Dobson Five-String Banjo
date: label: date made
content: ca 1877
name: label: maker
content: Dobson, Henry C.
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This banjo was made by Henry C. Dobson of New York, New York around 1877. It is a Five-String Banjo, with 19 frets, 22 brackets, walnut neck, rosewood veneer hoop and resonator. The banjo is stamped on the bottom of the neck:</p>
label: Description
content: <p>HENRY C. DOBSON'S PATENT JULY 13, 1867</p>
label: Description
content: <p>This instrument features U.S. Patent #66810 dated July 13, 1867, by Henry C. Dobson, for an improvement in securing the banjo head to the rim. This method of tightening the head with vertical screws from above is similar to that seen in a banjo by George Teed, and later, in some “Top Tensioning” banjos made by The Gibson Company.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Attached to the inside of the resonator is a printed label and instruction sheet signed: “#1424 Henry C. Dobson…1877.”<p>
label: Description
content: <p>Henry C. Dobson and his family were among the most active players and popularizers of the banjo in the early stages of its commercialization. They were influential in the transition from fretless to fretted fingerboards and the use of resonators and more complicated “tone ring” supports for the head. Some of Dobson’s instruments were actually made by the Buckbee Company in New York City.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
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: Banjos
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hermann W. Williams, Jr.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.67.009
label: catalog number
content: 67.009
label: accession number
content: 272556
objectType: label: Object Name
content: banjo
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: rosewood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: animal skin (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: walnut (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 37 1/2 in x 13 in x 3 1/4 in; 95.25 cm x 33.02 cm x 8.255 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 37 in x 13 in x 4 in; 93.98 cm x 33.02 cm x 10.16 cm