differs in every respect 

from the region's shop-built instruments (Figure 34). It is trapezoidal 

in shape, with individual "chessmen'' bridges; it has an almost 

equivalent number of treble and bass courses, hand-forged "fishtailed" pegs, and two triangular, cloth-covered toneholes built into 

the back of the instrument. While most shop-built New England 

dulcimers were stained or veneered a dark wood color, Bryant 

chose to paint his dulcimer orange. Henry Bryant (ca. 1840-1923) 
NUMBER 44 61 

FIGURE 34. —Built by Charles "Henry" Bryant at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in 1898, this dulcimer has 

individual turned bridges and handmade fishtail-shaped pegs. Toneholes are in the back. (Collections of 

Henr\' Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 00.3.13111) 

was a farmer and a cabinet maker who was well known for building 

fiddles.85 What inspired him to build a dulcimer, and whether this 

surviving example is typical of a regional or local folk style, 

remain unknown. 

Another New England builder about whom little is known was 

Milo Skiff, a shingle-maker who made rectangular dulcimers 

decorated with black paint in Sharon, Connecticut, during the 

mid-19th century.^^ 

PIEDMONT, NORTH CAROLINA. —The Piedmont region of North 

Carolina yields a great many homemade dulcimers built during 

the 19th century. Dulcimers from this area tended to be trapezoidal 

with individual "chessmen" bridges and unusually deep bodies. 

Walnut and white oak were used in construction, and most Piedmont dulcimers were heavily braced. 

Piedmont dulcimers had both treble and bass bridges, and two 

large circular toneholes seem to have been preferred. Some modem Piedmont dulcimer players substitute a single-wound guitar 
62 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

String for each bass course, but it is uncertain when this practice 

originated or how widespread it was. 

As in other areas, the names of only a few Piedmont folkcraftsmen are remembered. Harvey Jones, a traditional maker 

from Coleridge, recalled being taught to build dulcimers in the 

1950s by Fred Phillips, a furniture maker from Asheboro. Phillips, 

in turn, had been taught by Mann Scott of Ramseur, who learned 

the art from a man named Robbins who was active around the turn 

of this century.8' Many dulcimers survive in the area around 

Asheboro, particularly in the Uwharrie Hills, but much research 

remains to be done on the makers and players of this region. 

WEST VIRGINIA. —In no area of the United States was the folkcraftsman's regionalism more pronounced than in the area that is 

today West Virginia. Unlike other northern and eastern states. 

West Virginia had no large dulcimer shops or factories to establish 

or influence stylistic development. The unique design used in the 

region is in many ways the farthest removed from European 

antecedents. It seems to have evolved quite early among local 

folk-craftsmen. 

The typical West Virginia dulcimer was built of yellow poplar 

wood and had an extremely shallow rectangular body, often only 

three inches in depth. Each of the nine treble courses had an 

individual bridge, usually unturned and triangular in shape; there 

were no bass courses. The soundboard had four round, inch-wide, 

augured toneholes. 

An excellent example of a West Virginia dulcimer is owned by 

the well-known traditional musician Russell Fluharty. His instrument, made near Mannington possibly as early as the 1840s, is 44 

inches long, 15 inches wide, and 3 inches deep. Because of the 

thickness of the yellow poplar boards, there is only about an inch 

and a half of resonance space within the instrument (Figure 35). 

Flat-headed screws were used in lieu of iron pegs for the tuning 

pins, and the pitch is adjusted with a small screwdriver. The 

original hammers were eight inches long and made of white oak 
NUMBER 44 63 

FIGURE 35. — This typical West Virginian dulcimer, made of yellow poplar, has a shallow rectangular body, 

an unusual tonehole arrangement, and lacks a bass bridge. It was made near Mannington, ca. 1840. (Photo 

courtesy of Russell Fluharty) 

splints (or splits) that had been steamed and bent into shape. 

The construction of Fluharty's dulcimer is typical for the region; 

its tuning, however, is unusual. Instead of the standard interval of 

a fifth across the treble bridge, the pitches on the right-hand side 

are a fourth lower than those on the left. The notes G, A, B, C, D, E, 

G, A, and B are found to the right side of the treble bridge, and the 

notes C, D, E, F, G, A, C, D, and E to the left. This arrangement 

seems to have been quite rare. 

The craftsmen who built folk dulcimers were no less concerned 

than were small shop entrepreneurs about the overall aesthetic 

quality of their instruments. Their options, however, were much 

more limited. To finish and decorate their dulcimers. West Virginia craftsmen often turned to traditional local materials. According to Herman Matheny, the pokeberry was such a source: 
64 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Those people didn't have money to go out and buy everything they wanted, so 

they squeezed the pokeberry juice —which was very red —and they stained their 

hammered dulcimers with pokeberry juice, that's called "poke finish."°° 

The same informant described a finish made of buttermilk 

mixed with red clay. It gave the wood a distinctive reddish hue; 

like most of these finishes, it was also used for furniture. Matheny 

also recalled a potato finishing technique used to enhance plain 

wood: 

If you have wood that's very uninteresting, especially soft wood .. . that's going to 

come out very plain, and you don't like that. 

They'd take a piece of raw potato and rub it into the wood; you know, make 

designs, whatever they'd want on the wood. Then they put a coat of clear varnish on 

it. And then, wherever that potato touches, why, that will stay light ... and the rest 

[becomes] dark.^^ 

Other commonly used natural dye materials were the outer hulls 

of walnuts, which produced a brown finish, and "madder" weed for 

a reddish hue. 

Even such normally mass-produced items as tuning pegs could 

be made within the rural community; Cloise Sinclair of Michigan 

recalled: 

They didn't have pegs like they got now. The blacksmith made them. To make a hole 

through ... he took a chisel and he cut a notch in the side of the pin, and then he 

made a lip ... He'd lay something in there, and then hammer the lip back over so 

there'd be a little hole to put the wire into. And [then] he made a key to tune it.* 

In West Virginia, as elsewhere, only a few folk craftsmen are 

remembered by name. Raymer Price, who worked around the turn 

of the century, and William Varner (1858-1937) built dulcimers for 

the people around Mannington. Vamer's instruments reportedly 

sold for $1.50. Price's were remembered as having a painted star 

around each of the toneholes. Other makers in the area included: 

Thomas J. Doolittle (born 18 July 1853) of Marion County; Morgan 

Matheny (working in the early 1900s) of Lubeck; Joseph Price 

(born 1856) of Metz; Ira Mayfield (1886-1972), and his father, Ira 

Mayfield, Sr. (bom 1865) of Tyler County.si 
NUMBER 44 65 

FIGURE 36.-Reube n Matheny, Sr. (1809-1877) 

brought his dulcimer-building family to Harrisville, West Virginia, in the 1860s. (Photo courtesy 

of H.E. Matheny) 

Perhaps the largest clan involved in dulcimer making was the 

Matheny family of Harrisville, and later of Waverly, West Virginia. Reuben Matheny, Sr. (1809-1877), a part-time Union spy during 

the Civil War, brought his family to the newly formed state of West 

Virginia after surviving a lynching attempt in Highland County, 

Virginia (Figure 36). The family's trade was shoemaking but the 

youngest son, Reuben Matheny, Jr. (1857-1936), learned how to 

make dulcimers from his father and built a few in this spare time in 

the room above the family's cobbler shop in Harrisville. He was 

occasionally helped in this part-time undertaking by his brothers. 
66 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 37.-Reuben Matheny, Jr. (1857-1936). 

