THE HAMMERED DULCIMER IN AMERICA SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION Nancy Groce SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY / NUMBER 44 THE HAMMERED DULCIMER IN AMERICA Nancy Groce SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION PRESS City of Washington 1983 ABSTRACT Groce, Nancy. The Hammered Dulcimer in America. Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, number 44, 93 pages, 40 illustrations, 5 appendices, 1983. — The hammered dulcimer played an important role in Anglo-American folk and popular music during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. This paper gives a brief history of its development in the Middle East and Europe, its musical use and social function in America, and how it was manufactured and marketed in 19th century America. In the appendices are given a list of United States patents granted for improvements in dulcimer design, a list of known makers, biographical information on the musicians interviewed in the course of this research, a checklist of dulcimers in the Smithsonian Institution, and a selected discography. Copyright ® Nancy Groce 1983 OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. COVER: Hammered dulcimer by Ezra Durand, 1868 (Figure 23). Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Groce, Nancy. The hammered dulcimer in America. (Smithsonian studies in history and technology ; no.44) Bibliography: p. Discography: p. 1. Dulcimer. 1. Title. II. Series. ML1041.G76 1983 787',94 82-600259 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. U.S, Government Printing Office Washington, DC. 20402 Contents Page V Preface 1 Introduction 10 Origins and Background 22 The Dulcimer in America 42 Dulcimer Manufacture 72 The Current Revival 74 Appendix A: A Chronological Tabulation of U.S. Patents Granted for Improvements to the Dulcimer 76 Appendix B: Dulcimer Makers 79 Appendix C: Biographical Sketches of Informants 81 Appendix D: Dulcimers in the Collections of the Smithsonian Institution 84 Appendix E: Selected Discography 87 Notes 91 Literature Cited Preface The hammered dulcimer once flourished in this country. By the 1930s it was nearly extinct, but in isolated areas along the Michigan-Ohio border it has survived to the present day. The author began this study in these pockets of surviving folk culture, hoping to find rich rewards in dulcimer lore and traditions, and soon discovered that the dulcimer is well remembered in many other regions of the country as well. Brought to North America by early colonists from Europe, the dulcimer quickly became established in the Anglo-American folk tradition and grew still more popular during the 1800s. Portable, cheap, and easy to build, it answered the pioneer's need for music on the western frontier. Thousands of dulcimers were produced in American homes, shops, and factories. In the early 20th century even large mail-order houses like Sears, Roebuck, and Co. and Montgomery Ward sold dulcimers through their catalogs. Hammered dulcimers are particularly interesting because, unlike pianos and organs, most were built in homes or small shops scattered throughout the country. Hence they reflect regional and personal tastes. The hammered dulcimer occupies that musical no man's land between the "pure folk" and "popular" traditions. Since its history in the United States has received little attention from either musicologists or folklorists, this study necessarily relies heavily on interviews with the last generation of traditional hammered dulcimer players and makers and the examination of extant instruments. Short biographical sketches are given for these informants in Appendix C; transcripts of interviews, letters, and other primary materials may be obtained by contacting the author through the Division of Musical Instruments, Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. 20560. Some of the instruments examined in the course of this research are privately owned and were made available for study through the kindness of their owners. Many are in the collection of the Division of Musical Instru- ments of the National Museum of American History. A checklist of the dulcimers in the Museum's collection appears in Appendix D. Others are in SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY the unusually fine collection of hammered dulcimers at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The measurements given in the text are derived from many sources and are often approximations. These are usually given in inches. Accurate measurements for the instruments in the National Museum of American History appear in Appendix D and are given in centimeters. This study was carried out during the course of a predoctoral research fellowship administered by the Smithsonian Institution Office of Academic Affairs under the auspices of the Division of Musical Instruments in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The author wishes to thank all members of the Division of Musical Instruments for their support and advice, particularly Cynthia A. Hoover, Curator, and Scott Odell, Conservator, whose assistance and guidance were vital. 1 am also grateful to Gary Sturm for his help on the checklist. Editorial assistance was provided by Elsa M. Bruton. Dr. Richard Crawford of the University of Michigan and Dr. Robert Eliason of the Henry Ford Museum provided invaluable advice. It is not possible to acknowledge and individually thank the many dulcimer players with whom 1 spoke; I am grateful to Russell Fluharty, Paul Gifford, John McCutcheon, Herman E. Matheny, Cloise Sinclair, and especially Fern and Paul Van Arsdale, who gave freely of their time and expertise. Without their help this study could not have been completed. THE HAMMERED DULCIMER IN AMERICA Nancy Groce Introduction A century ago the dulcimer was a familiar part of the American musical scene. Today, most Americans would find it difficult to identify the instrument either by sight or by its sound. Even devotees of folk music often confuse the hammered dulcimer with the three- or four-stringed Appalachian plucked dulcimer, but the two are not closely related. Given the amount of confusion on the subject, this distinction cannot be over-emphasized. The ham- mered dulcimer developed in the Near East around the 10th century A.D. (see p. 11). The plucked dulcimer evolved much later from related northern European zithers, including the Swedish hummel, the German sheithold, and the French ipinette des Vosges. Nancy Groce, 338 East 70th Street #38, New York, NY, 10021. SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Though currently surpassing the hammered dulcimer in populari- ty, the plucked dulcimer was unknown in the British Isles and rare in America until popularized by the urban folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s. The question that remains unanswered, at least for the present, is how these two unrelated instruments acquired a common name. The English word dulcimer and its cognates, the medieval French doucemelle, the Spanish dulcema, and the Italian dolcemela are derived from the Latin dulce melos, or "sweet melody." To most Americans throughout the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, the term dulcimer meant the hammered dulcimer. Writing in 1925, folklorist Josiah Combs was one of the first to describe the small Appalachian dulcimer. He emphasized that "it must not be confused with the classical or traditional [hammered] dulcimer, to which it bears no resemblance."1 Other terms such as "lap harp" and "music box" are used by Appalachian folk musicians for the three- or four-stringed plucked instrument, and one authority believes that calling it a dulcimer "seems [to be a product] of media-encouraged tendencies for folk to adopt proper, standardized names."^ Most of the traditional hammered dulcimer players interviewed in the course of this study had only recently heard of the smaller instrument, and few remembered it having been used in their communities. A few voiced the opinion that the "little fellows" were not really serious musical instruments. The hammered dulcimer players were as mystified as anyone else about how the plucked instrument acquired the name dulcimer, although one offered his own explanation: They do have similar sounds, and it would be easy if you were at a distance or something to say, "Well, that is a dulcimer." Because they do have a kind of Oriental, an old-time piano [sound] —the kind they used to have in the bars, you know, that old tinny kind.' The subject of this study is the hammered dulcimer; throughout the text, "dulcimer" will refer only to that instrument. NUMBER 44 The Structure of the Dulcimer The basic shape of the dulcimer is trapezoidal, but in America instruments were often built into rectangular bodies. During the 19th century a "parlor model" developed, for which legs and a hinged cover were added to veneered or stained rectangular bodies of increasing elegance (Figure 1). The parlor dulcimer seems to have been particularly popular in more affluent regions, especially New England and the area along the Ohio-Michigan border. There were considerable regional and individual variations in American dulcimers, but in general they were 30-48 inches in length, 12-24 inches in width, and 2-6 inches in depth. The strings, made of brass or steel wire, were arranged in groups or "courses" of two to six strings each. The strings of each course were then tuned to the same pitch. Strings could number from as few as 40 to as many as 120; the average instrument had about 60. The dulcimer has two sets of string courses —the treble and the bass. All of the strings run the length of the instrument (i.e., from side to side). The treble courses pass over the treble bridge, which is a carved strip of hardwood roughly 0.75-1.0 inch high. This bridge sits on top of the soundboard near the center of the instrument. The treble strings are tightened over it; thus the shorter lengths of the string on either side sound at higher pitches, usually a fifth apart. The bass courses pass through holes carved in the treble bridge and over the bass bridge at the extreme left of the soundboard. For these courses the full length of the string sounds, and they are consequently lower in pitch. The bass bridge, unlike the treble, usually does not run the full width of the instrument; it too has carved holes to allow the treble courses to pass through. The two sets of strings form a criss-cross pattern at the left side of the soundboard, where they are set into the hitch pins. Instead of the long carved bridges, some dulcimers have indi- vidual turned pieces of wood set under each course of strings. This avoids the need for carved holes in the long bridges, since the SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 1. —Parlor dulcimer from 19th century America. Possibly made in the Midwest, this instrument has a rosewood body, handsomely turned legs, and a hinged cover. The two velvet pads on the soundboard served as candle rests. (Collection of the Smithsonian Institution; catalog number 299,841) alternate courses of strings pass between these "chessman" bridges (see Figure 2). Dulcimers were usually tuned to be playable in the keys of C, G, D, or A, a selection that probably reflects the preference for "sharp keys" so wide-spread among fiddlers. Although there were many variations, it was common to tune the right side of the treble NUMBER 44 FIGURE 2. —New York State dulcimer with individual "chessman" bridges. Possibly built in Fulton County, ca. 1847. (Collection of the Smithsonian Institution; catalog number 94,871) bridge, from the bottom to the top, C#, D, E, F«, G, A, B, CQ, D, E, FQ, G. This tuning resulted in a parallel series of notes a fifth higher on the left side of the treble bridge: G#, A, B, C**, D, E, F#, G, A, B, CO, D (Figure 3). Bass courses were often tuned to a D major scale, beginning an octave below the second pitch on the right-hand side of the treble bridge. If there were enough bass courses to overlap the treble notes, the C* course in the bass might then be tuned to CQ in order to increase the instrument's chromatic possibilities. The bass courses might also be tuned a fifth below the right-hand side of the treble courses. A few American dulcimer players placed the treble bridge farther toward the center of the sound board thus creating a fourth interval across the bridge. Chromatic tuning, with a half-step interval across the bridge, was used by many German dulcimer players. It never gained widespread popularity in America, how- ever, though it is found on a few late 19th century factory-made instruments. Less common among American dulcimerists was the "flat key" SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY GAMUT FOR THE DULCIMER / / """ ;^\ y \ \ -——j- ] " * ~_ _ ' / \ \ 1 j . ■^ • / / '-N . - \> \ \ . U^ '^^ / 1 ' "' \i '<^\ \ \ \ // "'//'' , \\ \\ / ^^^^^S 1 1 y~"^ ' l^-i'MM^."