Thompson Artillery Shell Banjo
date: label: date made
content: 1917-1919
name: label: maker
content: Thompson, Elmer
notes: label: Description
content: <p>This banjo was made by Elmer Thompson of Staten Island, New York around 1917-1919 while waiting to be discharged from the U.S. Army during World War I. It is a Four-String Banjo, with a body made from the base of a German Howitzer shell, the neck from the stock of a rifle, with 12 frets, and the tuning pegs from French machine-gun bullets.</p>
label: Description
content: <p>After the War Thompson continued to play this banjo in Staten Island working as an electronics engineer with the Philco Corporation of America. Retiring in 1959, he played this banjo in a seven-piece dance orchestra in Debary, Florida known as the Dee Dee Beehive. He was an active inventor, with 30 patents to his credit recorded in the U.S. Patent Office.</p>
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, Staten Island
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 Eileen A. Achilles and John G. Anderson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1984.0975.01
label: accession number
content: 1984.0975
label: catalog number
content: 1984.0975.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: banjo
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: metal (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 33 1/2 in x 9 1/4 in x 3 1/4 in; 85.09 cm x 23.495 cm x 8.255 cm