American Banjo Museum facts for kids
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American Banjo Museum
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| Former name | National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame Museum |
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| Established | 1998 |
| Location | 9 East Sheridan Avenue, Oklahoma City |
| Type | Musical instrument museum |
| Collections | banjos |
| Collection size | 400+ instruments |
| Founder |
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The American Banjo Museum in Oklahoma City is a special place dedicated to the amazing history of the banjo. This museum shows how the banjo came to North America and how it became popular over time. It was started in 1988 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, by Jack Canine. Later, in 2009, it moved to its current home in Oklahoma City.
Contents
What's Inside the American Banjo Museum?
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The museum was started by two people: Brady Hunt, a lawyer from Oklahoma, and Jack Canine, a businessman from Indiana.
Jack Canine gave over 60 beautiful four-string banjos to the museum. In 2007, the museum got even bigger! It bought a collection of 182 "jazz-age" banjos from Europe. This made it one of the largest banjo collections in the world. With these new instruments, the museum had examples of almost every banjo made between 1920 and 1940.
At first, the museum mainly focused on four-string banjos. But by 2013, it started to include five-string banjos too. By 2018, the museum had more than 400 banjos! Over 300 of them are on display across two floors. The museum also has old recordings, films, videos, sheet music, and other cool banjo items.
Exploring Banjo History and Culture
How the Banjo Became Popular
The museum shows about 370 years of banjo history in the United States. This includes everything from the mid-1600s until today.
One part of the museum shows how the banjo started with African-American culture. The earliest American banjos were used for singing and dancing. For almost 200 years, only Black people played them. This display includes a 3D version of the famous painting The Banjo Lesson. It shows an older African-American man teaching a young boy to play the banjo.
Another exhibit shows how the banjo moved from African-American culture into mainstream American culture. This happened through popular shows and by making banjos more standard. You can see examples related to performers like Joel Sweeney and Christy's Minstrels.
After the Civil War, the banjo became popular with middle and upper-class families. People like Alfred A. Farland and Fred Van Eps even played the banjo in concert halls. They played classical music using a special finger-picking style. The banjo also became a way for people to socialize. College students started banjo clubs, and it became acceptable for women to play the instrument.
A third display is about the 1920s, the ragtime era, and dance music. The banjo was super important then, much like the electric guitar is today! Famous banjo players like Eddie Peabody and Roy Smeck were stars. Ragtime music led to jazz and dances like the Charleston. The four-string banjo, played with a pick, helped keep the rhythm for these dances.
Finally, a display shows how the banjo stayed popular in modern times. After World War II, musicians like Earl Scruggs (bluegrass), Béla Fleck (jazz), Pete Seeger (folk), and Otis Taylor (blues) kept the banjo alive.
Amazing Banjo Instruments
The museum shows how banjo technology changed over 160 years, from the 1840s until now. You can see rare banjos from early makers like Bacon Banjo Company, Vega, Epiphone, Gibson, and even an electric banjo by Les Paul. Modern brands like Deering Banjo Company are also on display. The banjo was important in many different music styles in America. The banjos on the ground floor are shown in order by when they were made.
Early Banjo Styles (1830s–1870s)
By the 1840s, banjos started to look more like modern instruments. Joel Sweeney, a performer, made the five-string banjo very popular. He asked drum maker William Boucher to make banjos for him to sell. The museum has a banjo from 1845 made by Boucher. He is known as the first person to sell banjos commercially in the United States.
The museum also has an 1840s five-string banjo with a peghead shaped like a lyre. Another old banjo from 1854 has a metal body.
The Classic Era (1880s–1910s)
In the 1880s, people wanted to make the banjo seem more fancy. Teachers started teaching a new way of playing with multiple fingers. Banjo clubs popped up in colleges. The banjo was now seen as a good instrument for upper and middle-class people to play. The museum has banjos from this time by makers like S.S. Stewart and Fairbanks and Cole.
Ragtime and Jazz Age Banjos (1895-1930s)
When the museum first opened in 1998, it mainly focused on the four-string banjos from the early 1900s. New music styles led to new types of banjos. The five-string banjos changed into newer four-string plectrum and tenor banjos.
One of the most expensive banjos in the museum is from this time. It's a Gibson RB-7, made in 1938.
Bluegrass and Folk Banjo (Post-WWII)
After World War II, the banjo almost disappeared. Big band music and the guitar became more popular. It was hard to find banjos or even banjo strings. But two musicians, Pete Seeger and Earl Scruggs, helped bring the banjo back! Both of them are very important at the museum.
The museum has banjos related to different parts of Earl Scruggs' career. His first five-string banjo was a Gibson RB-11. The museum has an identical one made in 1938. Earl Scruggs' favorite banjo was a Gibson Granada. The museum doesn't have that exact banjo (it's in Nashville). But it does have a Gibson "Earl Scruggs Standard" banjo from 1984, which looks just like his Granada. The museum also has two other banjos inspired by Scruggs.
Hall of Fame
The museum's Hall of Fame also grew to include all types of banjos. In 2013, it started to recognize five-string banjo players. It also created new categories for people who helped promote the banjo or teach others. Some famous people inducted in 2018 include Béla Fleck (for playing five-string banjo) and Jim Henson (for promoting the banjo). In 2019, inductees included Alison Brown and John Hartford.
Special Exhibits
Jim Henson and the Banjo
Jim Henson, the famous puppeteer who created The Muppets, was added to the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame in 2018. From 2018 to 2020, the museum had a special exhibit called "Jim Henson – Life and Legacy." It showed how The Muppets were created. Jim Henson always showed the banjo in a fun way in his shows. Guests like Roy Clark and Steve Martin played the banjo on The Muppet Show. This helped show the banjo to people all over the world in a positive way.
The exhibit showed Henson's work and included videos of Kermit the Frog playing the banjo. You could see Kermit playing "Rainbow Connection" from Muppet Movie. Another video showed a Muppet version of Jim Henson playing the banjo in a bluegrass band.
The Henson family even let the museum display one of the Kermit the Frog Muppets!
Also on display was a five-string Maya banjo. This banjo made the sounds for the Muppet banjos! It belonged to Martin Kershaw, who played it on about 7,000 recordings with famous singers like Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Kershaw was part of The Muppet Show studio band. His Maya banjo was signed by many musicians, including Julie Andrews and Elton John.
Steve Martin and the Banjo
Comedian and actor Steve Martin had a special exhibit in 2015. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame for helping to promote the banjo. Johnny Baier, the museum's director, said that for many people today, Steve Martin is the first person they think of when they hear "banjo."
In 2020, Steve Martin gave a very special banjo to the museum. It has gold plating and a picture of Mark Twain on the back. He received this banjo as part of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2011. The museum also got a Jazz-Age Gibson Florentine banjo from him. The museum is creating a new exhibit about Steve Martin's life and how he helped the banjo community, using these two instruments.
Gallery
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1929 Gibson Bass Banjo.
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Jazz-Age banjos, American Banjo Museum. In the back is a 1955 Gibson PB-250 banjo, electrified by Les Paul. The instrument is displayed opened up so visitors can see the modifications.
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Back of Ludwig Big Chief banjo (1930), with wood inlay.
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Decorated back of Gibson All American banjo (1969), a reissue of a Jazz-Age instrument from 1932.
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Decorated back and side of a Gibson All American banjo (1969). Highly decorated with carvings, engravings and gold
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Washburn Presentation Banjo (Lyon & Healy) 1894. Rim made of spun silver, polished to bright sheen.
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