- ' -rij ■--n,-juiT».i . ■■■ 1 .!■ !ji_ ■■ ""^^^^^^ \ FIGURE 3.-The tuning system suggested by C. Haight in 1848 and still used by many traditional dulcimerists. Note the alternate number system. (Taken from C. Haight, A Complete System for the Dulcimer) tuning, which made it possible to play in the keys of G, C, F, and B^ Since tuning the many strings of the instrument was a chore, players chose either the "sharp key" or the "flat key" tuning and rarely retuned. American dulcimers usually had two toneholes on the sound- board, but some instruments had as many as six. A few were built with no toneholes at all. The number of toneholes and their design were largely matters of personal taste. Regional preferences are evident, however (see p. 59 and Figure 4). NUMBER 44 T ¥ NORTHERN MID-WEST KEART-SHAPED b WEST VIRGINIAN PATTERN LARGE DOUBLE-HOLED TILDE-SHAPED f. CLOVER-SHAPED FIGURE 4. —Tonehole designs found on American dulcimers. Because in many cases the same note could be played in more than one place on the dulcimer, and because the large number of strings could be quite confusing, many players resorted to chalking or painting the letter names of the note onto the soundboard under the appropriate courses. On shop-made dulcimers, note names often were printed on a strip of paper several inches wide which was then glued on the soundboard beneath the strings (Figure 5). Occasionally, a number or solmization system would be used in combination with, or instead of, the more common letter names. Regardless of the type and elegance of the outer case, and despite the wide variation in their size and compass, all dulcimers are similar in design and construction. On one side of the sound- board, the strings are attached to tuning pins (Figure 6), which are mounted in a wrest plank of hardwood, usually maple, oak, or cherry. The strings are then stretched across the bridges and fastened to stationary hitch pins on the opposite side. American SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY M I I 0. - -V ^,\.\ T i i *.. 'i . i. i :i. T *-r_ ■-• . .- ..—.- ^ « I i i I .; few .- I I i i FIGURE 5. —Model submitted to the Patent Office by John Low of Clinton, Massachusetts on 19 June 1860 (Collection of the Smithsonian Institution; catalog number 331,204) dulcimers traditionally were built with the tuning pins on the right-hand side and the hitch pins on the left. (On some instru- ments, possibly built by left-handed players, this arrangement is reversed.) Small rectangular tuning pins were apparently manu- factured specifically for the instrument during the 19th century. Often, however, players "made do" with larger piano pins, smaller square zither pins, or homemade replacements of various sizes. Mallets (or hammers) also varied widely in design. Because they were so easily lost or misplaced, it is often impossible to know whether the hammers found with an old instrument were made by the dulcimer maker or are replacements provided years later by someone else. Most players had either two pairs of hammers or one pair with reversible heads. One pair, or one side of a reversible pair, was covered with felt or yarn, which produced a soft, warm sound; the other was covered with deerskin or leather to give a loud, bright tone. The mallet heads could be spherical or hemis- NUMBER 44 ^..5r?^^ — o o o MA FIGURE 6. —Diagram of dulcimer shown in Figure 2. (Collection of the Smithsonian Institudon; catalog number 94,871) pherical and were attached to handles 4-8 inches long. Oak, ash, hickory, and elm were the most common materials for handles, but bamboo and whalebone were also used. The latter material was obtained in the form of corset stays, and was preferred by players who wanted more "give" in the handles of their mallets. Older players are fond of telling folklorists how hard it is to obtain corset stays "nowadays," but as one male dulcimer player slyly confided, "They were always difficult to get."^ 10 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Origins and Background There was myrth & melody with harpe, getron and sautry with rote, ribible and clokarde with pvpes, organs and bumbarde with other mynstrelles them amonge with sytolphe and with sautry songe with fydie, recorde and Dowcemere with trumpette & with claryon clere with dulcet pipes of many cordes. "The Squyr of Lowe Degre "^ ca. 1400 (emphasis added) The early history of the dulcimer is closely linked to that of the psaltery; both instruments evolved from a common ancestor. The difference between the two, in fact, is not in basic construction, but in the means of sounding the instrument: the strings of the psaltery are plucked with the fingers, while dulcimer strings are struck with small mallets or hammers. Technically, both instruments are board-zithers —that is, chordophones on which the strings are stretched horizontally across a shallow rectangular or trapezoidal box, which then acts as a resonating chamber. The Dulcimer and its Precursors in the Ancient World The dulcimer's predecessor, the psaltery, probably developed from the ground-zither, a primitive chordophone constructed by stretching stings over a hole or pit in the ground, which acts as a resonating chamber. Traces of ground-zithers have been discov- ered at Neolithic sites, and variants are still used today by several cultures in East Africa, Indochina, and Madagascar.^ The earliest known representation of a zither with a soundboard is a small Phoenician ivory carving of the 8th century B.C' The Phoenician name for the instrument is unknown, but it is probably related to the Hewbrew asor, a 10-stringed zither mentioned in the NUMBER 44 il Old Testament (Psalms 33, 92, and 144).8 A dulcimer is also mentioned in the Psalms, but this much- quoted reference cannot be taken as evidence of the instrument's existence in the ancient world. The Greek word translated as dulcimer in the King James Bible was symphonia, and though scholars disagree on its exact meaning, most accept the premise that it was not a single musical instrument, but rather a group of instruments playing together. \Vhen the dulcimer's standard trapezoidal shape developed is uncertain. The earliest kno\\Ti account of a trapezoidal instrument dates from A.D. 963, when a Syrian lexicographer described the quithoro, a board-zither with 10 strings.^ Slightly later, the zither- like qanun was mentioned in one of the oldest tales of The Arabian Xights. A 14th-century Persian treatise describes the qanun as a trapezoidal zither with 64 strings, arranged in groups or "courses' of three strings to each pitch.''^ After gaining popularity in Moorish Spain, the qanun spread through \Vestern Europe and evolved into various forms, one of which was the English psaltery. The qanun is still used today in North Africa for the performance of traditional art music. The earliest dulcimer, a Persian-Iraqi instrument called the santir (from the Greek psalterion), apparently developd from the qanun around A.D. 900. The differences between the santir and the qanun were not structural, but in the manner of plaving: while the qanun was plucked, the santir was struck with small mallets. Like other board-zithers, the santir was soon adopted throughout the Muslim world. Music historians generally agree that the santir, or dulcimer, entered western Europe around A.D. 1100 by way of Spain from North Africa, where it still played by Sephardic Jews. The Dulcimer in Europe Just how the dulcimer was transplanted into western Europe remains uncertain. It was probably introduced and assimilated primarily through peaceful contact with the Spanish Moors around 12 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 7. —Dulcimer with beater and tuning hammer from an illustration in Marin Mersenne's Harmonie Universelle {163&). A.D. 1100. Some instruments, however, may have been brought back directly from the Middle East by returning Crusaders. In any case, the dulcimer was increasingly popular in Europe in the centuries that followed. As early as the 10th century the word tympanon was generally NUMBER 44 13 used for chordophones in France. By the 15th century the name was attached specifically to the dulcimer. This word had originally meant "drum," and its newer usage probably is linked to the per- cussive nature of the dulcimer. The German dulcimer is known as a Hackbrett, or chopping board; the term was probably coined because of the motion of the player's hands. Little pictorial evidence of the dulcimer survives from the 12th and 13th centuries. The earliest known likeness of a European dulcimer may be the one on a relief carved in A.D. 1184 on the portico of the Santiago de Compostela cathedral in northwest Spain.11 Detailed written descriptions of dulcimers and dulcimer playing, moreover, are scarce, even through the 15th and 16th centuries. To add to the confusion. Medieval accounts sometimes used the term psaltery to designate both struck and plucked zithers. As late as 1636, for example, the philosopher Marin Mersenne, in his Harmonie Universelle, described a "psaltery" (or "psalterium") that was clearly a dulcimer: It must be noted that the method of sounding this instrument is different from that of the others, inasmuch as one uses the stick . . . which one holds in the right hand by the neck or the grip ... to strike the strings with the curved end ... which one lets fall softly on the strings, so that it makes small bounds. ... If one wishes to play two or more parts together on this instrument, one can have two sticks.'^ Mersenne found it a "very agreeable" instrument and did not "doubt that one could receive as much or more satisfaction from it than from the spinet or the harp." He illustrated it in his book (see Figure 7). One of the earliest mentions of the dulcimer in England was in the poem, "The Squyr of Lowe Degre" (see lines quoted above), written about 1400. Here the "Dowcemere" is plainly distinguished from the "sautry." At Coventry in 1474, Prince Edward (1470-1483) reportedly was greeted with "the ministrelsie of harpe and dowsemeris."