Dearborn New England Bass Viol
date: label: date made
content: ca 1831
name: label: maker
content: D. M. & L. Dearborn
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>This New England Bass Viol was made by David M. & Lyman Dearborn in Concord, New Hampshire, about 1831. This instrument has a table of pine in six pieces, back of slab-cut bird’s-eye maple in two pieces with added wings on the lower bouts, ribs of similar bird’s-eye maple with exterior ornamental figured maple linings, neck, pegbox and scroll of similar bird’s-eye maple, brass machine tuning mechanism inlaid into the pegbox walls, and orange-brown varnish. There is an original printed label inside the instrument:</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>WARRANTED<br>BASS AND DOUBLE BASS VIOLS,<br>MANUFACTURED AND SOLD BY<br>D.M. & L. DEARBORN<br>Opposite the American House, Concord, N.H.</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>A handwritten inscription appears in the margin of the label:</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>Made in about the year 1831, for G.W.<br>Chamberlin of Maine who sold it to S.<br>Chase in 1848 and given to S.H. Chase<br>in the year 1860 and he gave it to Alice<br>B. Chase Nugent.</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>David and Andrew Dearborn built instruments for Abraham Prescott in Deerfield and Concord. Lyman Dearborn briefly joined David as a maker in the 1840s. This instrument, which measures slightly larger than the Prescott shown here, retains most of its original features, including the distinctive machine-tuning heads. The edges of the ribs contain unusual moldings.</p>
label: Description (Brief)
content: <p>The modern term for this instrument is church bass. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, this instrument was also known as the American bass viol, New England bass viol, or Yankee bass viol. These church basses were used in churches and meeting houses to provide a bass line for maintaining a consistent key by New England congregational singers. The church bass was also used by popular singing groups such as the Hutchinson Family singers.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Hampshire, Concord
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Musical Instruments
label: See more items in
content: Music & Musical Instruments
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1980.0331.01
label: accession number
content: 1980.0331
label: catalog number
content: 1980.0331.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Viol
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: pine (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: maple (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: brass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 52 1/4 in x 19 1/4 in x 10 in; 132.715 cm x 48.895 cm x 25.4 cm