Banjo case for Charles P. Stinson banjo
date: label: Date
content: late 19th century
name: label: Manufactured by
content: Unidentified
label: Subject of
content: Charles P. Stinson, American, 1854 - 1911
notes: label: Caption
content: Charles P. Stinson’s minstrel credits include working with Callinder's Georgia Minstrels, the World's Minstrels, and Harvey and Frohman's Minstrel Companies as a banjo player, actor, and drum major. He made his name through banjo competitions though, notably in an 1888 competition in Kansas City when he beat eleven white competitors to become the first known African American to win such a competition in a southern state.
label: Caption
content: After touring through the 1880s, Stinson returned to Pittsburgh and set up a studio teaching amateur musicians. He taught parlor music to his middle-class students eager to join banjo, mandolin, and guitar orchestras playing arrangements of popular songs. Through his role as a teacher, Stinson also sold student-level banjos to his students. This case if for a banjo likely made by J.H. Buckbee in New York was the result of a collaboration between Stinson and Buckbee to create banjos for Stinson to assemble and distribute to his students; a common arrangement in the late nineteenth century as the instrument became popular.
label: Description
content: A black banjo case for a Charles P. Stinson banjo (2018.83.1). The case has a lid and a leather handle. The lid connects to the body of the case by to metal hinges. The lid has three metal clasps and a metal lock. The bottom of the case has a metal plate attached to it to protect the banjo's resonator. The top of the case has two metal nobs on the side away from the clasps. The interior of the case has a green velvet lining. There is a small compartment in the middle of the body of the case, where the neck of the banjo rests. The compartment of the case contains fragments from the frets of the banjo (2018.83.1). It also contains coordinator rods and hex nuts, some of which appear to be stripped or otherwise broken. There are 11 hex nuts, 4 coordinator rods, 27 fret pieces and two bridge pieces.
place: label: Place made
content: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
label: Place used
content: Pittsburgh, Alleghany County, Pennsylvania, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Education
label: Topic
content: Folk (Music)
label: Topic
content: Instrumentalists (Musicians)
label: Topic
content: Minstrel (Music)
label: Topic
content: Popular music
label: Topic
content: Vaudeville
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Musical Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of the Clark and Sarah Case Family
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2018.83.2
objectType: label: Type
content: cases (containers)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: No Known Copyright Restrictions
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: hardboard, leather, metal, velvet
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (closed): 35 5/8 × 15 3/8 × 5 7/8 in. (90.5 × 39 × 15 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (open): 35 5/8 × 29 1/2 × 3 15/16 in. (90.5 × 75 × 10 cm)