!^ And at Westminster Hall in 1502, it is recorded that a dozen ladies "made music on clarycordis, dulsymers, clarysymballs, and such other."i'* 14 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 8. —Illumination from the 15th century Breviary of King Renee II (Duke of Lothrunger) depicts a dulcimer played with a cornetto, two trumpets, two recorders, harp and viola da brac- cio. (Reproduced by permission of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris) FIGURE 9. —Martin Le Franc's illustration of the allegorical poem "Le Champion des Dames" from The Nine Muses (1451). The ensemble includes a dulcimer, recorder, lute, trumpet, bombard, tabor and pipe, portative organ, and a second dulcimer- like instrument, probably a tambourin a cordes (upper left). Both players grasp their hammers between the thumb and first finger of their clenched fists. A less awkward and more conventional (from a modern viewpoint) mode of playing is seen in Figure 11; the player holds his beaters between his middle and ring fingers. (Repro- duced by permission of the Bibliotheque Municipale, Grenoble) Illustrations of the dulcimer began to appear more frequently during the 15th and 16th centuries (see Figure 8). The shape of the European dulcimer had not yet been standardized, but some were rectangular with a bulge on one side. As Figures 9 and 10 NUMBER 44 15 FIGURE 10. —Anonymous illustration from the 16th century French manuscript, Le Livre des Echecs Amoureux. Dulcimerist is accompanied by a tabor and pipe, cornetto, bagpipe, and singers. In the foreground are a harp, portative organ, and recorder. (Reproduced by permission of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris) demonstrate, there was less than universal agreement on which direction the bulge should face. The modern dulcimer developed during the 16th century, as the trapezoidal shape became standard. A central bridge was added, which divided each string into two different pitches and substan- tially increased the instrument's compass. The 16th-century bridgeless, bulged dulcimer shown in Figure 10 suggests that this evolution 16 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 11. —Detail from Jacob Cornelius Van Oostzanen's "The Birth of Christ" shows a re- markably modern-looking trapezoidal dulcimer played with cornetti and trumpets. It has two toneholes, one on either side of the clearly de- picted central bridge. There now appear to be nine courses, composed of two strings each, in- stead of the older arrangement of a single string for each course. (Reproduced by permission of the Naples Museum) FIGURE 12. —Illustrated by a French scribe about 1540, this Psalter depicts a trapezoidal dulcimer played in its case, accompanying a pipe and tabor, harp, and trumpet. (Reproduced by per- mission of the British Library Board, Royal Ms. 2A XVI, f. 98v) NUMBER 44 17 was gradual. But as early as 1512, a Dutch artist depicted a remarkably modern looking dulcimer in a nativity scene (detail shown in Figure 11). Although Renaissance artists pictured the dulcimer in courtly surroundings (see Figure 12), by the middle of the 16th century the instrument's social prestige had begun a gradual decline. Writing in 1536, the German scholar Sebastian Virdung characterized the dulcimer as an "instrumentum ignoble."^^ Virdung's countryman Michael Praetorius (1571-1621), in his Syntagma Musicum de Organograhia of 1619, classed the dulcimer (Figure 13) with the "peasant's lyra, key-fiddle, strawfiddle, little cymbals and bells, musical balls, and Basque tambourine, army kettle drums, snare drums, the anvil, and also other Muscovite, Turkish, strange and foreign instruments." He added: Some of these justly could be called vulgar and crude instruments, or as Sebastian Virdung calls them, ridiculous instruments, since they are known to all and do not actually have anything to do with music.'® The reasons for the dulcimer's loss of status during the 17th century remain somewhat obscure. One of its standard uses was accompanying itinerant puppet shows, and this may have contrib- uted to its decline. Or perhaps its popularity among the peasant class simply made it less attractive to the aristocracy. Two entries in Samuel Pepys's diary describe the dulcimer in decidedly unpre- tentious surroundings. On 23 May 1662 he wrote: There coming much company after dinner to my Lord, my wife and I slunk away to the Opera. . . . After it was done, my wife and I [went] to the puppet play in Covent garden, which I saw the other day, and endeed it is very pleasant. Here among the Fiddlers I first saw a Dulcimore played on, with sticks knocking of the strings, and it is very pretty.'' A month later on 23 June 1662, Pepys recorded hearing another dulcimer at a London inn: At noon . . . meeting with Frank Moore, my Lord Lambert's man formerly, he, and two or three friends of his did go to a taverne. ... In the next room, one was playing very finely of the Dulcimer, which well played I like well.'^ 18 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 13. —Illustration of a 17th century Ger- man dulcimer and beaters. (From Michael Praetorius' Syntagma Musicum de Organographia) »• ©toKiflf^porff. a.;>lvs. «N>^vcVovv-.: c\ Sc\^^v^^V^\^^'^■- FIGURE 20. —Lewis Miller's memory of a dance held in the German-American community of York, Pennsylvania, in 1808. (Courtesy of The Historical Society of York County, Pennsylvania) The Hackbrett and dulcimer apparently merged in German- American communities. It is probably significant that those areas where the Anglo-American dulcimer has survived longest, particu- larly northern Ohio, southern Michigan, Indiana, western New York, and North Carolina, are also regions with large and well- assimilated German-American populations. Dulcimer Manufacture Dulcimers were often built at home by the same people who played them, but many instruments were made commercially. For purposes of this discussion, we will consider dulcimer manufacture in three categories: factories, small shops, and folk-craftsmen. The term factory applies here to firms employing several dozen NUMBER 44 43 or more workers and producing hundreds or perhaps thousands of instruments annually. Although there may have been several such establishments, we know with certainty of only one: Lyon & Healy of Chicago. Shops, on the other hand, rarely employed even a dozen workers, and few produced more than 100 instruments a year. Unlike folk-craftsmen, shop workers were employed year- round, and building dulcimers was their main source of income. Shop owners were frequently entrepreneurs, quick to patent im- provements in design, write and publish instruction books, and advertise their products in the hope of increasing sales and profits. Shop dulcimers were also much more likely to be labeled with the maker's name than were those made by folk-craftsmen. Folk-craftsmen undoubtedly were the earliest American dulci- mer builders. They worked in or near their homes, making instruments in their spare time for themselves or members of their communities. But because the earliest existing documents on dulcimer manufacture are those left by 19th-century shops, our history will begin there. Dulcimer Shops The first United States dulcimer patent was granted on 19 June 1860 to John Low (born 1816), who owned a dulcimer shop in Clinton, Massachusetts. Low's improvement consisted of placing the treble bridge "in such a manner as to cause that part of each string which is upon one side of said bridge to give a tone a half note higher than that part of it which is upon the other side.''^^ In other words. Low's dulcimer, like that of Pantaleon Hebenstreit, (see p. 20) had a chromatic interval across the treble bridge. This, he assured the Patent Office, would be a "more harmonious action" than the fifth interval arrangement of the "common dulcimer"^^ (Figure 5). Low and his partner Albion Gibbs, asked $15 for their standard dulcimer, and as much as $35 for their fanciest model.^s How long their shop operated in Clinton is not known, but they 44 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY were probably in business as early as 1858 when The Dulcimer Instructor (edited by J. Low) was advertised as "an instructor for the dulcimer: containing airs, marches, waltzes, schottisches, horn- pipes, and etc., also directions for tuning."^^ The Dulcimer Instructor cost 50

J?u2cz??i^r. 72824 ^JC^Q O; O OOJi ^^ ^ yAz/>7^ r r E r K E eg JENNY LIN D POLKA. r T T T E FEE D I> D D F r F F E E E E D F I* 1 A IG B 1 1 IA 1 n B B B B D B ' 1 A y , K F F , 1 G 12 IKE t 1 F l> |OI>I>M 1 1 A K 1 F F F 1 1 O E lEEK |l> K II* FIGURE 30. — MacKenzie's copyrighted letter notation from his Piano Harp Book. to have contained over 100 instruments at the time, was destroyed by fire. He married a third time, but was again widowed, and finally died by his own hand on 4 May 1905.^^ MacKenzie's notation system was quickly forgotten. Though some piano harps survived and a few are still played, their production and promotion ended with his tragic death. Factories and Mail Order Merchandisers Although small shops produced dulcimers throughout the 19th century, larger dulcimer factories appeared only during the 1870s. Actually, there was only one such firm whose operations we can document with certainty: the Lyon and Healy Co. of Chicago, Illinois, which manufactured dulcimers for sale through mail 56 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY order houses like Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Montgomery Ward. Ward's spring-summer catalog for 1895 gave the following de- scription of Lyon and Healy's "Perfection Dulcimer": American made. Imitation rosewood, neatly decorated body, finely finished, chromatic, can be perfectly tuned in all keys; in short it is the most complete, carefully made instrument of its kind produced. $16.00*o The instrument's design was unusual in that it had two separate bass bridges (see Figure 31). The catalog's claim notwithstanding, however, it did have a standard fifth interval across the treble bridge; hence it was "chromatic" only in the sense that it could be retuned into various keys. To play "chromatically," the performer would have to be a virtuoso with the tuning hammer. That catalog also offered dulcimer beaters with flexible handles and felt-covered heads for 35 luiiedinall Keys; the most complete, carefully made Instrument of the kind producL-.l ii: :. FIGURE 32. —Advertisement from the Lyon and Healy catalog from the 1890s. The price was typically inflated to allow for negotiating with pvirchasers. beaters and complete instruction book^^ (see Figure 32). The history of two other "factories," if in fact they ever existed, is much hazier. One of these was the Joseph E. Stroehlein Company of Brooklyn, New York. Stroehlein's trapezoidal instruments were painted a rich shade of gold and profusely decorated with two large clusters of eight small toneholes and four smaller six-hole clusters (Figure 33). Two American eagle decals adorned either side of the centrally placed chromatic bridge, and the name "Stroehlein" was stenciled in the lower right hand comer of the instrument. Stroehlein's dulcimers had fourteen courses of six strings each, and lacked a bass bridge. On some instruments, a decal located in the lower left comer advised the purchaser that a prize had been awarded to the dulcimer manufacturer at the National Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. (Stroehlein is not listed among the prize-winners in the Centennial Exhibition cata- 58 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 33. —Stroehlein's chromatic dulcimer, Brooklyn, New York, ca. 1876. (Collections of Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 00.4.1717) log, and no record of a "National Exhibition" has surfaced.) Based on the serial numbers of extant Stroehlein dulcimers, the firm seems to have manufactured several thousand instruments during the 1870s; yet oddly, it is not listed in the Brooklyn City Directory for that decade. Also unclear is the connection between Stroehlein's firm, and the Stonitsch Company, also of Brooklyn. The latter sold instruments almost identical to those marketed by Stroehlein, and seems to have been in business at about the same time. It is conceivable that neither company manufactured their dulcimers, but rather bought premade dulcimers, and simply added their own names and decorations. (This was a widespread practice among 19th-century musical instrument purveyors and continues even today.) Indeed, the central chromatic bridge of the Stroehlein and Stonitsch instruments suggests that they might have been imported from Germany. Wires, pins, and tuning hammers could also be obtained through large piano supply houses. Even today, the American Piano Supply Company of New Jersey lists several sizes of wire as NUMBER 44 59 "dulcimer gauge;" as if to underscore the instrument's modem obscurity, these items are now suggested for use in cheese cutters.