7-Keyed Bugle: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This 7-keyed bugle was sold by the firm of J. Howard Foote in New York, around 1860 to 1890. Many of the brasswind instruments sold by J. Howard Foote were made by made by John F. Stratton. This bugle was likely made in the 1860s. It is a C bugle, the B-flat lead pipe is missing, made of copper with brass keys, fittings, and bell garland.

J. Howard Foote was a prominent seller and importer of musical instruments with shops in New York and Chicago from 1863 to 1894. In a letter dated 1882 to the Smithsonian, Foote wrote “most of my goods, though not of my manufacture, are made to order by different makers from drawings, descriptions and in some cases models furnished by me.”

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1860s
• Object Name: bugle
• Physical Description: copper (overall material)
• Physical Description: brass (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 17 in x 5 3/4 in x 8 in; 43.18 cm x 14.605 cm x 20.32 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: MI.095652
• accession number: 27329
• catalog number: 95652
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.