This is a collection of materials related to banjos held by the Rare Books and Special Collections Department. Many of these items were acquired from the Robert Fraker Collection of Nineteenth-Century Banjo Instruction Manuals.
This collection includes 36 banjo instruction manuals, three published dissertations on the banjo, two banjo music sales catalogs, one loose piece of sheet music, and 32 minstrel broadsides. It provides images of every page of the materials and the full text of every item searchable.
to more detail about five of these manuals. It also includes a selected history of the banjo, biographies of the manual compilers, and a partial bibliography of primary sources for further research.
For an introduction to the banjo, its history, and its cultural significance up to the Jazz Age and biographies of the authors of these banjo instruction manuals see 19th Century Banjo Instructions Manuals, a digital exhibit on the Hamilton College Library Online Exhibits website (powered by Omeka).
For a selected bibliography of primary sources for further research on the history of the banjo, see Bibliography - 19th Century Banjo Instructions Manuals, a digital exhibit hosted on the Hamilton College Library Online Exhibits website (powered by Omeka).
Christian Goodwillie, Director and Curator of Special Collections and Archives
E-mail: cgoodwil@hamilton.edu
Telephone: (315) 859-4447
Special Collections
Burke Library
198 College Hill Road
Clinton, NY 13323
(Reviewed: February 17, 2014)