^^ Folk-Craftsmen and Their Regional Styles Those who did not want or could not afford mass-produced dulcimers often chose to make their own. Construction of a play- able instrument required only some wood, pegs and wire (which could be ordered through the mail), and a modicum of skill. There was no formal apprenticeship system to train folk-instrument builders. They usually learned some carpentry by watching family members or neighbors, and applied that skill to building dulci- mers. The instruments they made were for their own use or to sell to neighbors and relatives, almost always on the advance order of the prospective buyer. Unlike shop and factory workers, they did not rely on instrument building as a primary source of income. Many were farmers, cobblers, or carpenters, making dulcimers in their spare time to bring in a few extra dollars. Their output rarely exceeded two or three instruments a year; indeed, some probably built no more than two or three in an entire lifetime. These craftsmen printed no instruction books, patented no improvements, and advertised only by word of mouth. Folk- craftsmen rarely signed their instruments. Members of their com- munities already knew who had made what instrument; besides, signing seemed to some makers inappropriate. As one informant explained, "If a man buys my instrument, that's his. Why should 1 stick my name in his instrument?"^'* Those who are remembered, either because they did sign a piece of their work, or because their descendants still speak of them, are only a small percentage of the hundreds whose unsigned, anonymous instruments recall their existence. Dulcimer shops can be discussed chronologically, but folk- craftsmen, strongly influenced by regional features and local traditions, are more easily classified according to the four major 60 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY geographical styles of dulcimer construction that have thus far been identified; New England, the Piedmont region of North Carolina, West Virginia, and the northern Midwest. NEW ENGLAND. — Paradoxically, it is in New England, where Judge Sewall wrote of seeing a dulcimer in the early 18th century and where dulcimer shops abounded in the 19th, that documenta- tion of the dulcimer's use as a folk instrument is hardest to find. Perhaps this is because this instrument's popularity began to fade in the face of growing public concern with the "reform" of music during the early 19th century. Although this reform movement ultimately spread to other regions of the country, its impact was first felt in New England. Lowell Mason (1792-1872), the Boston Handel and Haydn Society (est. 1815), and the forces of "scientific music" had by the mid-19th century already succeeded in stamping out much of the region's traditional music (see p. 34). Since much of the information about any folk or popular instrument comes from personal recollections, the early decline of the dulcimer in New England seems to explain why it is not remembered there today, even by elderly informants. There are not enough extant New England folk dulcimers to allow many generalizations about regional construction styles. If the shop-built dulcimers made in Massachusetts and Connecticut are typical, the people of this region preferred rectangular instru- ments with two single-piece bridges and approximately twice as many treble courses as bass courses (Figure 23). Yet a dulcimer built in the workshop of Charles "Henry" Bryant at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in 1898, differs in every respect from the region's shop-built instruments (Figure 34). It is trapezoidal in shape, with individual "chessmen'' bridges; it has an almost equivalent number of treble and bass courses, hand-forged "fish- tailed" pegs, and two triangular, cloth-covered toneholes built into the back of the instrument. While most shop-built New England dulcimers were stained or veneered a dark wood color, Bryant chose to paint his dulcimer orange. Henry Bryant (ca. 1840-1923) NUMBER 44 61 FIGURE 34. —Built by Charles "Henry" Bryant at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in 1898, this dulcimer has individual turned bridges and handmade fishtail-shaped pegs. Toneholes are in the back. (Collections of Henr\' Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 00.3.13111) was a farmer and a cabinet maker who was well known for building fiddles.85 What inspired him to build a dulcimer, and whether this surviving example is typical of a regional or local folk style, remain unknown. Another New England builder about whom little is known was Milo Skiff, a shingle-maker who made rectangular dulcimers decorated with black paint in Sharon, Connecticut, during the mid-19th century.^^ PIEDMONT, NORTH CAROLINA. —The Piedmont region of North Carolina yields a great many homemade dulcimers built during the 19th century. Dulcimers from this area tended to be trapezoidal with individual "chessmen" bridges and unusually deep bodies. Walnut and white oak were used in construction, and most Pied- mont dulcimers were heavily braced. Piedmont dulcimers had both treble and bass bridges, and two large circular toneholes seem to have been preferred. Some mod- em Piedmont dulcimer players substitute a single-wound guitar 62 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY String for each bass course, but it is uncertain when this practice originated or how widespread it was. As in other areas, the names of only a few Piedmont folk- craftsmen are remembered. Harvey Jones, a traditional maker from Coleridge, recalled being taught to build dulcimers in the 1950s by Fred Phillips, a furniture maker from Asheboro. Phillips, in turn, had been taught by Mann Scott of Ramseur, who learned the art from a man named Robbins who was active around the turn of this century.8' Many dulcimers survive in the area around Asheboro, particularly in the Uwharrie Hills, but much research remains to be done on the makers and players of this region. WEST VIRGINIA. —In no area of the United States was the folk- craftsman's regionalism more pronounced than in the area that is today West Virginia. Unlike other northern and eastern states. West Virginia had no large dulcimer shops or factories to establish or influence stylistic development. The unique design used in the region is in many ways the farthest removed from European antecedents. It seems to have evolved quite early among local folk-craftsmen. The typical West Virginia dulcimer was built of yellow poplar wood and had an extremely shallow rectangular body, often only three inches in depth. Each of the nine treble courses had an individual bridge, usually unturned and triangular in shape; there were no bass courses. The soundboard had four round, inch-wide, augured toneholes. An excellent example of a West Virginia dulcimer is owned by the well-known traditional musician Russell Fluharty. His instru- ment, made near Mannington possibly as early as the 1840s, is 44 inches long, 15 inches wide, and 3 inches deep. Because of the thickness of the yellow poplar boards, there is only about an inch and a half of resonance space within the instrument (Figure 35). Flat-headed screws were used in lieu of iron pegs for the tuning pins, and the pitch is adjusted with a small screwdriver. The original hammers were eight inches long and made of white oak NUMBER 44 63 FIGURE 35. — This typical West Virginian dulcimer, made of yellow poplar, has a shallow rectangular body, an unusual tonehole arrangement, and lacks a bass bridge. It was made near Mannington, ca. 1840. (Photo courtesy of Russell Fluharty) splints (or splits) that had been steamed and bent into shape. The construction of Fluharty's dulcimer is typical for the region; its tuning, however, is unusual. Instead of the standard interval of a fifth across the treble bridge, the pitches on the right-hand side are a fourth lower than those on the left. The notes G, A, B, C, D, E, G, A, and B are found to the right side of the treble bridge, and the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, C, D, and E to the left. This arrangement seems to have been quite rare. The craftsmen who built folk dulcimers were no less concerned than were small shop entrepreneurs about the overall aesthetic quality of their instruments. Their options, however, were much more limited. To finish and decorate their dulcimers. West Vir- ginia craftsmen often turned to traditional local materials. Accord- ing to Herman Matheny, the pokeberry was such a source: 64 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Those people didn't have money to go out and buy everything they wanted, so they squeezed the pokeberry juice —which was very red —and they stained their hammered dulcimers with pokeberry juice, that's called "poke finish."°° The same informant described a finish made of buttermilk mixed with red clay. It gave the wood a distinctive reddish hue; like most of these finishes, it was also used for furniture. Matheny also recalled a potato finishing technique used to enhance plain wood: If you have wood that's very uninteresting, especially soft wood ... that's going to come out very plain, and you don't like that. They'd take a piece of raw potato and rub it into the wood; you know, make designs, whatever they'd want on the wood. Then they put a coat of clear varnish on it. And then, wherever that potato touches, why, that will stay light ... and the rest [becomes] dark.^^ Other commonly used natural dye materials were the outer hulls of walnuts, which produced a brown finish, and "madder" weed for a reddish hue. Even such normally mass-produced items as tuning pegs could be made within the rural community; Cloise Sinclair of Michigan recalled: They didn't have pegs like they got now. The blacksmith made them. To make a hole through ... he took a chisel and he cut a notch in the side of the pin, and then he made a lip ... He'd lay something in there, and then hammer the lip back over so there'd be a little hole to put the wire into. And [then] he made a key to tune it.