(Photo courtesy of H.E. Matheny) 

Thomas Marion (bom 1839), Archibald (born 1841), Conrad (born 

1849), and Decatur (born 1852). They did not think of themselves as 

instrument builders. "Dulcimer making wasn't a living; [it] was as a 

sideline. They were shoemakers ... when there were no shoes to 

repair, they made dulcimers."^^ 

In 1880 Reuben Matheny, Jr. moved to Waverly, West Virginia, 

where he opened a barber shop (Figure 37). Between customers, he 

built dulcimers, and when his shop burned in 1890, he moved 

again to Parkersburg, West Virginia. Herman Matheny, a descendant, recalled how Reuben marketed his instruments: 

He charged $8.00 apiece... . That was an enormous amount then; that was eight 

days' wages. But he sold them on time ... a dollar down and a dollar a month. He 
NUMBER 44 67 

traveled around over the country [collecting his payments], and if he got $3 he was 

satisfied. Sometimes the people would pay him the full $8 and sometimes they 

wouldn't pay him anything. But he charged $8 because he wanted $3. ^^ 

T H E NORTHERN MIDWEST. —In this region, comprised of western 

New York State, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, 

dulcimer shops produced handsome rectangular "parlor' instruments. The area's folk-craftsmen, however, preferred smaller 

trapezoidal dulcimers, with 11-14 treble courses and 6-8 bass ones. 

Treble courses usually had more strings than did bass courses; 

both treble and bass strings were tightened over one of the two 

single-piece, perforated bridges. The most common tonehole design was a single large circle surrounded by an outer ring of eight 

to ten smaller holes (Figure 4). Dulcimer design varied considerably within this large region, and dulcimers matching this general 

description were also made in other parts of the country. There 

are, nonetheless, a great many dulcimers from this area with these 

general features, which seems to indicate a coherent regional 

style. Possibly this type of dulcimer developed in western New 

York and was brought westward to the newly opened Northwest 

Territory during the first half of the 19th century. A story in a 1927 

Madison, Wisconsin, newspaper mentioned a "young cabinet-maker 

named Orrin Sweet who came from New York state to make and 

sell [dulcimers] to the pioneers of Dane County [Wisconsin] in 

1857."^'* The fact that many of the remaining traditional dulcimer 

players in Michigan and Ohio claim descent from early New York 

settlers would also tend to support this theory. Still, the theory of 

origin and dispersal remains only speculative. 

From mid- to late-19th century, there were scores of folk-craftsmen 

in this area. Typical of Ohio builders were the Hackett brothers, 

(bom in Dryden, New York), Joseph "Wheel" (1834-1908) and 

Gene (no available dates), who built dulcimers at their home on 

Maple Street in Liberty Center, Ohio, during the 1890s.^^ Their 

trapezoidal instruments usually had twelve quadruple-strung treble 

courses and five double-strung bass courses; measured 42 inches in 

length at the bottom and 20 inches at the top, 15 inches wide, and 
68 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

4 inches deep; had individual bridges; and came complete with 

a lid.96 

As elsewhere, it is not easy to discover names of 19th-century 

Midwestern dulcimer makers or details about their activities. This 

author has found only a few names. Martin Bates reportedly built 

beautiful parlor model instruments in Mount Effrum, Ohio, during the 1850S.97 Perry Wight (1825-1900) of South Alabama, Genesee 

County, New York, built dulcimers for himself and many of his 

relatives during the mid-19th century.^^ 

New England, West Virginia, the Piedmont region of North 

Carolina, and the Northern Midwest all produced instruments in 

distinctive regional styles during the 19th century, but the dulcimer was not limited to these areas. There have been reports of 

dulcimers in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, California, and many Canadian provinces. The Hulan 

brothers built and sold dulcimers outside of Nashville, Tennessee, 

during the 1880s and 1890s. It is not known if their instruments 

were typical of that region's style, because not enough Tennesseemade dulcimers have yet been identified. The author hopes that 

eventually enough examples will surface to permit generalizations 

about the folk-craftsmen of this and other areas. 

VARIANTS. —Occasionally one comes upon a dulcimer that does 

not resemble any known style, or an otherwise standard folk 

dulcimer that has been "improved" by its maker. The folk-craftsman, 

in his attempt to build a slightly better instrument, often created 

somewhat eccentric examples. While the 19th-century entrepreneur probably would have patented these inventions, the folkcraftsman rarely left more than the instrument itself, or stories told 

by his skeptical neighbors, to let the modern world know what he 

had accomplished. 

Take for example the anonymous inventor of the "barrel-dulcimer" 

(Figure 38) described by Herman Matheny. He claimed that this 

was once quite common in West Virginia (a contention as yet 

uncorroborated) and described it as "an instrument to play dances 
NUMBER 44 69 

FIGURE 38. —Front and back of a "barrel dulcimer." (Photos courtesy of H.E. Matheny) 
70 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

FIGURE 39. —Stencil-decorated dulcimer, possibly from the Midwest, ca. 1880. (Collections of Henry Ford 

Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 33.73.1) 

and things like that. They'd cut a big hole in the back end of [a 

dulcimer]; they just put it on an empty [sugar] barrel. That 

amplified it, you can hear that thing a mile! [The] hole was cut 

off-center to keep away from [the instrument's] internal cross 

bracing."99 

Another West Virginian remembered seeing what —for want of a 

better term —might be called a "cabin model" dulcimer: 

One time I went over to visit a man that had a dulcimer in a little community close 

to here called Jimtown [West Virginia]. And the man there had a dulcimer [that] had 

four holes in the corners of it.... He said, "At home in the old house, we put a rope 

through each one of those holes, and up over a pin over the joist" (that were old logs 

up over head that went over to the corner of the house) "and we had a weight on it 

over there that would just balance the dulcimer." And I said, "Why'd you do that?" 

and he said, "Well, the main thing was to keep it away from the kids."'** 

Even this informant thought the counterbalanced dulcimer was 

an unusual arrangement, but added that the man who had shown 

him the instrument seemed to think it was important. 

