Schmidt Ukelin
date: label: date made
content: 1963
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>This ukelin was made by Made by Oscar Schmidt International, Inc. in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1963. The ukelin, serial #6319, has a rectangular oblong body, table 3/16" birch plywood with ornamented sound holes, back 3/16" birch plywood, maple sides sawn to shape, table painted black with deep red shading, back and sides painted black. There are 2 identical printed inside the ukelin:</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Manufactured<br>BY THE<br>Oscar Schmidt<br>International Inc.<br>87 FERRY STREET<br>Jersey City, N.J</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>This ukelin features U.S. Patent #1579780 dated April 6, 1926, by Paul F. Richter, assignor to the Phonoharp Company, for a stringed musical instrument.</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Ukelins from Oscar Schmidt International were marketed by door-to-door commission salesmen from 1926 until production was terminated in 1964. This instrument, in an excellent state of preservation, is accompanied with a bow and playing instruction booklet.</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Glen Peterson, the last President of Oscar Schmidt, wrote to the Smithsonian in the 1980s: "Ukelins, to the best of my knowledge, were for years made from any kind of excess scrap, drop-offs, or whatever could be found around the basic process of making zithers and/or Autoharps. When I came on the scene (1963) the tops and bottoms were made from waste 1/4" Minnesota basswood veneer that had been found unfit for Autoharps. The frames were of rock maple - always top quality." He further explains the advertisement of incorporating Philippine mahogany in making ukelins was inaccurate information.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Jersey City
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Music & Musical Instruments
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Oscar Schmidt International Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.74.09
label: catalog number
content: 74.09
label: accession number
content: 312073
label: patent number
content: 1,579,780
objectType: label: Object Name
content: ukelin
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: birch (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: maple (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)