* In West Virginia, as elsewhere, only a few folk craftsmen are remembered by name. Raymer Price, who worked around the turn of the century, and William Varner (1858-1937) built dulcimers for the people around Mannington. Vamer's instruments reportedly sold for $1.50. Price's were remembered as having a painted star around each of the toneholes. Other makers in the area included: Thomas J. Doolittle (born 18 July 1853) of Marion County; Morgan Matheny (working in the early 1900s) of Lubeck; Joseph Price (born 1856) of Metz; Ira Mayfield (1886-1972), and his father, Ira Mayfield, Sr. (bom 1865) of Tyler County.si NUMBER 44 65 FIGURE 36.-Reuben Matheny, Sr. (1809-1877) brought his dulcimer-building family to Harris- ville, West Virginia, in the 1860s. (Photo courtesy of H.E. Matheny) Perhaps the largest clan involved in dulcimer making was the Matheny family of Harrisville, and later of Waverly, West Virgin- ia. Reuben Matheny, Sr. (1809-1877), a part-time Union spy during the Civil War, brought his family to the newly formed state of West Virginia after surviving a lynching attempt in Highland County, Virginia (Figure 36). The family's trade was shoemaking but the youngest son, Reuben Matheny, Jr. (1857-1936), learned how to make dulcimers from his father and built a few in this spare time in the room above the family's cobbler shop in Harrisville. He was occasionally helped in this part-time undertaking by his brothers. 66 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 37.-Reuben Matheny, Jr. (1857-1936). (Photo courtesy of H.E. Matheny) Thomas Marion (bom 1839), Archibald (born 1841), Conrad (born 1849), and Decatur (born 1852). They did not think of themselves as instrument builders. "Dulcimer making wasn't a living; [it] was as a sideline. They were shoemakers ... when there were no shoes to repair, they made dulcimers."^^ In 1880 Reuben Matheny, Jr. moved to Waverly, West Virginia, where he opened a barber shop (Figure 37). Between customers, he built dulcimers, and when his shop burned in 1890, he moved again to Parkersburg, West Virginia. Herman Matheny, a de- scendant, recalled how Reuben marketed his instruments: He charged $8.00 apiece... . That was an enormous amount then; that was eight days' wages. But he sold them on time ... a dollar down and a dollar a month. He NUMBER 44 67 traveled around over the country [collecting his payments], and if he got $3 he was satisfied. Sometimes the people would pay him the full $8 and sometimes they wouldn't pay him anything. But he charged $8 because he wanted $3. ^^ THE NORTHERN MIDWEST. —In this region, comprised of western New York State, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana, dulcimer shops produced handsome rectangular "parlor' instru- ments. The area's folk-craftsmen, however, preferred smaller trapezoidal dulcimers, with 11-14 treble courses and 6-8 bass ones. Treble courses usually had more strings than did bass courses; both treble and bass strings were tightened over one of the two single-piece, perforated bridges. The most common tonehole de- sign was a single large circle surrounded by an outer ring of eight to ten smaller holes (Figure 4). Dulcimer design varied considera- bly within this large region, and dulcimers matching this general description were also made in other parts of the country. There are, nonetheless, a great many dulcimers from this area with these general features, which seems to indicate a coherent regional style. Possibly this type of dulcimer developed in western New York and was brought westward to the newly opened Northwest Territory during the first half of the 19th century. A story in a 1927 Madison, Wisconsin, newspaper mentioned a "young cabinet-maker named Orrin Sweet who came from New York state to make and sell [dulcimers] to the pioneers of Dane County [Wisconsin] in 1857."^'* The fact that many of the remaining traditional dulcimer players in Michigan and Ohio claim descent from early New York settlers would also tend to support this theory. Still, the theory of origin and dispersal remains only speculative. From mid- to late-19th century, there were scores of folk-craftsmen in this area. Typical of Ohio builders were the Hackett brothers, (bom in Dryden, New York), Joseph "Wheel" (1834-1908) and Gene (no available dates), who built dulcimers at their home on Maple Street in Liberty Center, Ohio, during the 1890s.^^ Their trapezoidal instruments usually had twelve quadruple-strung treble courses and five double-strung bass courses; measured 42 inches in length at the bottom and 20 inches at the top, 15 inches wide, and 68 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 4 inches deep; had individual bridges; and came complete with a lid.96 As elsewhere, it is not easy to discover names of 19th-century Midwestern dulcimer makers or details about their activities. This author has found only a few names. Martin Bates reportedly built beautiful parlor model instruments in Mount Effrum, Ohio, dur- ing the 1850S.97 Perry Wight (1825-1900) of South Alabama, Genesee County, New York, built dulcimers for himself and many of his relatives during the mid-19th century.^^ New England, West Virginia, the Piedmont region of North Carolina, and the Northern Midwest all produced instruments in distinctive regional styles during the 19th century, but the dulci- mer was not limited to these areas. There have been reports of dulcimers in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Ar- kansas, California, and many Canadian provinces. The Hulan brothers built and sold dulcimers outside of Nashville, Tennessee, during the 1880s and 1890s. It is not known if their instruments were typical of that region's style, because not enough Tennessee- made dulcimers have yet been identified. The author hopes that eventually enough examples will surface to permit generalizations about the folk-craftsmen of this and other areas. VARIANTS. —Occasionally one comes upon a dulcimer that does not resemble any known style, or an otherwise standard folk dulcimer that has been "improved" by its maker. The folk-craftsman, in his attempt to build a slightly better instrument, often created somewhat eccentric examples. While the 19th-century entrepre- neur probably would have patented these inventions, the folk- craftsman rarely left more than the instrument itself, or stories told by his skeptical neighbors, to let the modern world know what he had accomplished. Take for example the anonymous inventor of the "barrel-dulcimer" (Figure 38) described by Herman Matheny. He claimed that this was once quite common in West Virginia (a contention as yet uncorroborated) and described it as "an instrument to play dances NUMBER 44 69 FIGURE 38. —Front and back of a "barrel dulcimer." (Photos courtesy of H.E. Matheny) 70 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY FIGURE 39. —Stencil-decorated dulcimer, possibly from the Midwest, ca. 1880. (Collections of Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession number 33.73.1) and things like that. They'd cut a big hole in the back end of [a dulcimer]; they just put it on an empty [sugar] barrel. That amplified it, you can hear that thing a mile! [The] hole was cut off-center to keep away from [the instrument's] internal cross bracing."99 Another West Virginian remembered seeing what —for want of a better term —might be called a "cabin model" dulcimer: One time I went over to visit a man that had a dulcimer in a little community close to here called Jimtown [West Virginia]. And the man there had a dulcimer [that] had four holes in the corners of it.... He said, "At home in the old house, we put a rope through each one of those holes, and up over a pin over the joist" (that were old logs up over head that went over to the corner of the house) "and we had a weight on it over there that would just balance the dulcimer." And I said, "Why'd you do that?" and he said, "Well, the main thing was to keep it away from the kids."'** Even this informant thought the counterbalanced dulcimer was an unusual arrangement, but added that the man who had shown him the instrument seemed to think it was important. Some instruments were unique simply because their makers took the time and trouble to make them into beautiful examples of folk NUMBER 44 71 art. For example, the dulcimer in Figure 39 is a well-crafted but hardly unusual example of the northern Midwest style of construc- tion. What makes this instrument unusual is the handsome fruit and vine motif that someone has carefully stenciled in reds and yellows on its black outer case. Another beautiful instrument, made by a man named Grill near Lansing, Michigan, around the turn of the century, shows what could be done by an enthusiastic and exacting folk craftsman (Figure 40). Grill decorated the case with herringbone veneer and inlaid bone. When the two round-grooved disks above the sound- board are removed, they reveal velvet-lined pockets in which the player could store hammers and extra wire. The Grill instrument represents a high point of dulcimer construction by the folk-craftsman, but it also marks the end of an era. After the close of the 19th century, the dulcimer declined in FIGURE 40.—Dulcimer case and stand by Grill of Lansing, Michigan, ca. 1890. (Collections of Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; accession num- ber 33.4021) 72 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY popularity to such an extent that its use in America practically ceased by the early 1930s. The Current Revival In recent years the dulcimer has enjoyed a modest revival. Some claim this was sparked by Elgia C. Hickok (1894-1967), a tradi- tional player from Sears, Michigan, who appeared at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. Hickok returned to Michigan and, with the help of Chet Parker (1891-1975), another traditional player from Grand Rapids, organized the "Original Dulcimer Players Club." (The term "original" was chosen by the founders to distinguish the hammered dulcimer from the then more popular plucked Appala- chian dulcimer.) The club still meets regularly under the leader- ship of Eugene and Esther Cox, and it has been largely responsible for a revival of dulcimer playing in Michigan and Ohio. Another traditional performer who has been important to the dulcimer's revival is Russel Fluharty of Mannington, West Virgin- ia, who in 1971 organized the Mountain Dulcimer club. Howard H. Mitchell of the Washington, D.C, area was one of the first revival players, and his instruction record and book, The Hammered Dulcimer: How to Make It and Play It (1972) introduced the instru- ment to a new audience. In the last 10 years a growing number of dulcimer makers and performers have brought the instrument to the public's attention. Today dulcimers are featured at folk festivals and concerts, and modern dulcimer recordings are occasionally played on the radio. This sometimes comes as a surprise to older traditional players who assume they are the last remaining dulcimerists anywhere in the country. Most are delighted to find fellow players, but as traditional and revival performers meet, trade tunes, and purchase each other's recordings, dulcimer music can not help changing. NUMBER 44 73 With this renewed interest many of the distinct regional styles, which have survived so long because of their isolation, will begin to disappear. Eventually, several regional styles might merge to form a unified "American" dulcimer style, but this will probably require many years to develop. Although the fading of local playing styles and regional dulcimer designs might be viewed with some trepidation by traditionalists, it does ensure the survival of the dulcimer in America for years to come. Appendix A A Chronological Tabulation of U.S. Patents Granted for Improvements to the Dulcimer (Patent number. Date granted, inventor, residence; assignor. Claim.) 