Some instruments were unique simply because their makers took 

the time and trouble to make them into beautiful examples of folk 
NUMBER 44 71 

art. For example, the dulcimer in Figure 39 is a well-crafted but 

hardly unusual example of the northern Midwest style of construction. What makes this instrument unusual is the handsome fruit 

and vine motif that someone has carefully stenciled in reds and 

yellows on its black outer case. 

Another beautiful instrument, made by a man named Grill near 

Lansing, Michigan, around the turn of the century, shows what 

could be done by an enthusiastic and exacting folk craftsman 

(Figure 40). Grill decorated the case with herringbone veneer and 

inlaid bone. When the two round-grooved disks above the soundboard are removed, they reveal velvet-lined pockets in which the 

player could store hammers and extra wire. 

The Grill instrument represents a high point of dulcimer 

construction by the folk-craftsman, but it also marks the end of an 

era. After the close of the 19th century, the dulcimer declined in 

FIGURE 40.—Dulcimer case and stand 

by Grill of Lansing, Michigan, ca. 

1890. (Collections of Henry Ford 

Museum and Greenfield Village, 

Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 33.4021) 
72 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

popularity to such an extent that its use in America practically 

ceased by the early 1930s. 

The Current Revival 

In recent years the dulcimer has enjoyed a modest revival. Some 

claim this was sparked by Elgia C. Hickok (1894-1967), a traditional player from Sears, Michigan, who appeared at the 1964 

Newport Folk Festival. Hickok returned to Michigan and, with the 

help of Chet Parker (1891-1975), another traditional player from 

Grand Rapids, organized the "Original Dulcimer Players Club." 

(The term "original" was chosen by the founders to distinguish the 

hammered dulcimer from the then more popular plucked Appalachian dulcimer.) The club still meets regularly under the leadership of Eugene and Esther Cox, and it has been largely responsible 

for a revival of dulcimer playing in Michigan and Ohio. 

Another traditional performer who has been important to the 

dulcimer's revival is Russel Fluharty of Mannington, West Virginia, who in 1971 organized the Mountain Dulcimer club. Howard H. 

Mitchell of the Washington, D.C, area was one of the first revival 

players, and his instruction record and book, The Hammered 

Dulcimer: How to Make It and Play It (1972) introduced the instrument to a new audience. 

In the last 10 years a growing number of dulcimer makers and 

performers have brought the instrument to the public's attention. 

Today dulcimers are featured at folk festivals and concerts, and 

modern dulcimer recordings are occasionally played on the radio. 

This sometimes comes as a surprise to older traditional players 

who assume they are the last remaining dulcimerists anywhere in 

the country. Most are delighted to find fellow players, but as 

traditional and revival performers meet, trade tunes, and purchase 

each other's recordings, dulcimer music can not help changing. 
NUMBER 44 73 

With this renewed interest many of the distinct regional styles, 

which have survived so long because of their isolation, will begin 

to disappear. Eventually, several regional styles might merge to 

form a unified "American" dulcimer style, but this will probably 

require many years to develop. Although the fading of local 

playing styles and regional dulcimer designs might be viewed with 

some trepidation by traditionalists, it does ensure the survival of 

the dulcimer in America for years to come. 
Appendix A 

A Chronological Tabulation of 

U.S. Patents Granted for Improvements 

to the Dulcimer 

(Patent number. Date granted, inventor, residence; assignor. Claim.) 

28,811. 19 June 1860, John Low, Clinton, Worcester Co., Massachusetts; Nathan 

Bruce (1792-1876, Southboro, Massachusetts). 

Chromatic half step across treble bridge; bass bridge placed to left of treble 

bridge. 

72,824. 31 December 1867, Ezra Durand, Norwich, New London Co., Connecticut. 

Perforated soundpost and bridges. 

84,027. 10 November 1868, William Vogel, Norwich, New London Co., Connecticut; Ezra Durand. 

Iron bridges, perforated braces; damping pedal operated by a foot lever. 

171,031. 14 December 1875, James A. MacKenzie, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., 

Minnesota. 

Separate sets of strings on opposite sides of reversible dulcimer body; 

adjustable fret blocks. 

440,601. 11 November 1890, James A. MacKenzie, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., 

Minnesota. 

Longitudinally arched metal frame and braces for soundboard support. 

461,915. 27 October 1891, James A. MacKenzie, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., Minnesota. 

Piano harp with 3 sounding chambers in an upright piano case. 

479,323. 19 July 1892, Ignatius D. Bagasarian, Cambridge, Massachusetts (subject 

of the Sultan of Turkey). 

Individual bridges; placement of hitch- and tuning pins on side of instrument (similar to Turkish dulcimer). 

582,537. 11 May 1897, Jesse Merrill, Kanopolas, Ellsworth Co., Kansas. 

Improved bridges; lifting rod arrangement to adjust playing level. 

74 
NUMBER 44 75 

625,663. 23 May 1899, Roland William Everton and William Frost, Troy, Rensselaer 

Co., New York. 

Offset wrest plates. 

808,374. 26 December 1904, Edwin G. James, South Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co., 

Wisconsin. 

Metal auxiliary frame, tension rods anchored in the pinblocks; hollow 

tubular metal bridges. 

871,463. 19 November 1907, Ferdinand Wagner, New York, New York. 

Improved cimbalom dampers. 
Appendix B 

Dulcimer Makers 

Listed below are the names of the traditional dulcimer builders 

whose instruments the author has seen or heard about during the 

course of this study. Also included are the names of those inventors granted United States Patents for dulcimer improvements, 

although it is likely that several of them never produced working 

models of their claims. 

The current revival of interest in the dulcimer has inspired a 

new, large, and often talented generation of craftsmen-builders. 

Since the emphasis of this monograph is on the history of the 

dulcimer, the prerevival year of 1960 has been chosen as a cutoff point for inclusion in this list. 

An asterisk indicates that a patent was granted to the maker. 

Maker 

•Bagdasarian, Ignatius D. 

Bates, Martin 

Boggess, George Washington 

and his son, Jerry 

Bryant, Charles Henry 

Campbell, Ralph (1905-?) 

Delano, Mortimer 

(1823, Henrietta, N.Y.-?); 

Oscar F., Edwin, and Myron E. 

Doolittle, Thoma s J. 

