Hicks Barrel Organ
date: label: date made
content: 1858 - 1862
name: label: maker
content: Hicks, George
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This barrel organ was made by George Hicks in Brooklyn, New York, around 1858-1862. It is a barrel organ, with 8 tunes. This instrument has a pinned wooden barrel, with 35 keys, and 35 pipes. This barrel organ is hand cranked. Tune selection is made by a pointer on a dial.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>Programmed to play popular songs and dance tunes like waltzes and polkas, barrel organs were equipped with loud sounding wooden organ pipes to provide entertaining music outdoors. The name of the instrument comes from the wooden barrel with protruding pins that rotates as the crank is turned; each pin activates a note to be played. As the barrel rotates, the positioning of the pins determines the sequence of notes played and hence the melody produced by the 35 organ pipes. While portable barrel organs were popularly used on the 19th century city streets of America, the idea of a pinned barrel system came from 14th century European clock mechanisms and large 18th century church organs.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Brooklyn
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: Popular Entertainment
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content: Mechanical Musical Instruments
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.299855
label: accession number
content: 61285
label: catalog number
content: 299855
objectType: label: Object Name
content: barrel organ
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood, walnut (case material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 21 1/2 in x 25 in x 14 in; 54.61 cm x 63.5 cm x 35.56 cm