Hawkins Upright Piano
date: label: date made
content: 1801
name: label: maker
content: Hawkins, John Isaac
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: This upright piano was made by John Isaac Hawkins in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1801. Hawkins patented an ingenious small upright piano with a folding keyboard, of which the Smithsonian’s is an example. Other piano experiments were an upright instrument, the Claviol, which bowed the strings, a system of attaching the strings to a nut on a threaded rod, and the use of springs as strings in the bass. Only three of his instruments are known to survive. This piano is serial number 6 and has a compass of FF-f3, Hawkins upright action, felt hammers (originally leather), double-strings, 2 pedals: moderator and swell (which opens shutters in the case below the keyboard), wood frame with iron bars behind the soundboard, straight-strung, and a mahogany veneer case with metal carrying handles.
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
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: Pianos
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Hugo Worch
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: MI.313619
label: catalog number
content: 313619
label: accession number
content: 64802
objectType: label: Object Name
content: piano
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: felt (originally leather) (hammers material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood with iron bars (frame material)
label: Physical Description
content: mahogany veneer (case material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 109.85 cm x 90.17 cm x 38.6 cm; 43 1/4 in x 35 1/2 in x 15 3/16 in