28,811. 19 June 1860, John Low, Clinton, Worcester Co., Massachusetts; Nathan Bruce (1792-1876, Southboro, Massachusetts). Chromatic half step across treble bridge; bass bridge placed to left of treble bridge. 72,824. 31 December 1867, Ezra Durand, Norwich, New London Co., Connecticut. Perforated soundpost and bridges. 84,027. 10 November 1868, William Vogel, Norwich, New London Co., Connec- ticut; Ezra Durand. Iron bridges, perforated braces; damping pedal operated by a foot lever. 171,031. 14 December 1875, James A. MacKenzie, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., Minnesota. Separate sets of strings on opposite sides of reversible dulcimer body; adjustable fret blocks. 440,601. 11 November 1890, James A. MacKenzie, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., Minnesota. Longitudinally arched metal frame and braces for soundboard support. 461,915. 27 October 1891, James A. MacKenzie, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., Minn- esota. Piano harp with 3 sounding chambers in an upright piano case. 479,323. 19 July 1892, Ignatius D. Bagasarian, Cambridge, Massachusetts (subject of the Sultan of Turkey). Individual bridges; placement of hitch- and tuning pins on side of instru- ment (similar to Turkish dulcimer). 582,537. 11 May 1897, Jesse Merrill, Kanopolas, Ellsworth Co., Kansas. Improved bridges; lifting rod arrangement to adjust playing level. 74 NUMBER 44 75 625,663. 23 May 1899, Roland William Everton and William Frost, Troy, Rensselaer Co., New York. Offset wrest plates. 808,374. 26 December 1904, Edwin G. James, South Milwaukee, Milwaukee Co., Wisconsin. Metal auxiliary frame, tension rods anchored in the pinblocks; hollow tubular metal bridges. 871,463. 19 November 1907, Ferdinand Wagner, New York, New York. Improved cimbalom dampers. Appendix B Dulcimer Makers Listed below are the names of the traditional dulcimer builders whose instruments the author has seen or heard about during the course of this study. Also included are the names of those inven- tors granted United States Patents for dulcimer improvements, although it is likely that several of them never produced working models of their claims. The current revival of interest in the dulcimer has inspired a new, large, and often talented generation of craftsmen-builders. Since the emphasis of this monograph is on the history of the dulcimer, the prerevival year of 1960 has been chosen as a cut- off point for inclusion in this list. An asterisk indicates that a patent was granted to the maker. Maker Location Dates •Bagdasarian, Ignatius D. Cambridge, Massachusetts ca. 1892 Bates, Martin Mt. Effrum, Numa Center, Ohio ca. 1850 Boggess, George Washington McFarland, West Virginia late 19th- and his son, Jerry early 20th Bryant, Charles Henry Thornston, New Hampshire 1870s Wolfsboro, New Hampshire 1898 Campbell, Ralph (1905-?) Mannington, West Virginia mid-20th Delano, Mortimer Oxford, Michigan 1870s (1823, Henrietta, N.Y.-?); Oscar F., Edwin, and Myron E. Doolittle, Thomas J. Marion County, West Virginia 1870s-1880s (18Jull853-.^) •Durand, Ezra Norwich, Connecticut 1867-1869 *Everton, Roland William Troy, New York ca. 1899 Evilsizer, Otis Ypsilanti, Michigan ? ca. 1870 76 NUMBER 44 77 Fluharty, Russell Mannington, West Virginia 20th (1907-) •Frost, William Troy, New York ca. 1899 Grill, ? Lansing, Michigan }1890s Hackett, Eugene, Liberty Center, Ohio 1890 and Joseph "Wheel" (1834-1908) Hulan, Sam, George, and Minor near Nashville, Tennessee ca. 1885-1900 •James, Edwin G. South Milwaukee, Wisconsin ca. 1905 Jones, Harvey Coleridge, North Carolina ca. 1950- (1912-) present Koleszar, John New York, New York (cimbaloms) ? early 20th •Low, John (16 Sep. 1816-?) Clinton, Massachusetts late 1850s- 1860s Lyon and Healy Chicago, Illinois late 19th- 1903 •MacKenzie, James A. Minneapolis, Minnesota ?1875-1905 (1845-4 May 1905) Martin, Jesse Frewsberg, New York late 19th- (1854-1939) early 20th Matheny, Morgan Lubeck, West Virginia late 19th- early 20th Matheny, Reuben, Sr. Harrisville, West Virginia (1809-1877) Matheny, Reuben, Jr. (1857-1936) Waverly, West Virginia ca. 1880 Parkersburg, West Virginia ca. 1890 Mayfield, Ira, Sr.(1865-?) Tyler County, West Virginia late 19th- and his son, Mayfield, Ira, Jr. 20th (1886-1972) •Merrill, Jesse Kanopolos, Kansas ca. 1897 Parker, Chet Grand Rapids, Michigan early 20th (1891-1975) Phillips, Fred Asheboro, North Carolina early-mid- 20th Price, Joseph Metz, West Virginia late 19th (1856-?) Price, Raymer(?) Mannington, West Virginia .^ 1890-1910 Ransom, Henry Sherman, New York 1856-1860 (1809-1863) Newport, Kentucky 1860-1863 Robbins, ? North Carolina ? late 19th Sackett, Hiram (1824-?) Irvine, New York 1850s and Morgan (1827-1919) 78 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Scott, Mann Ramseur, North Carolina ? early 20th Skiff, Milo Sharon, Connecticut ? mid-19th Stonitsch, ? Brooklyn, New York 1870s Stroehlein, Joseph E. Brooklyn, New York ? late 1870s Sweet, Orrin Verona, Dane County, Wisconsin ca. 1857 Thomas (family) Pea Ridge, Arkansas 1870s Thurston, William Farmington, Michigan 1860s Varner, William Mannington, West Virginia ca. 1880- (1858-1937) 1937 •Vogel, William Norwich, Connecticut ca. 1868 Wade, Lewis S., and Harrison Stedman, New York 1855-1860 (1828-1900) •Wagner, Ferdinand New York, New York ca. 1907 Wight, Perry South Alabama, Genesee mid- to late (1825-1900) County, New York 19th Wooten, .-' Porum's Landing, Porum, ? early 20th Oklahoma Appendix C Biographical Sketches of Informants (Biographical information on informants who have been quoted extensively in the course of this monograph.) CAPORALI, GENO. —Bom Florence, Italy. The only surviving member of Henry Ford's Early American Orchestra. Played string bass with the orchestra at night and worked in the auto plant during the day. After the group disbanded, worked as a security guard at Henry Ford Museum and continued to play dances as a freelance musician. (Interviewed at the Henry Ford Museum, summer 1975. No transcript available.) FLUHARTY, RUSSELL. —Bom 1907, Mannington, West Virginia. An old-time tradi- tional musician who plays "anything with strings on it." Learned dulcimer from his uncle; played in local dance bands and traveling medicine shows. One of the very few performers who continued to perform publicly from the 1940s through the 1960s. Earned his living as a potter before his retirement. President of the Mountain Dulcimer Club. (Interviewed at his home outside of Mannington, West Virginia, 28 June 1977. Further conversation October 1977.) MATHENY, HERMAN E. —Bom 1910, Fargesberg, West Virginia. A descendant of the 19th century Matheny clan of dulcimer makers in Harrisville; claims his lineage can be traced back to 16th century Huguenot instrument makers. Retired security guard for Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company. Builds reproductions of ancient musical instruments, and collects information on instrument builders. (Interviewed at his home in Uniontown, Ohio, 29 June 1977. Further correspondence, 1977 and 1978.) SINCLAIR, CLOISE. —Bom ca. 1905, Sheridan Township, Michigan. Learned to play by watching his father, Eugene Sinclair. After the latter's early death, laid music aside for many years. Farmed in Sheridan. Has recently begun to perform again with his brother Harley. Plays mostly at social gatherings and festivals; feels that the dulcimer was meant to play hymns and old-time music, but not dances. (Interviewed at the Original Dulcimer Players Meeting at Evart, Michigan, 22-24 July 1977.) VAN ARSDALE, PAUL.—Bom 1920, Warren Co., Pennsylvania. Learned to play dulcimer from his maternal grandfather, the vaudeville star Jesse Martin, who lived with Paul's family during the 1920s and 1930s. Learned from him a large repertoire of unusual and beautiful dulcimer tunes; also composes. Has recently begun to 79 80 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY perform outside his family circle again after many years. Works as tool grinder at an aerospace plant, (Interview conducted at his home in North Tonawanda, New York, 30 June 1977. Additional conversation October 1977 [no transcript available]. Further conversations and correspondence 1977 and 1978.) Appendix D Dulcimers in the Collections of the Smithsonian Institution Catalog number (accession number); negative numbers of available photographs. Provenance. Acquisition information. Phvsical data (shape; measurements in cm; number of courses/number of strings per course). Remarks. 94,868 (23,744); 8,222. Maker unknown; PItalian; 18th century. Gift of Edward P. Mason, Boston, Massachusetts, December 1890. Trapezoidal; length 40.0 (top) 71.4 (bottom), width 29.0, depth 7.9; 20/4. Carved molding around soundboard; 2 circular toneholes; gesso; gilded; floral painted design on case sides. 94.871 (23,822); 8,222, 78-4918. Maker unknown; PFulton Co., New York; ca. 1847. Gift of F.S. Hawley, Broadalbin, Fulton Co., New York, 1890. Trapezoidal; length 47.4 (top) 107.0 (bottom), width 39.5, depth 9.1; 11/4 and 6/2. Grained sides; chessman bridges; 2 small circular toneholes (see Figure 2; detailed technical drawing available from the Division of Musical Instruments, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution). 94.872 (23,894); 8,222. Made by Ezra Durand; Norwich, Connecdcut; 1868. Rectangular parlor model; length 111.1; widdi 52.2; depth 13.8, height 78.4; 22/2. Even number of bass and treble courses; rosewood case with 4 curved legs, rounded comers, 2 circular toneholes each surrounded by 10 smaller holes, blue velvet lamp stands (see Figure 23). 95,049 (25,819). Maker and date unknown. Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. Trapezoidal; length 46.0 (top) 78.2 (bottom), width, 34.5, depth 7.3; 24/4. Painted; gilt paper around both toneholes; originally 6 strings per course; 3 sets of bridges (low bass on the left); 4 short legs. 95,289 (26,256); 8,222. Maker unknown; PFlorence; late 19th century. Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. Trapezoidal; length 41.0 (top) 76.0 (bottom), width 32.2, depth 7.9; 10/4 and 14/3. 81 82 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Painted landscape with cherubs and coat of arms; 2 gilded rosettes; faked worm holes; painted hinged outer case. 95.290 (26,265); 8,222, 5,790-F. Maker unknown; PFlorence; .^late 19th century. Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. Trapezoidal; length 38.2 (top) 69.4 (bottom), width 31.6, depth 7.7; 12/3 and 10/4. Painted with cherubs and wreaths; 2 gilt parchment rosettes; 3 short knobbed feet; faked worm holes. 95.291 (26,256); 8,222. Maker unknown; PFlorence; Plate 19th century. Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. Trapezoidal; length 39.2 (top) 67.0 (bottom), width 28.8, depth 7.3; 21/4. Top painted in muted colors with floral and cherub design; sides blue with scroll motif; chessman bridges; 2 gilded parchment rosettes; painted hinged outer case. 95,318 (26,256); 8,222. Maker unknown; .^Italy; late 18th or early 19th century. Purchased from Leopoldo Franciolini, Florence, 1900. Trapezoidal; length 54.0 (top) 115.7 (bottom), width 57.5, depth 12.2; 36/3. Large instrument decorated with painted scene of 11 figures in classical or biblical scene; lacks a back; no tonehole. 96,464 (30,688). Maker unknown; Poltava, Malo Russia; 19th century. Acquired from Lubny Museum, Poltava, Malo Russia, 1896. Trapezoidal; length 57.0 (top) 78.6 (bottom), width 24.3, depth 6.9; 11/4 (?). Tsimbaldi, folk dulcimer of Malo Russia; painted dark brown; has 2 carved rosettes in soundboard and large oval hole in side. 288,325(58,852); 72-1352. Maker unknown; .^Pennsylvania; ?1870s. Rectangular; length 99.6, width 41.8, depth 9.7; 12/3 and 7/2. Burl walnut veneered box with spruce (?) soundboard; two 7 cm tilde-shaped toneholes; with plain case. 299,841 (61,285); 56,344, 56,344-A (top view). Maker unknown; American; ca. 1860. Gift of Hugo Worch, 1917. Rectangular parlor model; length 109.0, width 48.3, depth 11.7, height 78.1; 22/2. Rosewood veneered case with square corners; four turned legs and hinged cover; 2 circular toneholes sourrounded by 10 smaller holes; blue velvet lamp stands (see Figure 1). 331,204 (28,811); 78-4920. John Low; Clinton, Massachusetts; 1860. Rectangular; length 30.5, width 12.7, depth 5.1; 21/2. Patent model; separate hitch pins for bass and treble bridges (see Figure 5). 332,324 (94,380); 78-4924. Ezra Durand; Norwich, Connecticut; 1967. Rectangular; length 30.1, width 14.6, depth 5.4; 9/2. Crude patent model (see catalog number 94,872; Figures 22, 23.) NUMBER 44 83 60.1407 (2682.38 B2). Maker unknown; German or German-American; early 20th century. Trapezoidal; length 68.6 (top) 106.3 (bottom), width 43.7, depth 7.5; 20/4 and 2/3 (low bass). Two sets of cjm6a/om-type dampers activated by hand-operated levers; gold paint; jigsaw-cut bird rosettes (formerly in Cooper Union Collection). 1982.0530. Maker unknown, PAmerican, late 19th century. Trapezoidal; length 48.4 (top) 105.0 (bottom), width 38.2, depth 7.2; 27/4. Painted pine; gilt mouldings on soundboard edge; hand-forged pins; round brass fittings in each tonehole. 78.7 (1978.0614); 78-8907. John Palanuk; Springfield, Oregon; 1974. Trapezoidal; length 89.0 (top) 123.0 (bottom), width 44.5, depth 8.5; 19/5. Ukrainian folk dulcimer made in America; spruce soundboard with birch case sides and plywood bottom; single bridge and two slotted toneholes. 1981.0530.06; 81-16679, 81-16680. Maker unknown; ?New England; mid-19th century. Purchased at auction of the Clifford Allanson collection. Rectangular; length 97.7, width 38.4, depth 10.0; 11/3 and 7/2. Yellow-brown varnished body ornamented with stencil-cut rosewood veneer; with weathered, unhinged, crude pine case. Appendix E Selected Discography Austen, Seth, and Madeline MacNeil N.d. Ye Banks and Braes. Roots and Branches Recordings RBR 002. [Available from Front Hall Records, RDl, Wormer Road, Voorheesville, NY 12816.] Carawan, Guy 1976. Green Rocky Road. June Appal 021. [Available from June Appal Record- ings, Box 743, Whitesburg, KY 41858.] 1979. Jubilee. June Appal 029. [Available from June Appal Recordings.] Carter, Dorothy N.d. Troubador. Celeste Records 1003. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Collins, Mitzie 1976. A Sampler of Folk Music. Sampler Records 7601. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 1979. The Leaves of Life. Sampler Records 7902. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Cook, Russell N.d. Red-Haired Boy. Sword and Shield Recordings 9201. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Cooper, Billy N.d. Bocastle Breakdown. Topic Records 12T40 (British). Daglish, Malcolm, and Grey Larsen 1977. Banish Misfortune. June Appal 016. [Available from June Appal Record- ings.] 1979. The First of Autumn. June Appal 026. [Available from June Appal Record- ings.] Fluharty, Russell N.d. West Virginia Heritage. Page Records 601. [Available from Russell Fluharty, RD#3, Box 119, Mannington, WV 26582.] Gillett, Lilah, and Harvey Prinz 1978. Prairie Wild Flowers. Audio House AHKBA27F78. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Gardner, Worley N.d. Mountain Melodies: Tunes of the Appalachians. OL-3-7-2 (stereo). [Available from Worley Gardner, 1332 Cain St., Morgan town, WV 26505.] Herrmann, Sam, with the Critton Hollow String Band. 1979. Poor Boy. Yodel-Ay-Hee 108327. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 84 NUMBER 44 Looman, Patty, and Russell Fluharty N.d. Dulcimore. Page Records 602. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Maxson, Charles, and Karen Skidmore N.d. From the Heart of West Virginia. Peaceable Records. [Available from Peaceable Records, Box 77038, Los Angeles, CA 90007.] MacKenzie, Tom 1980. Finally Tuned. Rooster Recordings 104. [Available fro'm Front Hall Records.] McCutcheon, John, et al. 1975. How Can I Keep from Singing. June Appal 003. [Available from June Appal Recordings.] 1977. The Wind That Shakes the Barley. June Appal 014. [Available from June Appal Recordings.] 1982. Fine Times at Our House. Greenhays GR710. [Available from Front Hall Records.] McCutcheon, John, with Rye Straw 1978. From Earth to Heaven. June Appal 028. [Available from June Appal Re- cordings.] Michael, Walt, and Tom McCreesh 1978. Dance, Like a Wave of the Sea. Front Hall Records FHR 017. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Michael, Walt, Tom McCreesh, and Harley Campbell 1980. The Host of the Air. Front Hall Records FHR 023. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Mitchell, Howard W. 1970. The Hammered Dulcimer: How to Make It and Play It (book and record). Folk-Legacy FSI-43. [Available from Folk Legacy Records, Sharon CT 06069.] Original Dulcimer Players Club, The 1981. The American Hammered Dulcimer. Traditional Records TR-006. [Avail- able from Front Hall Records.] Parker, Chet 1966. The Hammer Dulcimer Played by Chet Parker. Folkways FA2381. Rey, John N.d. Drops of Brandy. Topic Records 287 (British). N.d. Irish Music on the Hammered Dulcimer. Topic Records 373 (British). Rizzetta, Sam 1982. Bucks and Does. Flying Clouds Music FCM-3. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Round, Jay, et al. 1974. The Hammered Dulcimer Album. Turnaround 4054. [Available from 86 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Jay Round, 6470 Eighth Ave., Grandville, MI 49418, or from Front Hall Records.] 1977. One Time Friend. Turnaround 5003. [Available from Jay Round or Front Hall Records.] 1980. Don't Get Around Much Any More. Turnaround 5004. [Available from Jay Round or Front Hall Records.] Round, Jay, with the Williams Family 1975. Columbus Stockade Blues. Turnaround Records 5002. [Available from Jay Round or Front Hall Records.] Smith, Jerry Read, and Tom Fellendaum 1981. The Strayaway Child. Song of the Wood Records 01. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Spence, Bill, with Fennig's AU-Star Band 1973. The Hammered Dulcimer. Front Hall Records FHR-01. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 1975. Saturday Night in the Provinces. Front Hall Records FHR-05. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 1977. The Hammered Dulcimer Strikes Again. Front Hall Records FHROIO. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 1981. Fennigmania. Front Hall Records FHR-204. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Trapezoid (Sam Rizzetta, Paul Reisler, Pete Vigour, and Paul Yeaton) 1975. Trapezoid. Troubadour Records TR-1. 1978. Three Forks of Cheat. Rounder Records 0113. [Available from Front Hall Records.] 1980. Now and Then. Flying Fish Records 239. [Available from Front Hall Records.] Notes (Full references in Literature Cited) 1. Josiah Combs, Fotk-Songs of the Southern United States, page 95. 2. J. Scott Odell, conversation with the author, Washington, D.C, 1978. 3. Russel Fluharty, interview with the author, Mannington, West Virginia, 28 June 1977, see transcript, page 4 and Appendix C. 4. Paul Van Arsdale, conversation with the author, North Tonawanda, New York, October 1977. 5. Sibyl Marcuse, A Survey of Musicallnstruments, page 177. 6. Ibid 7. Curt Sachs, The History of Musical Instruments, page 118. 8. Ibid., page 188. 9. Ibid., page 257. 10. Sir George Grove, Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, volume VI, page 1027. 11. This is antedated by a dulcimer on the ivory bookplate of the Egerton Codex, a 12th century Byzantine artifact now in the British Museum. That instrument is of the Turkish type, however, and hence falls outside the scope of this study. See Marcuse, Survey of Musical Instruments, page 223. 12. Marin Mersenne, Harmonie Universelle: The Books on Instruments, pages 225-226. 13. Quoted by Francis W. Galpin, Old English Instruments of Music; Their History and Character, page 64. Galpin also argues that an 8th century Irish instrument called the timpan or tympanum was originally a psaltery that later evolved into a dul- cimer. If so, it would antedate the earliest known European board-zither by several centuries. See Galpin, A Textbook of European Musical Instruments, pages 67-70. 14. Quoted in Marcuse, A Survey of Musical Instruments, page 224. 15. Ibid. 16. Michael Praetorius, Syntagma Musicum de Organographia, volume II, page 79. 17. Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, volume III, pages 90,198. 18. Ibid., page 248. 19. Sir John Graham Dalyell, Musical Memoirs of Scotland, page 260. 20. Ibid., page 260. 21. Sarah E. Hanks, "Pantaleon's Pantaleon: An 18th Century Musical Fashion,' pages 215-228. 22. Percy A. Scholes, The Puritans and Music in England and New England: A Contribu- tion to the Cultural History of Two Nations, page 42. 87 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 23. Oscar Sonneck, Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon, page 17. 24. Norman Arthur Benson, "The Idnerant Dancing and Music Masters of Eighteenth Century America,' page 231. 25. Lubov Keefer, Baltimore's Music: The Haven of the American Composer, page 19. 26. New-York Gazette Revived in the Weekly Post-Boy, 27 April 1757. 27. Emelyn Gardner and Geraldine Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Mich- igan, page 7. 28. Patrick R. Murphey, "The Hammered Dulcimer Played by Chet Parker," record notes. 29. Henry Wharton Shoemaker, Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania, page 7. 30. Ibid., page 199. 31. Cloise Sinclair, interview with the author, 22 July 1977. 32. Paul Van Arsdale, interview with the author, 30 June 1977; see transcript, page 11. 33. David Ketdewell, "The Dulcimer and Related Instruments with Particular References to Traditional English Music," page 132. 34. Herman Matheny, interview with author, Uniontown, Ohio, 29 June 1977; see transcript, page 12. 35. Paul Van Arsdale, interview; see transcript, page 16. 36. Matheny, interview; transcript, page 8. 37. Fluharty, interview; transcript, page 11. 38. Van Arsdale, interview; transcript, page 11. 39. Matheny, interview; transcript, pages 8 and 11. 40. Hans Nathan, Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy, page 149. 41. Van Arsdale, interview; transcript, page 17. 42. Matheny, interview; transcript, pages 7-8. 