(18Jull853-.^) 

•Durand, Ezra 

*Everton, Roland William 

Evilsizer, Otis 

Location 

Cambridge, Massachusetts 

Mt. Effrum, Numa Center, Ohio 

McFarland, West Virginia 

Thornston, New Hampshir e 

Wolfsboro, New Hampshir e 

Mannington, West Virginia 

Oxford, Michigan 

Marion County, West Virginia 

Norwich, Connecticut 

Troy, New York 

Ypsilanti, Michigan 

Dates 

ca. 1892 

ca. 1850 

late 19thearly 20th 

1870s 

1898 

mid-20th 

1870s 

1870s-1880s 

1867-1869 

ca. 1899 

? ca. 1870 

76 
NUMBER 44 77 

Fluharty, Russell 

(1907-) 

•Frost, William 

Grill, ? 

Hackett, Eugene, 

and Joseph "Wheel" 

(1834-1908) 

Hulan, Sam, George, and Minor 

•James, Edwin G. 

Jones, Harvey 

(1912-) 

Koleszar, John 

•Low, John (16 Sep. 1816-?) 

Lyon and Healy 

•MacKenzie, James A. 

(1845-4 May 1905) 

Martin, Jesse 

(1854-1939) 

Matheny, Morgan 

Matheny, Reuben, Sr. 

(1809-1877) 

Matheny, Reuben, Jr. (1857-1936) 

Mayfield, Ira, Sr.(1865-?) 

and his son, Mayfield, Ira, Jr. 

(1886-1972) 

•Merrill, Jesse 

Parker, Chet 

(1891-1975) 

Phillips, Fred 

Price, Joseph 

(1856-?) 

Price, Raymer(?) 

Ransom, Henry 

(1809-1863) 

Robbins, ? 

Sackett, Hiram (1824-?) 

Mannington, West Virginia 

Troy, New York 

Lansing, Michigan 

Liberty Center, Ohio 

near Nashville, Tennessee 

South Milwaukee, Wisconsin 

Coleridge, North Carolina 

New York, New York (cimbaloms) 

Clinton, Massachusetts 

Chicago, Illinois 

Minneapolis, Minnesota 

Frewsberg, New York 

Lubeck, West Virginia 

Harrisville, West Virginia 

Waverly, West Virginia 

Parkersburg, West Virginia 

Tyler County, West Virginia 

Kanopolos, Kansas 

Grand Rapids, Michigan 

Asheboro, North Carolina 

Metz, West Virginia 

Mannington, West Virginia 

Sherman, New York 

Newport, Kentucky 

North Carolina 

Irvine, New York 

20th 

ca. 1899 

}1890s 

1890 

ca. 1885-1900 

ca. 1905 

ca. 1950-

present 

? early 20th 

late 1850s1860s 

late 19th1903 

?1875-1905 

late 19thearly 20th 

late 19thearly 20th 

ca. 1880 

ca. 1890 

late 19th20th 

ca. 1897 

early 20th 

early-mid20th 

late 19th 

.^ 1890-1910 

1856-1860 

1860-1863 

? late 19th 

1850s 

and Morgan (1827-1919) 
78 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Scott, Mann 

Skiff, Milo 

Stonitsch, ? 

Stroehlein, Joseph E. 

Sweet, Orrin 

Thomas (family) 

Thurston, William 

Varner, William 

(1858-1937) 

•Vogel, William 

Wade, Lewis S., and Harrison 

(1828-1900) 

•Wagner, Ferdinand 

Wight, Perry 

(1825-1900) 

Wooten, .-' 

Ramseur, North Carolina 

Sharon, Connecticut 

Brooklyn, New York 

Brooklyn, New York 

Verona, Dane County, Wisconsin 

Pea Ridge, Arkansas 

Farmington, Michigan 

Mannington, West Virginia 

Norwich, Connecticut 

Stedman, New York 

New York, New York 

South Alabama, Genesee 

County, New York 

Porum's Landing, Porum, 

? early 20th 

? mid-19th 

1870s 

? late 1870s 

ca. 1857 

1870s 

1860s 

ca. 1880-

1937 

ca. 1868 

1855-1860 

ca. 1907 

mid- to late 

19th 

? early 20th 

Oklahoma 
Appendix C 

Biographical Sketches of 

Informants 

(Biographical information on informants who have been quoted extensively in the 

course of this monograph.) 

CAPORALI, GENO. —Bom Florence, Italy. Th e only surviving member of Henry 

Ford's Early American Orchestra. Played string bass with the orchestra at night and 

worked in the auto plant during the day. After the group disbanded, worked as a security 

guard at Henry Ford Museum and continued to play dances as a freelance musician. 

(Interviewed at the Henry Ford Museum, summer 1975. No transcript available.) 

FLUHARTY, RUSSELL. —Bom 1907, Mannington, West Virginia. An old-time traditional musician who plays "anything with strings on it." Learned dulcimer from his 

uncle; played in local dance bands and traveling medicine shows. One of the very 

few performers who continued to perform publicly from the 1940s through the 1960s. 

Earned his living as a potter before his retirement. President of the Mountain 

Dulcimer Club. (Interviewed at his home outside of Mannington, West Virginia, 28 

June 1977. Further conversation October 1977.) 

MATHENY, HERMAN E. —Bom 1910, Fargesberg, West Virginia. A descendant of the 

19th century Matheny clan of dulcimer makers in Harrisville; claims his lineage can 

be traced back to 16th century Huguenot instrument makers. Retired security guard 

for Goodyear Tir e and Rubber Company. Builds reproductions of ancient musical 

instruments, and collects information on instrument builders. (Interviewed at his 

home in Uniontown, Ohio, 29 June 1977. Further correspondence, 1977 and 1978.) 

SINCLAIR, CLOISE. —Bom ca. 1905, Sheridan Township, Michigan. Learned to play 

by watching his father, Eugene Sinclair. After the latter's early death, laid music 

aside for many years. Farmed in Sheridan. Has recently begun to perform again with 

his brother Harley. Plays mostly at social gatherings and festivals; feels that the 

dulcimer was meant to play hymns and old-time music, but not dances. (Interviewed 

at the Original Dulcimer Players Meeting at Evart, Michigan, 22-24 July 1977.) 

VAN ARSDALE, PAUL.—Bom 1920, Warren Co., Pennsylvania. Learned to play 

dulcimer from his maternal grandfather, the vaudeville star Jesse Martin, who lived 

with Paul's family during the 1920s and 1930s. Learned from him a large repertoire 

of unusual and beautiful dulcimer tunes; also composes. Has recently begun to 

79 
80 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

perform outside his family circle again after many years. Works as tool grinder at an 

aerospace plant, (Interview conducted at his home in North Tonawanda, New York, 

30 June 1977. Additional conversation October 1977 [no transcript available]. Further 

conversations and correspondence 1977 and 1978.) 
Appendix D 

Dulcimers in the Collections of 

the Smithsonian Institution 

Catalog number (accession number); negative numbers of available photographs. 

