Black bow tie from the travel wardrobe trunk used by Cab Calloway: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A black, one size fits all bow tie from the travel wardrobe trunk used by Cab Calloway. The velvet, pre-tied, butterfly bow tie features an adjustable black neck strap that fastens behind the bow tie knot. The bow tie has been stitched to the band. Sewn to the interior of the proper right side of the next strap is a white ribbon with black text and lines that denotes the neckband lengths. The strap is adjustable from 14 inches to 17 1/2 inches. The tie strap has a black metal strap adjuster and an eye at the end of the strap that clips to a hook just behind the bowtie.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: mid 20th-late 20th century
• Manufactured by: Unidentified
• Worn by: Cab Calloway, American, 1907 - 1994
• Type: bow ties
• Medium: velvet with thread , ribbon and metal
• Dimensions: H x W x D: 3 3/4 × 19 13/16 × 1 in. (9.5 × 50.4 × 2.6 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Band (Music)
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Conductors (Musicians)
• Topic: Costume
• Topic: Entertainers
• Topic: Jazz (Music)
• Topic: Singers (Musicians)
• Object number: A2015.273.1.1.54.3
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Cabella Calloway Langsam
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: No known copyright restrictions Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.