Darracott New England Bass Viol: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This New England Bass Viol was made by William Darracott in Milford, New Hampshire, in 1829. This instrument has a four-piece table of pine, back of American maple in two pieces with faint, irregular horizontal figure, ribs of plain maple cut on 45o, plain maple neck, pegbox and scroll with four plain hardwood pegs, opaque brown varnish overall excepting the re-varnished transparent back, plain maple fingerboard and tailpiece painted black.

This instrument does not have ribs set into channeling of the edges on table and back, they are simply glued flush to the edge surfaces. The f-holes are joined to the table at the wings as is typical with New England bass viols. The fingerboard and tailpiece are original. There is an original printed label inside the instrument:

WILLIAM DARRACOTT MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER MILFORD N.H. 1829

The modern term for this instrument is church bass. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, this instrument was also known as the American bass viol, New England bass viol, or Yankee bass viol. These church basses were used in churches and meeting houses to provide a bass line for maintaining a consistent key by New England congregational singers. The church bass was also used by popular singing groups such as the Hutchinson Family singers.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: 1829
• maker: Darracott, William
• maker: Darracott, William
• Object Name: Viol
• Physical Description: wood, pine (overall material)
• Physical Description: wood, maple (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 8 3/4 in x 19 3/4 in x 52 3/4 in; 22.225 cm x 50.165 cm x 133.985 cm
• Measurements: body: 83.2 cm; 32 3/4 in
• Measurements: lower bout: 50 cm; 19 11/16 in
• Measurements: upper bout: 40 cm; 15 3/4 in
• Measurements: neck: 12 cm; 4 23/32 in
• Measurements: base: 12.5 cm; 4 29/32 in
• place made: United States: New Hampshire, Milford
• ID Number: MI.73.41
• accession number: 306497
• catalog number: 73.41
• Credit Line: Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Charles G. Abbot
• 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.