Provenance. 

Acquisition information. 

Phvsical data (shape; measurements in cm; number of courses/number of strings 

per course). 

Remarks. 

94,868 (23,744); 8,222. Maker unknown; PItalian; 18th century. 

Gift of Edward P. Mason, Boston, Massachusetts, December 1890. 

Trapezoidal; length 40.0 (top) 71.4 (bottom), width 29.0, depth 7.9; 20/4. 

Carved molding around soundboard; 2 circular toneholes; gesso; gilded; floral 

painted design on case sides. 

94.871 (23,822); 8,222, 78-4918. Maker unknown; PFulton Co., New York; ca. 1847. 

Gift of F.S. Hawley, Broadalbin, Fulton Co., New York, 1890. 

Trapezoidal; length 47.4 (top) 107.0 (bottom), width 39.5, depth 9.1; 11/4 and 6/2. 

Grained sides; chessman bridges; 2 small circular toneholes (see Figure 2; detailed 

technical drawing available from the Division of Musical Instruments, National 

Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution). 

94.872 (23,894); 8,222. Made by Ezra Durand; Norwich, Connecdcut; 1868. 

Rectangular parlor model; length 111.1; widdi 52.2; depth 13.8, height 78.4; 22/2. 

Even number of bass and treble courses; rosewood case with 4 curved legs, rounded 

comers, 2 circular toneholes each surrounded by 10 smaller holes, blue velvet 

lamp stands (see Figure 23). 

95,049 (25,819). Maker and date unknown. 

Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. 

Trapezoidal; length 46.0 (top) 78.2 (bottom), width, 34.5, depth 7.3; 24/4. 

Painted; gilt paper around both toneholes; originally 6 strings per course; 3 sets 

of bridges (low bass on the left); 4 short legs. 

95,289 (26,256); 8,222. Maker unknown; PFlorence; late 19th century. 

Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. 

Trapezoidal; length 41.0 (top) 76.0 (bottom), width 32.2, depth 7.9; 10/4 and 14/3. 

81 
82 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Painted landscape with cherubs and coat of arms; 2 gilded rosettes; faked worm 

holes; painted hinged outer case. 

95.290 (26,265); 8,222, 5,790-F. Maker unknown; PFlorence; .^late 19th century. 

Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. 

Trapezoidal; length 38.2 (top) 69.4 (bottom), width 31.6, depth 7.7; 12/3 and 10/4. 

Painted with cherubs and wreaths; 2 gilt parchment rosettes; 3 short knobbed feet; 

faked worm holes. 

95.291 (26,256); 8,222. Maker unknown; PFlorence; Plate 19th century. 

Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. 

Trapezoidal; length 39.2 (top) 67.0 (bottom), width 28.8, depth 7.3; 21/4. 

T o p painted in muted colors with floral and cherub design; sides blue with scroll 

motif; chessman bridges; 2 gilded parchment rosettes; painted hinged outer case. 

95,318 (26,256); 8,222. Maker unknown; .^Italy; late 18th or early 19th century. 

Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. 

Trapezoidal; length 54.0 (top) 115.7 (bottom), width 57.5, depth 12.2; 36/3. 

Large instrument decorated with painted scene of 11 figures in classical or biblical 

scene; lacks a back; no tonehole. 

96,464 (30,688). Maker unknown; Poltava, Malo Russia; 19th century. 

Acquired from Lubny Museum, Poltava, Malo Russia, 1896. 

Trapezoidal; length 57.0 (top) 78.6 (bottom), width 24.3, depth 6.9; 11/4 (?). 

Tsimbaldi, folk dulcimer of Malo Russia; painted dark brown; has 2 carved rosettes 

in soundboard and large oval hole in side. 

288,325(58,852); 72-1352. Maker unknown; .^Pennsylvania; ?1870s. 

Rectangular; length 99.6, width 41.8, depth 9.7; 12/3 and 7/2. 

Burl walnut veneered box with spruce (?) soundboard; two 7 cm tilde-shaped 

toneholes; with plain case. 

299,841 (61,285); 56,344, 56,344-A (top view). Maker unknown; American; ca. 1860. 

Gift of Hug o Worch, 1917. 

Rectangular parlor model; length 109.0, width 48.3, depth 11.7, height 78.1; 22/2. 

Rosewood veneered case with square corners; four turned legs and hinged cover; 

2 circular toneholes sourrounded by 10 smaller holes; blue velvet lamp stands 

(see Figure 1). 

331,204 (28,811); 78-4920. John Low; Clinton, Massachusetts; 1860. 

Rectangular; length 30.5, width 12.7, depth 5.1; 21/2. 

Patent model; separate hitch pins for bass and treble bridges (see Figure 5). 

332,324 (94,380); 78-4924. Ezra Durand; Norwich, Connecticut; 1967. 

Rectangular; length 30.1, width 14.6, depth 5.4; 9/2. 

Crude patent model (see catalog numbe r 94,872; Figures 22, 23.) 
NUMBER 44 83 

60.1407 (2682.38 B2). Maker unknown; German or German-American; early 20th 

century. 

Trapezoidal; length 68.6 (top) 106.3 (bottom), width 43.7, depth 7.5; 20/4 and 2/3 

(low bass). 

Two sets of cjm6a/om-type dampers activated by hand-operated levers; gold paint; 

jigsaw-cut bird rosettes (formerly in Cooper Union Collection). 

1982.0530. Maker unknown, PAmerican, late 19th century. 

Trapezoidal; length 48.4 (top) 105.0 (bottom), width 38.2, depth 7.2; 27/4. 

Painted pine; gilt mouldings on soundboard edge; hand-forged pins; round brass 

fittings in each tonehole. 

78.7 (1978.0614); 78-8907. John Palanuk; Springfield, Oregon; 1974. 

Trapezoidal; length 89.0 (top) 123.0 (bottom), width 44.5, depth 8.5; 19/5. 

Ukrainian folk dulcimer made in America; spruce soundboard with birch case 

sides and plywood bottom; single bridge and two slotted toneholes. 

1981.0530.06; 81-16679, 81-16680. Maker unknown; ?New England; mid-19th century. 

Purchased at auction of the Clifford Allanson collection. 

Rectangular; length 97.7, width 38.4, depth 10.0; 11/3 and 7/2. 

