Lunsford Appalachian Dulcimer
date: label: date made
content: 1876
name: label: maker
content: Lunsford, John H.
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This Appalachian dulcimer was made by John H. Lunsford in Ironton, Ohio, in 1876. It is a double-bout dulcimer made of walnut, with a dark wood nut and bridge, 18 metal frets, 3 strings, 2 S-shaped sound holes and 2 heart-shaped sound holes, carved out pegbox with 3 wooden friction pegs, and a violon-like carved head. There is white inlay throughout the fretboard, pegbox, and on the tuning pegs.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>John H. Lunsford was a cabinetmaker in Ironton, Ohio, which is in Lawrence County, Ohio, just thirteen miles northeast of Huntington. As indicated in the collector’s notes, if this instrument was made before 1880, it would be a contemporary of some of the Thomas dulcimers, the Huntington dulcimers, and the other dulcimers of northeastern Kentucky. This dulcimer was willed to Anne Grimes’s dulcimer collection in 1958 by its maker’s son, William E. (“Eddie”) Lunsford, for whom his father made it when Eddie was a small boy. Eddie used the dulcimer, when a young man in his “one-man band” while an entertainer in Ironton hotels. He pronounced and wrote the instrument’s name as “delsmer.”</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Anne Grimes (1912-2004) was an American journalist, musician, and historian of American (particularly Midwestern) folklore. Grimes studied voice and piano at Ohio Wesleyan and initiated graduate studies at Ohio State University. Following her education, Grimes was a music teacher, music and dance critic, and radio host. After WWII, Grimes began collecting and documenting folk songs throughout Ohio, as well as collecting Appalachian dulcimers and zithers. She would continue this work, performing, recording, and lecturing on instruments from her collection throughout the rest of her career.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: Ohio, Ironton
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
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content: Music & Musical Instruments
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content: Dulcimers
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Smith, L. Allen. Catalogue of Pre-Revival Appalachian Dulcimers
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0276.20
label: accession number
content: 1996.0276
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0276.20
label: collector/donor number
content: E43
objectType: label: Object Name
content: dulcimer
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 1/4 in x 7 in x 36 in; 8.255 cm x 17.78 cm x 91.44 cm