American Field Drum: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This field drum was made by an unknown maker in the United States, around 1740-1799. It has a wood shell with nails throughout. The wood hoops are covered in skin with rope laced through leather ears.

The drum was used by Benjamin Chester Chapin (1872-1918), an actor who toured the country with a one-man show about Abraham Lincoln in the late 19th century. Chapin turned it into a play, Lincoln at the White House, which debuted on Broadway in 1906, lasting for 21 performances. The play traveled and was subsequently revived on Broadway for the 1909 bicentennial of Lincoln‘s birth, lasting for 17 performances.

A program from the 1908 touring show indicates that the play is “in Four Acts - with complete scenery, costumes and properties, presented by a specially selected dramatic company under personal direction of the author.”

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1740-1799
• Object Name: drum
• Physical Description: wood (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 16 in x 19 in x 19 in; 40.64 cm x 48.26 cm x 48.26 cm
• place made: United States
• ID Number: MI.032333
• accession number: 68542
• catalog number: 32333
• Credit Line: Gift of Lucille Ann Chapin
• 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.