Yellow-brown varnished body ornamented with stencil-cut rosewood veneer; with 

weathered, unhinged, crude pine case. 
Appendix E 

Selected Discography 

Austen, Seth, and Madeline MacNeil 

N.d. Ye Banks and Braes. Roots and Branches Recordings RBR 002. [Available 

from Front Hall Records, RDl, Wormer Road, Voorheesville, NY 12816.] 

Carawan, Guy 

1976. Green Rocky Road. June Appal 021. [Available from June Appal Recordings, Box 743, Whitesburg, KY 41858.] 

1979. Jubilee. June Appal 029. [Available from June Appal Recordings.] 

Carter, Dorothy 

N.d. Troubador. Celeste Records 1003. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 

Collins, Mitzie 

1976. A Sampler of Folk Music. Sampler Records 7601. [Available from Front 

Hall Records.] 

1979. The Leaves of Life. Sampler Records 7902. [Available from Front Hall 

Records.] 

Cook, Russell 

N.d. Red-Haired Boy. Sword and Shield Recordings 9201. [Available from Front 

Hall Records.] 

Cooper, Billy 

N.d. Bocastle Breakdown. Topic Records 12T40 (British). 

Daglish, Malcolm, and Grey Larsen 

1977. Banish Misfortune. June Appal 016. [Available from June Appal Recordings.] 

1979. The First of Autumn. June Appal 026. [Available from June Appal Recordings.] 

Fluharty, Russell 

N.d. West Virginia Heritage. Page Records 601. [Available from Russell Fluharty, 

RD#3, Box 119, Mannington, WV 26582.] 

Gillett, Lilah, and Harvey Prinz 

1978. Prairie Wild Flowers. Audio House AHKBA27F78. [Available from Front 

Hall Records.] 

Gardner, Worley 

N.d. Mountain Melodies: Tunes of the Appalachians. OL-3-7-2 (stereo). [Available 

from Worley Gardner, 1332 Cain St., Morgan town, WV 26505.] 

Herrmann, Sam, with the Critton Hollow String Band. 

1979. Poor Boy. Yodel-Ay-Hee 108327. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 

84 
NUMBER 44 

Looman, Patty, and Russell Fluharty 

N.d. Dulcimore. Page Records 602. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 

Maxson, Charles, and Karen Skidmore 

N.d. From the Heart of West Virginia. Peaceable Records. [Available from 

Peaceable Records, Box 77038, Los Angeles, CA 90007.] 

MacKenzie, Tom 

1980. Finally Tuned. Rooster Recordings 104. [Available fro'm Front Hall 

Records.] 

McCutcheon, John, et al. 

1975. How Can I Keep from Singing. June Appal 003. [Available from June Appal 

Recordings.] 

1977. Th e Wind That Shakes the Barley. June Appal 014. [Available from June 

Appal Recordings.] 

1982. Fine Times at Our House. Greenhays GR710. [Available from Front Hall 

Records.] 

McCutcheon, John, with Rye Straw 

1978. From Earth to Heaven. June Appal 028. [Available from June Appal Recordings.] 

Michael, Walt, and Tom McCreesh 

1978. Dance, Like a Wave of the Sea. Front Hall Records FHR 017. [Available 

from Front Hall Records.] 

Michael, Walt, Tom McCreesh, and Harley Campbell 

1980. Th e Host of the Air. Front Hall Records FHR 023. [Available from Front 

Hall Records.] 

Mitchell, Howard W. 

1970. Th e Hammered Dulcimer: How to Make It and Play It (book and record). 

Folk-Legacy FSI-43. [Available from Folk Legacy Records, Sharon CT 

06069.] 

Original Dulcimer Players Club, Th e 

1981. Th e American Hammered Dulcimer. Traditional Records TR-006. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 

Parker, Chet 

1966. Th e Hamme r Dulcimer Played by Chet Parker. Folkways FA2381. 

Rey, John 

N.d. Drops of Brandy. Topic Records 287 (British). 

N.d. Irish Music on the Hammered Dulcimer. Topic Records 373 (British). 

Rizzetta, Sam 

1982. Bucks and Does. Flying Clouds Music FCM-3. [Available from Front Hall 

Records.] 

Round, Jay, et al. 

1974. Th e Hammered Dulcimer Album. Turnaroun d 4054. [Available from 
86 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Jay Round, 6470 Eighth Ave., Grandville, MI 49418, or from Front Hall 

Records.] 

1977. One Time Friend. Turnaround 5003. [Available from Jay Round or Front 

Hall Records.] 

1980. Don't Get Around Much Any More. Turnaround 5004. [Available from Jay 

Round or Front Hall Records.] 

Round, Jay, with the Williams Family 

1975. Columbus Stockade Blues. Turnaround Records 5002. [Available from Jay 

Round or Front Hall Records.] 

Smith, Jerry Read, and Tom Fellendaum 

1981. The Strayaway Child. Song of the Wood Records 01. [Available from Front 

Hall Records.] 

Spence, Bill, with Fennig's AU-Star Band 

1973. The Hammered Dulcimer. Front Hall Records FHR-01. [Available from 

Front Hall Records.] 

1975. Saturday Night in the Provinces. Front Hall Records FHR-05. [Available 

from Front Hall Records.] 

1977. The Hammered Dulcimer Strikes Again. Front Hall Records FHROIO. 

[Available from Front Hall Records.] 

1981. Fennigmania. Front Hall Records FHR-204. [Available from Front Hall 

Records.] 

Trapezoid (Sam Rizzetta, Paul Reisler, Pete Vigour, and Paul Yeaton) 

1975. Trapezoid. Troubadour Records TR-1. 

1978. Three Forks of Cheat. Rounder Records 0113. [Available from Front Hall 

Records.] 

1980. Now and Then. Flying Fish Records 239. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 
Notes 

(Full references in Literature Cited) 

1. Josiah Combs, Fotk-Songs of the Southern United States, page 95. 

2. J. Scott Odell, conversation with the author, Washington, D.C, 1978. 

3. Russel Fluharty, interview with the author, Mannington, West Virginia, 28 June 

1977, see transcript, page 4 and Appendix C. 

4. Paul Van Arsdale, conversation with the author, North Tonawanda, New York, 

October 1977. 

5. Sibyl Marcuse, A Survey of Musicallnstruments, page 177. 

6. Ibid 

7. Curt Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, page 118. 

8. Ibid., page 188. 

9. Ibid., page 257. 

10. Sir George Grove, Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, volume VI, page 1027. 

11. This is antedated by a dulcimer on the ivory bookplate of the Egerton Codex, 

a 12th century Byzantine artifact now in the British Museum. That instrument 

is of the Turkish type, however, and hence falls outside the scope of this study. 

