Browse Items (49 total)

  • Collection: The Straight-Sided Dulcimer in Tennessee

[Lawrence [Wayne] County Dulcimer #13]

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This instrument was strung by Henry Beckman with piano wire. It was found in a house that was built in 1895 on Chesum Creek, in western Lawrence County. A log house was at this location before the 1895 house was built, a homestead of the current…

[Lawrence County Dulcimer #12]

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The current owner bought this instrument for 25 cents from his uncle, Whiz Gamble, before which it was stored in a barn.

[Lawrence County Dulcimer #11]

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This instrument was owned by its current owner's mother, Sarah Elizabeth (Brewer).

[Lawrence [Wayne] County Dulcimer #10]

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This instrument was bought for $1.00 by the current owner from his aunt, who in turn had received from her husband, Charlie Gamble, who had bought it from a traveler who built such dulcimers in 1890. The purchase took place in Holly Creek in…

[Lawrence County Dulcimer #9]

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This instrument bears a label on its back as well as a stenciled "HARMONICA" in its front.

[Lawrence County Dulcimer #8]

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This dulcimer was built by the accordionist Daniel McGee, who lived between West Point and Piney, Tennessee, probably in the late 1800s. His daughter, Beatrice McGee, was born in 1904, and had the box in later years, passing it on to its current…

[Lawrence [Wayne] County Dulcimer #7]

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The current owner of this instrument reports that it belonged to her father, Joe Lee, of Waynesboro, Tennessee, who passed away in 1953 at the age of 83. He had grown up and lived in Wayne County, He was the only person she remembered playing it,…

[Lawrence County Dulcimer #6]

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This instrument originally belonged to the mother of the current owner, Rhoda Hood Newton, who had had it since before she was married. She was born in 1890 in Grassy, Alabama, and moved to Lawrence County when young. The current owner does not…

[Lawrence County Dulcimer #5]

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This instrument belonged to the current owner's grandmother, Emma Petty Richardson (1880s?-1948), who was originally from Giles County. She called it a "music box," played it some for her grandchildren, sitting and holding it across her knees.