43. Cloise Sinclair, interview with the author, Evart, Michigan, 22-24 July 1977; transcript, page 1. 44. Greensboro Daily News, "Hammered Dulcimer Virtuoso," 18 May 1977, section B, pagel. 45. H. Wiley Hitchcock, Music in the United States: A Historicallntroduction, pages 62-65. 46. Van Arsdale, interview; transcript, page 8. 47. Gino Caporali, conversation with the author. Dearborn, Michigan, summer 1975. 48. The author is indebted to Paul Van Arsdale and his family for access to the scrapbook of newspaper clippings kept by his grandfather, Jesse Martin. Unfor- tunately, most of the notices about Martin's performances are undated. 49. Allen Koenigsberg, Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912; with an Illustrated History of the Phonograph, page 14. 50. Fred Kunz. Correspondence with Cynthia Hoover, Division of Musical Instru- ments, National Museum of American History, 16 December 1964. 44. NUMBER 44 51. Jesse Martin, scrapbook. 52. Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), 22 March 1977. 53. Charles K. Wolfe, The Grand Old Opry: The Early Years, 1925-1935, page 8. 54. S.J. Sackett, "The Hammered Dulcimer in Ellis County, Kansas," pages 61-64. 55. Lewis Miller, Sketches and Chronicles; The Reflections of a Nineteenth Century Folk Artist, page 66. 56. United States Patent Number 28,811. Granted 19 June 1860 (see Appendix A). 57. Ibid 58. Correspondence with Elizabeth Alden, The Clinton Historical Society, Clinton, Massachusetts, 22 December 1977. 59. Boston Public Library Dictionary Catalogue of the Music Collection, volume 6, page 26. 60. Board of Music Trade of the U.S.A., Complete Catalogue of Sheet Music and Musical Works, 1870, page 73. 61. United States Patent Number 72,824. Granted 31 December 1867. 62. Norwich City Directory, Norwich, Connecticut, 1867, 1868,1869. 63. Ezra Durand, Dulcimer Without a Master, page iii. 64. Ibid., page 49. 65. Charles H. Weygant, The Sacketts of America: Their Ancestors and Descendants, 1630- 1907, page 266. 66. The author is indebted to Richard Sackett and his family of Bethesda, Maryland, for access to family papers and information. 67. Paul Gifford, "Development of the Hammered Dulcimer," pages 19-23. 68. Floyd L. Darrow, History of the Town of North Harmony, Chautauqua County, New York, volume 2, pages 80-81. 69. Ibid., page 81. 70. Ibid., volume 1, page 130. 71. Elizabeth L. Crocker, Yesterdays in and around Pomfret, New York, volume V, pages 41-42. 72. United States Census of 1860, "Manufacturing Schedule, Campbell County, Kentucky." 73. MacKenzie also spelled his name "McKenzie" and "Mckenzie." 74. United States Patent Number 171,031. Granted 14 December 1875, page 1. 75. United States Patent Number 440,601. Granted 11 November 1890, page 2. 76. Ibid 77. United States Patent Number 461,915. Granted 27 October 1891, page 1. 78. There is no record at the Library of Congress of this book actually having been copyrighted. 79. Minneapolis Tribune, Sunday, 7 May 1905, page 7, column 3. The author is in- debted to Floyd Cohoes of Forest Lake, Minnesota, and Mrs. R. Thorsenson of the Hennipin County Historical Society for information on MacKenzie's life and work. 51. 90 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 80. Montgomery Ward and Company Catalog for Spring and Summer 1895, reprinted edition, page 244. 81. Ibid, page 244. 82. Sears, Roebuck and Company Catalog, 1902, page 208. 83. American Piano Supply Company Catalog, 1974, page 72. 84. Matheny, interview, transcript, page 17. 85. Harry Bryant's son, Oliver H. "Ole" Bryant (1873-1940), later operated one of Boston's finest violin shops, O.H. Bryant and Sons from 1910 to 1940. Information on Harry Bryant was supplied by his granddaughter, Mrs. Helen Treanor of Washington D.C, October 1977. 86. Information supplied by Evelyn Hamlin of the Sharon, Connecticut, Historical Society. Conversation with the author. May 1978. 87. Greensboro (North Carolina) Daily News, undated clipping (1977?). The author thanks Coleman Emerson of Salisbury, North Carolina, for contributing infor- mation on Piedmont instrument makers. 88. Matheny, interview; transcript, page 7. The informant had not personally tried these folk finishes and there is no guarantee they would work. 89. Ibid., page 7. 90. Sinclair, interview; transcript, page 6. 91. The author is indebted to H.E. Matheny and Russell Fluharty for the names and dates of these dulcimer makers. 92. Matheny, interview; transcript, page 5. 93./6id., pagell. 94. Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin), 22 March 1927. 95. Mrs. Edna Rigal, Liberty Center (Ohio) Public Library. Correspondence with the author, 1 March 1978. Letter deposited in Division of Musical Instruments, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. 96. Gifford, "Development of the Hammered Dulcimer," page 21. 97. Ralph and Lydia Muncy of Ann Arbor, Mich.; conversation with the author. 98. The author thanks Virginia Barons of the Genesee County, New York, Depart- ment of History for information about Wight. Letter deposited at the Division of Musical Instruments, National Museum of American History. 99. Matheny, correspondence with the author, 1 March 1978, and interview; trans- cript, page 7. 100. Fluharty, interview; transcript, pages 6-7. Literature Cited American Piano Supply Company Catalog, 1974. Hoboken, New Jersey, 1974. Benson, Norman Arthur. "The Itinerant Dancing and Music Masters of Eight- eenth Century America." Doctoral dissertation. University of Minnesota, 1963. Board of Music Trade of the U.S.A. Complete Catalogue of the Sheet Music and Musical Works, 1970 New York: De Capo Press, 1973. Boston Public Library Dictionary Catalog of the Music Collection. Volume 6. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1972. Capital Times. (Madison, Wisconsin). 22 March 1927. Combs, Josiah. Folk-Songs of the Southern United States. Edited by D.K. Wilgus, Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967. [American Folklore Society, Biblio- graphical and Special Series, No. 19. French original published in Paris, 1925, Folk-Songs du Midi des Etats-Unis.] Crocker, Elizabeth L. Yesterdays in and around Pomfret, New York, volume V. Pomfret: Privately printed, 1964. Darrow, Floyd L. History of the Town of North Harmony, Chautauqua County, New York. 2 volumes. North Harmony: Privately printed, 1953,1955. Dalyell, Sir John Graham. Musical Memoirs of Scotland. 1849. Reprint edition, Norwood, Pennsylvania: Norwood Editions, 1973. Durand, Ezra. Dulcimer without a Master Boston: Oliver Ditson k Company, 1867. Galpin, Francis W. A Textbook of European Musical Instruments. New York: John de Graff Inc., 1937. . Old English Instruments of Music: Their History and Character. London: Methuen k Co., 1910. Gardner, Emelyn, and Geraldine Chickering. Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan. Ann Arbor: Univesity of Michigan Press, 1939. Gifford, Paul. "Development of the Hammered Dulcimer." Mugwumps Magazine, volume 3, number 5 (September, 1974), pages 19-23. Gottesman, Rita. The Arts and Crafts in New York, 1726-1776. 3 volumes. New York: New-York Historical Society, 1938-1965. Greensboro (North Carolina) Daily News. 18 May 1977; undated clipping. Grove, Sir George. Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Fifth edition, Eric Blom, editor, volumes VI, VII. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc., 1959. Haight, C A Complete System for the Dulcimer. New York: William Hall k Son, 1848. Hanks, Sarah E. "Pantaleon's Pantaleon: An Eighteenth Century Musical Fashion." Musical Quarterly, volume XV, number 2 (April 1969), pages 215-228. Hitchcock, H. Wiley, Music in the United States: A Historical Introduction. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prendce-Hall, 1974. 91 92 SMITHSONIAN STUDIES IN HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY Keefer, Lubov. Baltimore's Music: The Haven of the American Composer. Baltimore, Maryland: J.H. Furst, 1962. Kettlewell, David. The Dulcimer and Related Instruments with Particular References to Traditional English Music. B.M. thesis. University of Surrey, Guildford, 1973. Koenigsberg, Allen. Edison Cylinder Records, 1889-1912; with an Illustrated History of the Phonograph. New York: Stellar Productions, 1969. MacKenzie, James A. Piano Harp Book: The Piano Harp is Here Played by Sight Without a Teacher by Using Letters. [Minneapolis, 1891.] Marcuse, Sibyl. A Survey of Musical Instruments. New York: Harper k Row, 1975. Mersenne, Marin. Harmonie Universelle: The Books on Instruments. Two volumes, Paris: 1636, 1637. Reprint edition, Rodger E. Chapman, translator. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1957. Miller, Lewis. Sketches and Chronicles; The Reflections of a Nineteenth Century Pennsyl- vanian Folk Artist. Introduction by Donald A. Shelly. York: The Historical Society of York County, 1966. Minneapolis Minnesota City Directory. 1895, 1896, 1897, 1898. Minneapolis Tribune. 7 May 1905. Mitchell, Howard M. The Hammered Dulcimer: How to Make It and Play It (After a Fashion). Huntington, Vermont: Folk Legacy Records, 1966 (record and booklet). Montgomery Ward and Company Catalog for Spring and Summer of 1895. Reprint, New York: Crown Publications, 1973. Mugwumps Magazine, "The Hammer Dulcimer Compendium." Silver Spring, Maryland: MIH Publicadons, 1977. Murphey, Patrick R. "The Hammered Dulcimer Played by Chet Parker." Liner notes. New York: Folkways Recordings, 1966 (Album No. FA2381). Nathan, Hans. Dan Emmett and the Rise of Early Negro Minstrelsy. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1962. Newport City Directory. Newport, Kentucky: 1861. New-York Gazette Revived in the Weekly Post Boy. 27 April 1757. New York Times. 20 December 1925, Rotogravure Section, page 1. Norwich City Directory. Norwich, Connecticut: 1867,1868, 1869. Odell, J. Scott. "Folk Instruments." Arts in Virginia, Fall, 1971. Pepys, Samuel. The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 1660-1662. R. Latham and W. Matthews, editors, volumes I-IV, (1660-1663). Berkley: University of California, 1970. Praetorius, Michael. Syntagma Musicum de Organographia, volume II. Wolfenbuttel, 1620. Reprint edition, Harold Blumenfeld, translator. New Haven: Yale University, 1949. Ripin, Edwin M. The Instrument Catalog of Leopoldo Fanciolini Hackensack, New Jersey: J. Boonin, 1974. Sachs, Curt. The History of Musical Instruments. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1940. NUMBER 44 93 Sackett, S.J. "The Hammered Dulcimer in Ellis County, Kansas.' Journal of the International Folk Music Council, volume XIV (1962), pages 61-64. Scholes, Percy A. The Puritans and Music in England and New England: A Contribution to the Cultural History of Two Nations. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1934. Sears, Roebuck and Company Catalog, 1902. Chicago: 1902. Shoemaker, Henry Wharton. Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: N.F. McGirr, 1931. Sonneck, Oscar. Francis Hopkinson and James Lyon. New introduction by Richard Crawford. New York: Da Capo Press, 1966. United States Census of 1860. "Manufacturing Schedule: Products of Industry." Campbell County, City of Newport, Kentucky. Weigel, Johann Christoph. Musikalisches Theatrum. 1720. Reprint edition, Barenreiter Kassel: 1961. Weygant, Charles H. The Sacketts of America: Their Ancestors and Descendants, 1630- 1907. Newburgh, New York: 1907. Wolfe, Charles K. The Grand Old Opry: the Early Years, 1925-1935. London: Old Time Music, 1975.