See Marcuse, Survey of Musical Instruments, page 223. 

12. Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle: The Books on Instruments, pages 225-226. 

13. Quoted by Francis W. Galpin, Old English Instruments of Music; Their History and 

Character, page 64. Galpin also argues that an 8th century Irish instrument called 

the timpan or tympanum was originally a psaltery that later evolved into a dulcimer. If so, it would antedate the earliest known European board-zither by 

several centuries. See Galpin, A Textbook of European Musical Instruments, pages 

67-70. 

14. Quoted in Marcuse, A Survey of Musical Instruments, page 224. 

15. Ibid. 

16. Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum de Organographia, volume II, page 79. 

17. Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, volume III, pages 90,198. 

18. Ibid., page 248. 

19. Sir John Graham Dalyell, Musical Memoirs of Scotland, page 260. 

20. Ibid., page 260. 

21. Sarah E. Hanks, "Pantaleon's Pantaleon: An 18th Century Musical Fashion,' 

pages 215-228. 

22. Percy A. Scholes, The Puritans and Music in England and New England: A Contribution to the Cultural History of Two Nations, page 42. 

87 
SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

23. Oscar Sonneck, Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon, page 17. 

24. Norman Arthur Benson, "The Idnerant Dancing and Music Masters of Eighteenth 

Century America,' page 231. 

25. Lubov Keefer, Baltimore's Music: The Haven of the American Composer, page 19. 

26. New-York Gazette Revived in the Weekly Post-Boy, 27 April 1757. 

27. Emelyn Gardne r and Geraldine Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, page 7. 

28. Patrick R. Murphey, "The Hammere d Dulcimer Played by Chet Parker," 

record notes. 

29. Henry Wharton Shoemaker, Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania, page 7. 

30. Ibid., page 199. 

31. Cloise Sinclair, interview with the author, 22 July 1977. 

32. Paul Van Arsdale, interview with the author, 30 June 1977; see transcript, page 

11. 

33. David Ketdewell, "The Dulcimer and Related Instruments with Particular 

References to Traditional English Music," page 132. 

34. Herman Matheny, interview with author, Uniontown, Ohio, 29 June 1977; see 

transcript, page 12. 

35. Paul Van Arsdale, interview; see transcript, page 16. 

36. Matheny, interview; transcript, page 8. 

37. Fluharty, interview; transcript, page 11. 

38. Van Arsdale, interview; transcript, page 11. 

39. Matheny, interview; transcript, pages 8 and 11. 

40. Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy, page 149. 

41. Van Arsdale, interview; transcript, page 17. 

42. Matheny, interview; transcript, pages 7-8. 

43. Cloise Sinclair, interview with the author, Evart, Michigan, 22-24 July 1977; 

transcript, page 1. 

44. Greensboro Daily News, "Hammered Dulcimer Virtuoso," 18 May 1977, section B, 

pagel . 

45. H. Wiley Hitchcock, Music in the United States: A Historicallntroduction, pages 62-65. 

46. Van Arsdale, interview; transcript, page 8. 

47. Gino Caporali, conversation with the author. Dearborn, Michigan, summer 

1975. 

48. Th e author is indebted to Paul Van Arsdale and his family for access to the 

scrapbook of newspaper clippings kept by his grandfather, Jesse Martin. Unfortunately, most of the notices about Martin's performances are undated. 

49. Allen Koenigsberg, Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912; with an Illustrated History 

of the Phonograph, page 14. 

50. Fred Kunz. Correspondence with Cynthia Hoover, Division of Musical Instruments, National Museum of American History, 16 December 1964. 
NUMBER 44 

51. Jesse Martin, scrapbook. 

52. Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), 22 March 1977. 

53. Charles K. Wolfe, The Grand Old Opry: The Early Years, 1925-1935, page 8. 

54. S.J. Sackett, "The Hammered Dulcimer in Ellis County, Kansas," pages 61-64. 

55. Lewis Miller, Sketches and Chronicles; The Reflections of a Nineteenth Century Folk 

Artist, page 66. 

56. United States Patent Number 28,811. Granted 19 June 1860 (see Appendix A). 

57. Ibid 

58. Correspondence with Elizabeth Alden, Th e Clinton Historical Society, Clinton, 

Massachusetts, 22 December 1977. 

59. Boston Public Library Dictionary Catalogue of the Music Collection, volume 6, page 26. 

60. Board of Music Trade of the U.S.A., Complete Catalogue of Sheet Music and Musical 

Works, 1870, page 73. 

61. United States Patent Number 72,824. Granted 31 December 1867. 

62. Norwich City Directory, Norwich, Connecticut, 1867, 1868,1869. 

63. Ezra Durand, Dulcimer Without a Master, page iii. 

64. Ibid., page 49. 

65. Charles H. Weygant, The Sacketts of America: Their Ancestors and Descendants, 1630-

1907, page 266. 

66. Th e author is indebted to Richard Sackett and his family of Bethesda, Maryland, 

for access to family papers and information. 

67. Paul Gifford, "Development of the Hammered Dulcimer," pages 19-23. 

68. Floyd L. Darrow, History of the Town of North Harmony, Chautauqua County, New 

York, volume 2, pages 80-81. 

69. Ibid., page 81. 

70. Ibid., volume 1, page 130. 

71. Elizabeth L. Crocker, Yesterdays in and around Pomfret, New York, volume V, 

pages 41-42. 

72. United States Census of 1860, "Manufacturing Schedule, Campbell County, 

Kentucky." 

73. MacKenzie also spelled his name "McKenzie" and "Mckenzie." 

74. United States Patent Number 171,031. Granted 14 December 1875, page 1. 

75. United States Patent Number 440,601. Granted 11 November 1890, page 2. 

76. Ibid 

77. United States Patent Number 461,915. Granted 27 October 1891, page 1. 

78. Ther e is no record at the Library of Congress of this book actually having been 

copyrighted. 

79. Minneapolis Tribune, Sunday, 7 May 1905, page 7, column 3. Th e author is indebted to Floyd Cohoes of Forest Lake, Minnesota, and Mrs. R. Thorsenson of 

the Hennipin County Historical Society for information on MacKenzie's life 

and work. 
90 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

80. Montgomery Ward and Company Catalog for Spring and Summer 1895, reprinted 

edition, page 244. 

81. Ibid, page 244. 

82. Sears, Roebuck and Company Catalog, 1902, page 208. 

83. American Piano Supply Company Catalog, 1974, page 72. 

84. Matheny, interview, transcript, page 17. 

85. Harry Bryant's son, Oliver H. "Ole" Bryant (1873-1940), later operated one of 

Boston's finest violin shops, O.H. Bryant and Sons from 1910 to 1940. Information 

on Harry Bryant was supplied by his granddaughter, Mrs. Helen Treanor of 

Washington D.C, October 1977. 

86. Information supplied by Evelyn Hamlin of the Sharon, Connecticut, Historical 

Society. Conversation with the author. May 1978. 

87. Greensboro (North Carolina) Daily News, undated clipping (1977?). The author 

thanks Coleman Emerson of Salisbury, North Carolina, for contributing information on Piedmont instrument makers. 

88. Matheny, interview; transcript, page 7. The informant had not personally tried 

these folk finishes and there is no guarantee they would work. 

89. Ibid., page 7. 

90. Sinclair, interview; transcript, page 6. 

91. The author is indebted to H.E. Matheny and Russell Fluharty for the names and 

dates of these dulcimer makers. 

92. Matheny, interview; transcript, page 5. 

93./6id., pagell. 

94. Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), 22 March 1927. 

95. Mrs. Edna Rigal, Liberty Center (Ohio) Public Library. Correspondence with 

the author, 1 March 1978. Letter deposited in Division of Musical Instruments, 

National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. 

96. Gifford, "Development of the Hammered Dulcimer," page 21. 

97. Ralph and Lydia Muncy of Ann Arbor, Mich.; conversation with the author. 

98. The author thanks Virginia Barons of the Genesee County, New York, Department of History for information about Wight. Letter deposited at the Division 

of Musical Instruments, National Museum of American History. 

99. Matheny, correspondence with the author, 1 March 1978, and interview; transcript, page 7. 

100. Fluharty, interview; transcript, pages 6-7. 
Literature Cited 

American Piano Supply Company Catalog, 1974. Hoboken, New Jersey, 1974. 

Benson, Norman Arthur. "The Itinerant Dancing and Music Masters of Eighteenth Century America." Doctoral dissertation. University of Minnesota, 1963. 

Board of Music Trade of the U.S.A. Complete Catalogue of the Sheet Music and Musical 

Works, 1970 New York: De Capo Press, 1973. 

Boston Public Library Dictionary Catalog of the Music Collection. Volume 6. Boston: G.K. 

Hall, 1972. 

Capital Times. (Madison, Wisconsin). 22 March 1927. 

Combs, Josiah. Folk-Songs of the Southern United States. Edited by D.K. Wilgus, 

Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967. [American Folklore Society, Bibliographical and Special Series, No. 19. French original published in Paris, 

1925, Folk-Songs du Midi des Etats-Unis.] 

Crocker, Elizabeth L. Yesterdays in and around Pomfret, New York, volume V. Pomfret: 

Privately printed, 1964. 

Darrow, Floyd L. History of the Town of North Harmony, Chautauqua County, New York. 

2 volumes. North Harmony: Privately printed, 1953,1955. 

Dalyell, Sir John Graham. Musical Memoirs of Scotland. 1849. Reprint edition, 

Norwood, Pennsylvania: Norwood Editions, 1973. 

Durand, Ezra. Dulcimer without a Master Boston: Oliver Ditson k Company, 1867. 

Galpin, Francis W. A Textbook of European Musical Instruments. New York: John de 

Graff Inc., 1937. 

. Old English Instruments of Music: Their History and Character. London: 

Methuen k Co., 1910. 

Gardner, Emelyn, and Geraldine Chickering. Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan. 

Ann Arbor: Univesity of Michigan Press, 1939. 

Gifford, Paul. "Development of the Hammered Dulcimer." Mugwumps Magazine, 

volume 3, number 5 (September, 1974), pages 19-23. 

Gottesman, Rita. The Arts and Crafts in New York, 1726-1776. 3 volumes. New York: 

New-York Historical Society, 1938-1965. 

Greensboro (North Carolina) Daily News. 18 May 1977; undated clipping. 

Grove, Sir George. Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Fifth edition, Eric Blom, 

editor, volumes VI, VII. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1959. 

Haight, C A Complete System for the Dulcimer. New York: William Hall k Son, 1848. 

Hanks, Sarah E. "Pantaleon's Pantaleon: An Eighteenth Century Musical Fashion." 

Musical Quarterly, volume XV, number 2 (April 1969), pages 215-228. 

Hitchcock, H. Wiley, Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction. Englewood 

Cliffs, New Jersey: Prendce-Hall, 1974. 

91 
92 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 

Keefer, Lubov. Baltimore's Music: The Haven of the American Composer. Baltimore, 

Maryland: J.H. Furst, 1962. 

Kettlewell, David. Th e Dulcimer and Related Instruments with Particular References 

to Traditional English Music. B.M. thesis. University of Surrey, Guildford, 1973. 

Koenigsberg, Allen. Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912; with an Illustrated History of the 

Phonograph. New York: Stellar Productions, 1969. 

MacKenzie, James A. Piano Harp Book: The Piano Harp is Here Played by Sight Without 

a Teacher by Using Letters. [Minneapolis, 1891.] 

Marcuse, Sibyl. A Survey of Musical Instruments. New York: Harpe r k Row, 1975. 

Mersenne, Marin. Harmonie Universelle: The Books on Instruments. Two volumes, 

Paris: 1636, 1637. Reprint edition, Rodger E. Chapman, translator. Th e Hague : 

Martinus Nijhoff, 1957. 

Miller, Lewis. Sketches and Chronicles; The Reflections of a Nineteenth Century Pennsylvanian Folk Artist. Introduction by Donald A. Shelly. York: Th e Historical Society 

of York County, 1966. 

Minneapolis Minnesota City Directory. 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898. 

Minneapolis Tribune. 7 May 1905. 

Mitchell, Howard M. The Hammered Dulcimer: How to Make It and Play It (After a 

Fashion). Huntington, Vermont: Folk Legacy Records, 1966 (record and booklet). 

Montgomery Ward and Company Catalog for Spring and Summer of 1895. Reprint, New 

York: Crown Publications, 1973. 

Mugwumps Magazine, "The Hammer Dulcimer Compendium." Silver Spring, Maryland: 

M IH Publicadons, 1977. 

Murphey, Patrick R. "The Hammere d Dulcimer Played by Chet Parker." Liner 

notes. New York: Folkways Recordings, 1966 (Album No. FA2381). 

Nathan, Hans. Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy. Norman: University 

of Oklahoma Press, 1962. 

Newport City Directory. Newport, Kentucky: 1861. 

New-York Gazette Revived in the Weekly Post Boy. 27 April 1757. 

New York Times. 20 December 1925, Rotogravure Section, page 1. 

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